Mining Underwater Kethane

[Tuna7]

So for a Youtube series I'm going to do, I will be mining kethane (I've also got EP and GP) and mass colonizing the solar system . I was about to start mining and recording when I noticed that a fair amount of kethane deposits near KSC were underwater. Is there some way to make offshore platforms (cause I know that water on Kerbin is pretty dense)? I have some mods like KAS and I can install some more if needed.

[HoY]

KAS is all you Really need

edit the cfg to let your winch extend to 2km, install a drill on a part that will sink and have at it.

it takes a LOOOOOOONG time for the drill to sink so go for the shallow deposits

[Millitron]

There's an old submarine mod, though it may not be on the spaceport since it stopped being updated. Just search the forum for submarines. It still works, since the parts don't require a plugin.

What you can do is, combine the submarine mod with KAS. Build a mining module and include submarine parts on it, then lower the module to the bottom with KAS. You could even build anchors like this.

[Tuna7]

There's an old submarine mod, though it may not be on the spaceport since it stopped being updated. Just search the forum for submarines. It still works, since the parts don't require a plugin.

What you can do is, combine the submarine mod with KAS. Build a mining module and include submarine parts on it, then lower the module to the bottom with KAS. You could even build anchors like this.

Ah, thank you of reminding me of the Gary's Submarine Mod! I've got a python script that will update cfg to 0.20 but will the resource stuff work on 0.20?

[nhnifong]

Were you ever able to do it?

[wandering rocker4545]

I also have been working on a underwater kethane drilling assembly . Using KAS and the latest Boat parts mod for.23 . Tried the kethane sub idea with loads of trouble sinking stock parts with the boat parts is hard and troublesome so I switched to a floating kethane driller that sits on the surface and lowers a ballast tank drill head with a winch made longer using th cfg files . Everything works good just have to deploy tonight . Will post pictures soon .

[wandering rocker4545]

Been trying for a week now to get this system working the drill submerges. The boat works awesome but when I switch to a different craft or load the games to that craft the whole thing appears underwater and destroys itself . I've tried everything I can think of I think its a type of game bug might give up on the whole idea. But underwater kethane drilling would be so useful . Any one have tips they would be willing to share would help immensely.

[Geschosskopf]

The main problem with exploiting underwater kethane is that landmasses in KSP don't have continental shelves. Instead, they plunge steeply from the beach to the bottom of the abyssal plain, which averages like -1500m on Kerbin and exceeds -2000m in places on Laythe and Eve. This means that unless the Kethane is so close to shore that it probably comes up on land anyway, KAS-based drilling systems need ridiculously long cables with incredibly long spooling times.

The only real alternative is making a submarine "lander" that takes the drills to the bottom. Unfortunately, there ain't any good choices there. The Hooligan Labs submarine mod was a non-starter because it imposed a -600m crush depth, too shallow for most submerged Kethane. And it hasn't been updated since 0.21 anyway.

AFAIK the only other submarine mod out there, which HAS been updated to 0.23, is InfiniteDice's R4 BoatParts. Its subs can reach the abyssal plain although they complain about it. The problem, however, is that it's very difficult to mount any parts on the sub parts except other sub parts, and they weren't ever intended to be taken to other planets anyway so aren't rocket-friendly. It could maybe be made to work at least on Kerbin but doesn't seem worth the trouble, and even if that happened, I don't see getting it to Laythe where the demand for underwater Kethane is the highest.

[wandering rocker4545]

Yes and yes I've tried a kethane mining sub with the same results hard to mount parts no impossible but tricky . The system I have with a barge type ship that drops the drill head into the water seemed like it would work except for the major bug I'm experiencing . With my crafts spawning below the water when I switch crafts .the winches can be edited to have longer cables that was easy . But I just can't get past this bug maybe I will take boat parts out to see if it was a problem in mod I also thought it was the kore kraken. Either way I gotta keep trying .....arg. I want this to work so bad !

[wandering rocker4545]

Had some luck with a different design, The only part I used from "Boat parts R4" i used on this one was the mini sub ballast tanks. 2ov of them for my underwater drill attacked to the second smallest kethane tank with the small drills attached to the tank . The boat was a combination of FireSpitter parts and stock parts . And no catastrophic failures ! Got the drill to sink by even with a full ballast of water the drill popped back up to the surface lol . But hey the boat didn't spawn below the water and destroy itself so that's a small victory in itself .

[wandering rocker4545]

Success! Using a grapplinghook and a winch on the drill itself I was able to counter the upward buoyancy. Extending the winch on the drill a meters so it can grab the ocean floor as it is lowered to the bottom keeps the drill in place. Mini sub center sections to provide the ballast for sinkage and the delivery of the drill head can vary , I have made several differant boats and blimps to bring the drill to a kethane patch in Kerbins ocean for tests . These would be good interplanetary deployment vehicles as well . Each vehical has the capacity to refine and hold a decent amount of kethane . That in combination with a kethane transport vessel is my system . Now that this is complete I will post pictures to help out others with this challenge . This was all Jeb's idea by the way .