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Next time swimbo moans about the car
mangogrooveworkshop - 31/12/05 at 03:08 PM

Show her this........It could be so much worse


TRY A SUB

To hear Carsten Standfuss tell it, a two-day cruise on his boat is like any other weekend excursion. "Three to four people can go, walk around, sleep, eat, drink, and dive for wrecks," he says. Sounds relaxing - until you realize he plans to plunge his guests into the Atlantic Ocean in a 57-ton submarine he built from scratch.

Standfuss, 40, is building Euronaut, the world's largest amateur sub, a project he started in 2000 and aims to finish this summer. The 53-foot vessel has a range of 600 miles and can descend more than 1,000 feet. It's propelled by a 190-horsepower diesel engine for surface sailing and an electric motor with 6.5 tons of lead-acid batteries for traveling underwater. Three drop weights under the keel can be released, forcing the sub to surface instantly in case of an emergency (say, a giant squid attack).

When asked how much the Euronaut has cost him so far, Standfuss would say only that he's refinanced his house in Berne, Germany, to pay for materials. Of course, the guy knows his way around a submarine: He built the world's smallest personal sub at age 22, a 9.8-footer that set a Guinness world record in 1989 (it has since been broken). Standfuss subsequently became a serious wreck diver, but the North Sea is often too difficult to navigate with a surface ship. "The weather is bad, the currents are fast, and there's a lot of traffic." The Euronaut features a pressurized chamber for divers entering and exiting the vessel, and for eating and sleeping while they decompress. It makes riding around in an oversize tin can seem almost … safe.


JoelP - 31/12/05 at 04:24 PM

absolute blinder, ive always wanted to make a sub


Peteff - 31/12/05 at 04:26 PM

Build your own submarine for the price of your house and sink it. What a forum that would be. I am just learning to weld and am wondering whether to build a diving bell or a proper sub?


stevec - 31/12/05 at 04:32 PM

I had a Sub once, but it kept going down on me!


scotty g - 31/12/05 at 04:45 PM

I've got a wife like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


zilspeed - 31/12/05 at 04:54 PM

You wish.........................


Peteff - 31/12/05 at 06:15 PM

I bought a blow up doll like that and I took it back. I said it keeps going down on me and the bloke said that usually costs extra.


zilspeed - 31/12/05 at 06:28 PM

Boom tish !!!!


Eyethangewe.......


Simon - 31/12/05 at 06:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
absolute blinder, ive always wanted to make a sub


I think they tried that on Last of the Summer Wine many years ago

ATB

Simon


SixedUp - 31/12/05 at 06:52 PM

Having done lots of diving over the years, the thought of being trapped in a submarine scares the pants off me. No thanks ...

However, my personal idiotic dream is to have a go at building a hovercraft big enough to carry 4 or 5 people in reasonable comfort. Preferably without having to refinance the house first. Maybe one day

Cheers
Richard