I just received a note and photos from Mark Smith of Hamilton, Alabama about his wet sub project.   Mark is an experienced diver and long time undersea enthusiast, and he's tackled an ambitious wet sub project. 

An article about a few homebuilt sub enthusiasts down in South Florida and the sub Antipodes.  It has some interesting photos and a little video.  I like the shot titled "Waiting Around", where the pilot is sitting in the open hatch but two thirds of the photo is an underwater view of the sub at the surface.

And a good quote from Patrick Lahey, a Vero Beach underwater consultant.  "When the paperwork weighs as much as the submarine, you're done."

the Sun Sentinel article...

Just saw this announcement about Kraka from the PSUBS group:

Kraka, the diesel-electric submersible designed and built by Peter Madsen and Claus Norregaard is currently for sale on PSUBS.ORG.

"Kraka" is a sea-going, diesel-electric submersible originally launched April 12th 2005.   She is capable of charging her own batteries and compressed air tank, hence only dependent on supply of diesel oil.   A 2-3 man crew can sleep on-board in turns.   With the sail hatch closed and air intake through the snorkel it is possible to navigate in quite rough weather.   She is equipped with a button hatch for deploying and retrieving divers while submerged.   She is also equipped with a GPS chart plotter, a gyro compass, and echo sounder. She also has a photo optical mast ( periscope) with four cameras, each covering a 90 degree view and providing 360 degrees of visibility outside the sub.

The price for the submarine is negotiable and offers are being accepted. Please visit http://www.psubs.org/forsale for more information and photos.

Here's a new website documenting the construction of a Kittredge K-350 submersible.  James is putting together a nice collection of photos and notes.  Check it out:

  Guernsey Submarines

Here's a impressive, and exciting submarine project.  Well, it's exciting if you're interested in building pressure vessels with concrete.  Now that's an obscure branch of nerd...

Back in 1996, Wilfried Ellmer built, tested and used a 20 ton concrete submarine on an Alpine lake.  Residents of Lake Atter in Austria witnessed the launch of a pristine, streamlined, white vessel.  The photo at right shows the boat at launching before the fitting out of sail, rudders and propellers.

Wilfried states that the 18cm  (7 inches) thick hull gives an operational depth of 300m (~1000ft) and an estimated crush depth of about 900m.  He used portland cement reinforced with 4mm and 6mm steel in a 10 cm mesh.

This is a large personal submarine, weighing in a 14 tons before ballasting.  Check out the interior photo on the website which shows a roomy cabin.  Unfortunately missing are any photos of the sub actually diving or even maneuvering on the surface under its own power. 

Concrete Sub page

Some press coverage of the 2006 PSUBS Convention, held June 23-25 this year at Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania.  I believe around eight subs (and their owners) attended, along with dozens of other sub enthusiasts and a number of locals.  Sounds like it was a great event!

Altoona Mirror article...

How efficiently do you swim with fins?  They're a big help over using plain naked human feet but what if you could translate your leg power into turning a propellor. 

The Velosubmarine does just this, allowing snorkelers and scuba divers to pedal along at up to 3 knots.

Based in Paris, France the Velosub company offers the eponomous Velosubmarine for 950 euros and also has a nice looking one person wet sub.   Hopefully these will be turning up for trial in resorts around the world.

A replica whaling ship, the Carthaginian, was recently sunk off the Maui coast.  It landed upright on the sandy bottom in 95 feet of water about a half mile offshore of this popular Hawaiian island.  The hope is that this wreck will attract marine life and provide an interesting destination for scuba divers and underwater tourists aboard Atlantis' tourist submarine that operates along the Maui coast.

  Press release...

Remains of a Japanese mini submarine may have been found north of Sydney Harbour in 20 meters of water.  The sub, known as M24, was one of three which attacked Sydney on May 31, 1942.  The other two subs were recovered from the bottom of the harbour as the crews had killed themselves after failing to escape.  The location of the third sub had been unknown.

  Herald Sun article...

Here's a nice update on Graham Hawkes' activities.  He's still planning to build a maximum ocean depth vehicle, which will fly similar to his earlier DeepFlight craft, but this one will be able to descend to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. 

This very deep bit of the ocean, over 36,000ft, has been visited only once by a manned vessel.  The Trieste carried Dr Jacques Piccard and Lt Donald Walsh on a five hour descent to the bottom in 1960.  Graham Hawkes new design should be able to make the trip down in one hour and provide excellent maneuverability on the whole dive. 

Is a descent to the Challenger Deep equivalent to NASA's Apollo flight to the moon?  Is this a good private industry challenge, similar to spaceflight's X-Prize?  More on this later but for now here's the article on Graham Hawkes:

  Monterey Herald article...

Here's a nice collection of photos from the July 2005 International Submarine Races.  I've had some trouble finding good shots of human powered subs in the water but there are dozens of well-lit underwater photos here, all taken by Phillip Colla.   Subs include Quebec's winning Omer 5, and entrants from the University of Washington, UCSD, Texas A & M and others.

  Oceanlight.com - sub photos...

This is a fun vessel, maybe mostly because of its very interesting creator, Brian Walker aka the Rocket Guy.  Brian is an inventor and in fact a successful toy inventor who has dabbled in a number of areas that should be of interest to Sub-Log readers including, most recently, rockets!

The HydroSub is a craft that is one part submersible and two parts boat, something like the AquaSub, which can submerge the crew compartment while keeping its occupants dry.  A large part of the boat stays on the surface which makes it handy for supplying breathing air and depth control. 

Check it out and read about Brian's other great projects:

  RocketGuy.com HydroSub...

Peter Madsen has been hard at work on this third submarine, UC3.  This boat will be around twice the length of his previous, Kraka and is a modern streamlined design which is a departure for him and his team.  His earlier boats have a WWII U-boat feel and like their historical ancestors seem to do well on the surface.   But it was his success in running Kraka submerged with a diesel engine and snorkel that led him to pursue a more Albacore-like hull form with better submerged performance.  I guess it's more fun to run submerged than on the surface!

He recently (October 2005) sent this update:

Well - plus 200 meters of welding done - all bulkheads instaled - all frames positioned - portholes cut, tower and deckhatch holes cut, hatch ordered...

 

2.7 tonnes of batteries has arrived with two hp ( 3000 psia ) compressoers - plus a bulck og hp air cylenders...

 

In short - we are underway...going ahead flank.

  Photos of UC3 construction...

Update Jan. 19, 2006:
Jonathan McBeck? is working on a new article on UC3.  You can post suggestions and questions to him at this forum:
www.silenthunter.dk UC3 Forum