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Dirk Pitt uses one in "Inca Gold"...I won't say how as it will ruin the
story but it definitely is fictitious!!
Bob Favorite
rwfavorite@uc*.ed*
On Wed, 24 May 1995, A.Appleyard
wrote:
> Has anyone out there any news of the `Subskimmer' or anything similar? It is
> a RIB about 5 feet wide and about 15-20 feet long. It can plane deflated. It
> has: An arm across its front, hinged on at its middle, carrying at each end an
> electric motor called a `thruster' for travel underwater, driven by a bulky
> NiCd battery which is in a long wide tube in its keel (thus also acting as
> ballast keeping it stable maneuvering on the surface). Amidships a big box
> containing air pumps to inflate or deflate the boat, etc. Big air cylinders
> for the divers to breathe off and to inflate the boat quickly. For surface
> propulsion a petrol/gasoline outboard motor altered so its inlet and exhaust
> can be quickly sealed watertight against depth pressure. Surface speed 20
> knots for 2.5 hours. Underwater speed 2.5 knots for 2 hours. Big battery not
> recharged from outboard motor? The thruster arm contains any extra kit like
> sonar and navigation instruments. Recommended crew 3, but larger versions
> could be made. Very flexible; it is a RIB that can transform into a submerged
> diver-rider and back!!! and you can take your boat down with you and you don't
> have to leave it and if anything happens (e.g. getting caught in a fast
> current) you can surface and you've got your boat with you at once.
> Subskimmer was started by an aqualung etc factory called Submarine Products
> Ltd (Hexham, Northumberland, England). This closed; Subskimmer was taken over
> by Defence Boats Ltd (also Hexham). This closed; Subskimmer (now named Kraken
> 90) (my last info is in Dec 1992) is/was being made by a firm (then small)
> called Serrico Ltd, La Hache, St.Martin St.Firmin, 27450 St.Georges du Vievre,
> France (probably in Normandy, probably in the departement de l'Eure).
> I feel that, to recover research costs, they badly overpriced it, hoping for
> a small highly paying naval and commando and patrol market. The last price for
> it that I heard of was 100,000 (yes, 1e5!!) UK pounds :-( :-( :-(, else it
> would likely have gone like hot cakes to diving centres and diving clubs etc!!
> Still perhaps there is still time for them to change their minds on this.
> Names: `Subskimmer' is Submarine Products's and Defence Boats's tradename
> for it. (Serrico now calls it Kraken 90. Beware confusion: part of the innards
> of the Carmellan SMS2000 automatic mixture rebreather is/was also called
> Kraken. The original Kraken was a legendary supergiant squid monster.) The
> name `Subskimmer' suggests its use better than `Kraken', so I keep on using
> the name `Subskimmer' here although it is not the current name.
> Please! Diving needs subskimmers! They sound incredibly handy! When
<will>
> they become affordable!? Has anyone else heard of (1) anyone else making any
> sort or make of subskimmer or anything like one (in a factory, or some diving
> hobbyist subskimmerifying an ordinary RIB); (2) anyone using one; (3) any
> fictional uses of them (bibliographic reference please)?
> --
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>
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