Photo: Agena
If you’re not all that much into vehicles meant to work above or under water, chances are you don’t know just how diverse the world of these machines really is. Some of us here at autoevolution sure didn't, but as we’re diving deeper and deeper into this fascinating world for our Sea Month coverage in August, we’re learning sea vehicles expand far beyond the vehicles we know and love, the yachts for the rich and the motorboats for the adventurous.
One interesting thing I personally found out when looking for cool machines is that the world’s waters are rich in submarines. And I’m not talking about the ones carrying weapons and sailors right under the enemy's noses, but about the ones meant for group, tourist fun in some of the most spectacular seashore places on this planet.
We’ve already got a taste of that as we've covered things like the fully submergible Sub Fun Cinco, or the two-person DeepFlight Super Falcon, but now it’s time for something that looks more like a compromise between a boat and a sub than anything else: enter the semi-submarine.
To be used primarily by water-based tourism companies, semi-submarines generally have a submergible part that contains the place dedicated to curious tourists, and an above-water part that holds the crew. One company making them is called Agena Marine, and it’s based in Croatia.
Agena makes two kinds of semi-submarines, depending on how many people one needs to submerge at once. The smaller version (9.5 tons displacement) can accommodate up to 12 people in a space almost 10 meters (33 feet) long. The thing is powered by a single 57 hp engine and can stay out at sea (or under it, depending on your business on this thing) for up to 40 minutes. That’s possible thanks to a 300-liter (1,364 gallons) fuel tank.
The second semi-submarine is much larger, being capable of accommodating no less than 55 people. It’s over 17 meters long (56 feet), has a displacement of 27 tons, and has two 400-liter (1,818 gallons) tanks of fuel. This one is suitable, we’re told, for “larger organized groups or high-frequency destinations.”
It’s unclear how many of these things are presently roaming the waters of the world, but we do know that the first one, a small version, was delivered back in 2012, and that by 2016, 30 of them were out there.
As for the price for such a thing, Agena is tight-lipped. A quick search on specialized websites reveals that, depending on its maker (there are several presently operating in the world), prices for a semi-submarine range from $135,000 to $1,800,000. That huge price is beings asked by someone for a glass bottom semi-submarine, but we’ll cover that one in another story here in our Sea Month coverage.
We’ve already got a taste of that as we've covered things like the fully submergible Sub Fun Cinco, or the two-person DeepFlight Super Falcon, but now it’s time for something that looks more like a compromise between a boat and a sub than anything else: enter the semi-submarine.
To be used primarily by water-based tourism companies, semi-submarines generally have a submergible part that contains the place dedicated to curious tourists, and an above-water part that holds the crew. One company making them is called Agena Marine, and it’s based in Croatia.
Agena makes two kinds of semi-submarines, depending on how many people one needs to submerge at once. The smaller version (9.5 tons displacement) can accommodate up to 12 people in a space almost 10 meters (33 feet) long. The thing is powered by a single 57 hp engine and can stay out at sea (or under it, depending on your business on this thing) for up to 40 minutes. That’s possible thanks to a 300-liter (1,364 gallons) fuel tank.
The second semi-submarine is much larger, being capable of accommodating no less than 55 people. It’s over 17 meters long (56 feet), has a displacement of 27 tons, and has two 400-liter (1,818 gallons) tanks of fuel. This one is suitable, we’re told, for “larger organized groups or high-frequency destinations.”
It’s unclear how many of these things are presently roaming the waters of the world, but we do know that the first one, a small version, was delivered back in 2012, and that by 2016, 30 of them were out there.
As for the price for such a thing, Agena is tight-lipped. A quick search on specialized websites reveals that, depending on its maker (there are several presently operating in the world), prices for a semi-submarine range from $135,000 to $1,800,000. That huge price is beings asked by someone for a glass bottom semi-submarine, but we’ll cover that one in another story here in our Sea Month coverage.
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