Voyager submarines are battery powered and have to recharged every night The batteries are deep-cycle lead acid batteries. There are 248 batteries powering the primary propulsion system, air conditioning and other auxillary systems. Each small battery weighs 64 lbs, each large battery weighs 93 pounds, there are 124 of each. We tow the submarines to and from Pier 41 inside Honolulu Harbor each day, where we have our maintenance facility.
There are batteries to operate 24 volt systems onboard, and emergency batteries which will operate all life support systems for 72 hours, if the need should arise.
Voyager submarines are US Coast Guard certified to carry 48 passengers and 3 crew members to a depth of 150 feet. The submarines are rated to be able to dive to 328 feet.(100 meters)
The submarines are 72.8 feet long and weigh 98 tons. They are 9.9 feet wide, and overall height is 22.5 feet. The hull is 1 inch thick steel, payload capacity is 11,000 lbs, and the draft is 10.4 feet. The passenger viewports are 30 inches wide, and 4.4 inches thick! The maximum submerged speed is 5 knots, and on the surface 7 knots.
The propulsion system is hydraulically operated and is composed of: A main thruster 105 horsepower (HP), 2 lateral thrusters 13 HP each, these thrusters allow the boat to pivot, and do tight turns, 2 vertical thrusters, 13 HP each which allow the pilot to push the boat up or down. There are 2 dive planes, and a rudder.
There are 16 Oxygen cylinders onboard, and 2 high pressure air cylinders. Voyager maintenance staff members recharge oxygen and air on the boats every night.
When the submarines are underwater they need to achieve a near neutral buoyant status, due to changing numbers of passengers with each dive the weight of the submarine must also be changed. To do this we have a water ballast system which allows the pilot to pump water into the water ballast tanks for fewer numbers of passengers, and pump water out for a greater number of passengers, maintaining a constant weight of the submarine for diving operations.This system also allows the pilot to be able to adjust the "attitude" or "trim" of the submarine to be slightly bow down during tour operations. This is achieved by pumping water from an aft tank to a forward tank, or vice versa. Total capacity of both water ballast tanks is about 1300 gallons!
There is also an air ballast system that is used on the surface so as to achieve maximum freeboard, or height of the deck above the sea surface. There are 8 tanks that can be filled with air and provide a extra 10 tons of buoyancy. There is a total of 323 cubic feet of volume in these 8 tanks.
The cabin environment is monitored constantly throughout submerged operations, the pilot and co-pilot continually monitor the oxygen and carbon dioxide content of the cabin. Adjustments to the oxygen and Carbon dioxide levels can be made. There are sensors located fore and aft in the cabin to monitor the atmosphere. There are also smoke detectors in the cabin, machinery space as well as the sealed battery boxes. Hydrogen gas levels in the battery box is also monitored.
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