Marine

The world’s first affordable recreational submarine

The world’s first affordable recreational submarine
View 38 Images
1/38
2/38
3/38
4/38
5/38
6/38
7/38
8/38
9/38
10/38
11/38
12/38
13/38
14/38
15/38
16/38
17/38
18/38
19/38
20/38
21/38
22/38
23/38
24/38
25/38
26/38
27/38
28/38
29/38
30/38
31/38
32/38
33/38
34/38
35/38
36/38
37/38
38/38
View gallery - 38 images

March 2, 2007 Yet another affordable and very compelling new water vessel has reached market. With a price in the region of an expensive sports car, the appropriately named Dutch company Uboatworx has begun producing the first affordable recreational submarine (U-Boat). Uboatworx currently builds a single seat version known as the C-Quester I with a two-seater due in June. Both C-Questers have a top speed of 3.5 mph, are safe to a depth of 50 metres and offer a dive time of 150 minutes. At just over 9 feet long, 6 feet tall and wide and weighing 1.1 tons, the submarine is small enough to trailer to the nearest boat ramp or launch from a yacht. Entry is jet fighter style through a canopy, steering is via a joystick and both the seating position and the experience are apparently quite similar to flight, though getting a license is much cheaper and less time-consuming than a pilot’s license - a three day course and an exam being the only obstacles, apart from the UKP65,000 price tag (more for the two-seater). The cabin is pressurized, a filtration system removes spent air, oxygen is added to maintain air quality and all the safety boxes appear ticked, so the C-Quester appears an out-of-the-box winner at such an affordable price. Motive force is supplied by three electric motors – so it’s a genuine plug-in electric boat which just happens to be able to operate below the surface too.

Now before we start getting lots of correspondence, the term U-Boat is derived from the German Unterseeboot (undersea boat). Though the term U-boat in English-language usage refers exclusively to German naval submarines, in German the term U-Boot refers to any submarine.

View gallery - 38 images
1 comment
1 comment
Werner Theron
Two-seater looks too much like Jar-Jar Binks. Can\'t like it..