Triton's extraordinary range of submersibles already includes a 24-seat tourist sub, a luxury bubble-sub capable of taking you down to visit the Titanic, a "deep-sea elevator" that can repeatedly plunge down to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, and a sub designed by Aston Martin.
Now, the company's expanding things further with a series of "experience" subs based around an elongated bubble that Triton says is the industry's first free-form acrylic pressure hull. Widening the bubble out sideways allows Triton to fit substantially more passengers on board while keeping its footprint down to about the size of two jet skis, and thus ideal for storage in the garages of large superyachts or cruise ships.
The Triton 660 AVA (Advanced Versatile Acrylics) can be specified with up to nine seats, and can take a pilot and eight passengers down to 200-meter (656-ft) depths for up to 12 hours per charge of its 57-kWh battery. Four main electric thrusters and four maneuvering thrusters, each with a peak output of 5.5 kW, give it a top speed of 3 knots (3.5 mph / 5.6 km/h).
Triton's pitching this weird-looking thing as a venue for "unique experiences," and says it can fit it out as a cocktail bar, wedding venue, casino VIP room or sub-sea dining room. The ability to take more passengers, says Triton, should make it a more attractive revenue proposition for cruise ships and land-based resorts.
Expect to see more stretched-bubble designs from these guys in the future.
Source: Triton Submarines
