If you were to plumb the depth of the oceans, you could only get so far with a snorkel or a SCUBA tank. We don’t know the price, but if you have enough money, you might consider the Triton 3300/6 — a six-person submersible that can go down to 3,300 feet (hence the name–get it–3300/6). Billed as “diving for the entire family,” we aren’t sure we can load grandma and the kids in something like this, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like to try.
The machine can carry up to 1,760 pounds and can make 3 knots which isn’t going to set any speed records. At around 24,000 pounds, the two main thrusters are lucky to make that speed. The view bubble is apparently optically perfect acrylic made by a German company and the company claims the 100-inch diameter bubble is the world’s largest spherical acrylic pressure hull.
The 3,300-foot depth sounds impressive and is much further than you can get with conventional SCUBA gear. However, keep in mind the deepest part of the ocean is nearly 36,000 feet down, and you only have 10 hours of operations, so keep your expectations realistic. Even the ocean’s average depth is about 12,000 feet.
We have to admit the thing looks cool, but we couldn’t find the price since it is probably one of those things that if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. It did make us wonder, though, if anyone has tried their hand at a crewed submersible? There are some technical hurdles. You’d want bulletproof life support and backup systems. Water gets into everything and you probably need an emergency surface capability and maybe want to go down with SCUBA gear the fi ..
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