In fact, it's convenient: The boat can drive onto the beach after an outing and requires no trailer to transport. The SportSub Personal Submarine, which costs more than 5,000k, is the most expensive in the collection. Giordano also attached small wheels to the semi-sub's keel, so that running aground was no longer a threat. Are You Interested in a Submarine of Your Own Contact me today for a consultation regarding underwater habitats or mini submarine design. A nuclear submarine can dive to depths of up to 300 meters, whereas a yellow semi-submarine built in 2006 costs around 300,000 to build. For wintertime, he affixed a blade to the bow that can plow through 4 inches of ice. 'Around here, once you hit the deep water, it all just gets green,' he says. (Should some malfunction pull the 3000-pound boat into too steep a dive, the rear prop would leave the water, eliminating thrust-and popping it back to the surface.)Īn electric snorkel cycles fresh air through the cockpit, and a video camera mounted on the top deck allows Giordano to steer when visibility gets hazy. If the boat drops below 3 knots, it loses the forward momentum necessary to force the craft underwater, and it pops back to the surface. The front half submerges about 8 feet, while the engine continues breathing air, guiding the sub through Auke Bay at a leisurely 10 knots. The 32-foot semi-sub, which is fashioned from an industrial buoy cockpit welded to the propane tank, dives by pitching its 4-foot-long bow planes forward.

'After drawing a zillion sketches, it occurred to me I could actually make this,' the longtime boat mechanic says. The Submariner Cal Giordano Juneau, Alaskaīuilding a personal submarine may seem as fanciful as a DIY jet pack-but Cal Giordano proved that with a little ambition, and a recycled 500-gallon propane tank, most anything is possible.

Building a personal submarine