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Dolphin Inspired Mini-subComments:181
Posted by
samzenpus
on Thu Sep 04, 2008 07:57 AM
from the expensive-toys dept.
from the expensive-toys dept.
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything? How about the Seabreacher mini-sub. Described as a dolphin-inspired cross between a jet ski and a submarine, the Seabreacher has a top speed of 45mph above the waves and 20mph below them. The two-man £30,000 craft is 15' long and its design makes it self-righting. Strangely, this doesn't come with a laser package.
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Ergonomic? (Score:5, Funny)
I see you have experience... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
As I always say, "That looks like it hurt... but only for a second."
Friggin Laser Beams? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
There is also the ex-military dolphin version that comes with a full on drug-addict and unreasonable computer-hacking ability. (The novella was much better than the film, nuff said).
sea bass? (Score:5, Funny)
engine (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:engine (Score:5, Funny)
or nuclear
Re:engine (Score:5, Insightful)
Gasoline is much lighter than the equivalent amount of batteries.
And it can dive for 20 seconds ! (Score:5, Interesting)
How exciting...
Much closer to a jet ski than to a sub... Another expensive and useless toy.
Those guys [ussubs.com] supposedly make proper mini subs (or real ones, although apparently nobody has taken them up on it).
Why useless? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure its for recreation but you could travel in it and you wouldn't get as wet as a jetski which seem to be pretty popular even though they're little more than a leisure vehicle. And unless that mini sub can do 20mph under the water (year right) it won't anything like as much of a buzz as this machine.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The mini sub may only do 2 knots underwater but does dive to 300m [ussubs.com] with a 6 hour capacity which makes it an actual submarine. In my eyes it's much more exciting than something that just goes around on the surface.
The dolphin thing, while possibly technically interesting, remains a leisure surface craft. It's also probably quite a bit cheaper.
Air for the people? (Score:5, Funny)
So the snorkel provides air for the engine... what about the two people in the seats? Ahh... engine exhaust has some oxygen in it right?
Nothing like this. (Score:5, Insightful)
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything?
Nothing like this. They would play with it a couple of times and then, I don't know.
It just so happens I have a couple of millionaires (self made) in my family. They're not into these very expensive luxury toys. They don't spend money on shit - especially over priced shit: cars, boats, Rolex Watches , etc...
One of them is really into bicycling and he does buy high quality equipment - used.
The other, she does spurge on here horses, but she actually competes in her retirement.
These types of toys are for the high salaried folks who still end up living paycheck to paycheck because they're spending all of their money on crap like this (doctors, lawyers, corporate business execs, star athletes etc...). "The Millionaire Next Door" explains much better. And yeah, those family members of mine, at lest one, are right out of that book.
Re:Nothing like this. (Score:5, Interesting)
Drug Runners!
IThey already go through a lot of trouble to make cheap subs to get around customs. Well, this couldn't be too much more expensive and it's reusable and safe. And if they got picked up on radar... Well, they could brush up on dolphin mating calls.
Re:Nothing like this. (Score:5, Funny)
Surely, that's not the only porpoise this could be used for.....
Dolphin Inspired Mini-sub (Score:3, Funny)
Eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Millionaire? This thing cost less than most modern Bass boats, decently equipped pontoons, and less than half what a common cruiser will run you. More than your average Seadoo PWC, but most people who buy them get at least two if not three or four (depending on wealth and the number of kids they have).
Then again, perhaps the millionaire aspect comes into play when it comes time to find someone to repair the craft, as anyone who spends a few hours on the water every week will tell you, anything boat/pwc related has a tendency to demonstrate it's willingness to break down in the worst possible ways at the worst possible times. It's almost as powerful enough of a force, I am beginning to suspect Murphy has a whole set of laws being enforced upon anyone who takes up marine recreation. Anyway, even the millionaires I've met who are into marine craft already know all this and still try to shop for designs which have been around for a few years and closer to the "proven technology" badge instead of pissing away money on completely new designs bound to have many flaws-- that's why they are millionaires and not scratching lottery tickets.
I'd also not really want to run that thing in most US waterways. More than once, I've cracked gel coats on thick fiberglass hulls ramming into surface debris at speeds below 50mph. The last thing I would want is to be sitting behind some plastic windshield and have a pointy chunk of tree collide with it at any speed. Not to mention the stump mazes just a few feet under many managed waterways. It'd be cool in some place like the Bahamas, though.
Re:Eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Boat: A hole in the water into which one throws money.
Professor Calculus plagiated (Score:4, Interesting)
Tintin had this decades ago! ;) :)
http://www.sur-la-toile.com/images/articles/ben_1113361162.jpg
Once again Herge was visionary
Eh? (Score:4, Funny)
My boring mate thinks this is a dull-fing...he can't see any porpoise to it at all!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"It can do 20mph below the water. If you go below snorkel depth you run out of air for the engine and you stay under for 20 seconds before the craft will automatically surface. But with the snorkel system in use you can stay under for longer."
Re:What happens when the engine loses oxygen? (Score:5, Informative)
My guess, reading between the lines and looking at the picture, is that the entire vessel is buoyant, and only stays submerged by moving forward and using its control surfaces to counteract its buoyancy. That would make this thing a "submarine" in the same way that a snorkeler is a "marine mammal": perhaps technically defensibly so, but not really what people mean. In any case, if that is true, then when the engine stalls, the vessel will simply float to the surface.
That's how I'd design something like this.
Making a "real" submarine takes a lot of engineering expertise. You can cheat any number of ways to make something sort of like a submarine. You can make a "wet" submarine, and avoid having to deal with a pressure hull. Unfortunately, that experience lacks something of the Captain Nemo drawing room atmosphere (namely the "atmospheric" part). Making a bouyant submarine that stays submerged using its control surfaces means you don't worry about ballast systems, and have a system that is intrinsically safer than one that requires pumping air and water around. But it means you can't go to deep, and you can't stop and admire the scenery.
Re:I want one (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, if you want a real submersible instead of a 20-seconds-below-snorkle-depth, try DeepFlight: http://www.deepflight.com/ [deepflight.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Go to 'Help and Preferences' at the top left of the main page, then where it says 'Your preferences' (right hand side), go to 'Sections'. There you can set what sections you want displayed and what priority you want them to have. The first option (crossed through circle) will remove a section completely. Hope this helps, Smivs.