1963 wet sub on Craigslist

[Gone for diving]

My understanding built in the 60s.
They uses a fuel drop tank. With all kinds of military surplus parts... I am in the slow process of rebuilding and modernizing it and making it more user friendly ( must have been a small guy).
That's sorta how it was layed out when I got it...

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Have something similar

Man, that thing has divorce written all over it.

 

[CT-Rich]

Unfortunately, the listing is already gone. It would be cool to see this type of thing refitted with modern motors and batteries. A retro dive show ala Sea Hunt would pretty cool to see popping up on my Netflix queue. For $7,500 it better be fully restored and a new trailer.

 

[Akimbo]

I remember lots of different wet sub designs back around the 70’s, the Reef Hunter (by Perry Subs), the Shark Hunter, and many others.

I test-drove a wetsub in San Diego in the mid-1970s. I don't remember the name but only one was build, the top and bottom halves were vacuum formed along with the plexiglass "windshield" canopy, and the pilot and copilot sat upright side-by-side in front of a bank of 8 Aluminum 80s and a cargo bay. We basically needed an underwater pickup to carry lots of gas and some tools for a deep wreck survey.

The cargo capacity was nice but you could really feel the currents, even in San Diego. I doubt it would be practical in a place like the US Atlantic coast. Also, our eyes were too far from the front end to see in low visibility. Though I never drove the Perry Reef Hunter, I think the prone and down-looking side-by-side cockpit would be much more practical.

That dorsal fin on top and the inside lights were added for effect for a movie.

 

[Gone for diving]

Nope my wife is good about it...
Just doesn't want to test try it
I keep saying I am building my coffin....

Before I got my hands on this I was working on a modified canoe...
it's a boat on the surface and then a wet sub...
A canoe is very efficient on the surface... powered by 2 trolling motors

 

[Gene]

This is an interesting thread. I wonder if the dive shop mentioned above was the Newport Dive Center.
I grew up mostly in the Tampa Bay area and my maternal grandparents lived on Anna Maria Island and built their own houseboat. I fondly remember my grandfather sitting with me for hours when I was around nine or so helping me design a small sub that he said we could build using mostly wood and fiberglass. We had it kind of figured out using scuba tanks, flood tanks and ballast, etc. My grandmother walked in and promptly shut down our plans. This was back around 1971 when the local papers would sometimes run stories about German U-Boats being out in the Gulf. Even one that supposedly still moved around with the currents. And we'd watch Jacques Cousteau's show on television and talk to my grandfather, also a maritime historian, for hours about the Titanic. What a childhood I was blessed to have....

 

[Bob DBF]

They were expensive and what I recall is that most of them had a reputation for not working well.

Sealing out the ocean, even today, is an expensive never ending battle, with the technology and components of the '70's it was even worse.

I test-drove a wetsub in San Diego in the mid-1970s. I don't remember the name but only one was build, the top and bottom halves were vacuum formed along with the plexiglass "windshield" canopy, and the pilot and copilot sat upright side-by-side in front of a bank of 8 Aluminum 80s and a cargo bay. We basically needed an underwater pickup to carry lots of gas and some tools for a deep wreck survey.

The cargo capacity was nice but you could really feel the currents, even in San Diego. I doubt it would be practical in a place like the US Atlantic coast. Also, our eyes were too far from the front end to see in low visibility. Though I never drove the Perry Reef Hunter, I think the prone and down-looking side-by-side cockpit would be much more practical.

View attachment 658086

View attachment 658085​

That dorsal fin on top and the inside lights were added for effect for a movie.

Is the one in front of the sub museum Groton before or after that?

 

[Akimbo]

Is the one in front of the sub museum Groton before or after that?

Don't know. I think I still have a Perry catalog in my files but I'm not sure there is a date on it. Do you know about when that sub at the Groton Museum was made? I'm guessing that this was an SDV (Swimmer Delivery Vehicle).

Thinking aloud:
SDVs don't have the same objective as a recreational/scientific wet sub. I would guess that SDV pilots are more interested in looking up when underway than down since they use it for transportation and navigation instead of exploring.

 

[Bob DBF]

Don't know. I think I still have a Perry catalog in my files but I'm not sure there is a date on it. Do you know about when that sub at the Groton Museum was made? I'm guessing that this was an SDV (Swimmer Delivery Vehicle).

Thinking aloud:
SDVs don't have the same objective as a recreational/scientific wet sub. I would guess that SDV pilots are more interested in looking up when underway than down since they use it for transportation and navigation instead of exploring.

I think it is an SDV, but I just grabbed a pic off the net. I’ll hunt through my computer next time I fire it up, maybe I have a picture of the description plate in front of it when I was there last.

 

[Bob DBF]

@Akimbo, I didn't get a pic of the nameplate, but there may not have been one. Here are a couple of pics, one has the seal insignia, with a MK 9 under it, so SDV it is, and the other shows some instrumentation inside. If I knew there was a quiz, I would have taken more pictures.

In the background is the USS X-1 (SSX-1) midget sub, operational 10/55-12/57 and 11/60-2/73.