For the past two years, 62-year-old Zhang Junlin has been tinkering away at an old warehouse, building a submarine with his friends. Now, fast forward into 2014, Zhang and his crew are about to take their puppy on its inaugural dive.
ChinaNews brings us this series of photos of Zhang's submarine, named Shenlong Number 3. Over the years we've posted about some crazy Chinese inventions and the like, from homemade space shuttle replicas to Transformer statues made of trash. Zhang's submarine definitely ranks as one of the best.
The submarine seats 20 people, and is supposed to be able to reach speeds of 15 nautical miles per hour and hit depths of around 50 meters. Made of stainless steel, the whole thing weighs around 25 tons.
In 2000, Zhang started to become interested in submarines and underwater tourism. In 2006 he started to do research into the subject, and in the process he designed and built Shenlong Number 1 and Number 2.
According to a report by the Chinese Global Times, Zhang's submarine can also has several instruments, like robotic arms, for underwater research and other scientific uses.
张俊林成功研制“神龙三号” 即将下线试航[Global Times]
62岁退休老人建团队研制观光潜艇 [China News]
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Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @FatAsianTechie@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie