U-Boat Worx, the creative Dutch company that’s been building personal and commercial submersibles since 2005, just launched its NEXIS sub that can carry nine people (seven adults and two children) down to 650 feet below the surface and run for 18 hours straight.
The new NEXIS is a luxury vessel, with business-class seats and a rotating platform so everyone on board can have an unobstructed view underwater. It even has an optional elevator to make boarding easier.
The sub weighs 24,250 pounds and is about 16 feet long, 9 feet wide and 8 feet high. It runs on a 62kWh battery, and has a top speed of three knots underwater. It has eight thrusters, and it can move in any direction, up, down, and sideways.
The new NEXIS is a fully acrylic sub, with a large elliptical acrylic pressure hull made from three sections bonded together to form one large underwater window. The interior configuration has three luxury seats for adults on both sides of the pilot, who’s in a fixed seat at the center. An optional seat can be converted to a bench to seat two children. U-Boat Worx says the NEXIS has much more interior volume than any comparable sub.
The sub can be launched from a ship or from land. It has a joystick-like Manta Controller, which the passengers can use under the pilot’s supervision. For safety, it also has a deadman’s switch that will float the sub to the surface if contact is lost with the passengers for more than ten minutes. Read more:
