Car Wars was never originally about boats, let alone submarines, but with these new vehicles comes new territory that was never exploited properly. Indeed, depending on which set of rules you have will depend on how much you know about swimmers, swimming and sinking, all of which are important traits when floating on or under the waves.

So, this section is designed to help out referee's when it comes to swimmers. The following notes are taken directly from the original pocket box Boat Wars, and the second edition Car Wars Compendium (green cover version), and updated and expanded upon by myself.

First though, lets start with what the rules say...

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Pedestrians, or, more accurately, swimmers. Swimmers move at 2.5 mph with an acceleration of 2.5 mph/turn. Swimmers may only carry 3 grenade-equivalents (GEs) [or 10% of their body weight if you are using the alternative encumbrance system] of equipment in any fashion, including battlevests and backpacks. Anyone carrying more is slowed down - 4-6 GEs [20% of body weight] slows a swimmer by 2.5 mph, 7-9 [30% body weight) by 5 mph, and anymore slows the swimmer to 0 mph. Anyone slowed to 0 mph can still tread water. Anyone slowed below 0 mph is no longer a swimmer, but a sinker. Body armour, fire resistant suits and other such "clothing" may be worn in the water, but counts as two GEs of equipment for these purposes. Improved body armour is also allowed, but counts as 3 GEs [when using the alternate encumbrance system, simply use the weight of these items]. Swimmers may change direction up to 90 degrees each time they move.
Swimming is a skill. Anyone with Swimming at base level (+0) will move as described above (anyone without this skill can still tread water if carrying no more than 3 GEs [10% of body weight]). Anyone with additional levels of Swimming moves an extra 2.5 mph/turn for every two levels; someone with Swimming +2 would swim at 5 mph, and someone with Swimming +4 could swim at 7.5 mph (but only with the use of swim fins). 7.5 mph is the fastest anyone can swim unencumbered, no matter what their skill.
Swimmers may swim underwater for up to 30 seconds, plus 10 seconds for every Swimming skill level above base level. Swimmers underwater cam only be damaged by underwater explosions (torpedoes or grenades), or hand to hand combat. Underwater swimmers may also not notice important above-surface events, at the referee's discretion. Underwater swimmers running out of time must come up for air, or drown immediately. Underwater swimmers should keep track of their depth - they can climb or dive at the same rate they can swim [i.e., for every 1/4" forward motion scarified, the swimmer may climb or dive 1/4"]. Non-swimmers cannot swim underwater for any distance or any length of time.
On the surface, or underwater at depth above the draft of a boat, swimmers may be run over, taking collision damage, just like a pedestrian hit by a car, figure at 10 mph under the boats speed.
Hand weapons may be taken underwater, but every time it is fired when on the surface without a clean, roll 1 die. On a 1 or 2, the weapon stops working and will not work again until it is thoroughly cleaned. Weapons may be waterproofed to avoid this.
Water is good at cushioning falls. When a person jumps out of a moving boat, or jumps off a bridge, or whatever, subtract 1 point per die for non-swimmers, and 2 points per die for swimmers (swimmers know how to dive).
If a swimmer wants to board a boat from the water, consult the following table below, and roll 2 dice equal to or better than the number shown. A swimmer can't board a yacht unless someone throws him a rope or extends a ladder. Boarding a cruiser is at -2 to the numbers shown below:

Boat Stopped:	automatic success
5 mph or less:	5+
7.5 mph to 10 mph:	7+
12.5 mph to 15 mph:	9+
17.5 mph to 20 mph:	11+
22.5 mph and higher:	not possible

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Well, that's what the rules say, lets complicate things a little now!

Weights Carried:

The first thing that I would like to change is the amount that a diver may carry with them underwater. I feel it should be changed to 15% segments, thus the standard unencumbered person can carry 30 lbs. with them underwater, while a encumbered person (-2.5 mph) can now carry 60 lbs. of weight. The reason for this is due to the weights of the Scuba gear itself. Going by the revised Scuba gear weights, the standard Scuba set will weight 49 lbs., while the armoured set 57 lbs. This is going to mean that anyone will receive a penalty to their speed (fine), but as soon as they start to carry essentials and a weapon, they just won't be able to move at all. A standard speargun is 3 lbs. in weight, so carrying that and the armoured Scuba gear set will mean that a diver suffers a -2.5 mph penalty, so if they have Swimming at the base rate, then they tread water (makes sense, no one who can't swim properly should be trying on Scuba gear anyway!), and so to be able to swim at 2.5 mph, you need Swimming +2, 5 mph needs Swimming +4, and if you want to be really zippy and swim at 7.5 mph, then you need Swimming +6 (and just be glad that the weight of the swim fins is already added into the weight of the suit itself!).
If you go by the normal rules outlined above, you would need Swimming +6 to be able to travel at a paltry 2.5 mph, and how many characters or extras have the ability to be able to spend that many skill points on a movement skill, let alone be able to fire the weapon that they are carrying?

Personally I would be inclined to increase the weight allowance carried and make Swimming fall into line with the Running skill and thus for every level of Swimming, your speed increases by 2.5 mph. Okay, so you still can't swim faster than 5 mph (or 7.5 mph with fins), but it makes more sense, and, more importantly, it makes characters not have to spend so many skill points on a single skill and allow them to be able to fire weapons. So now, carrying the armoured Scuba suit and the single shot speargun (no reloads!), means that with Swimming +1 you can travel at 2.5 mph, Swimming +2 allows speeds of 5 mph, and having Swimming +3 means that you can zip along at 7.5 mph with fins!

Equipment Carried:

Due to the fact that a diver has to carry their air supply with them when they travel underwater, there are a couple of changes as to what a diver may carry.
Obviously, if a diver is wearing any sort of air tank on their back, then they cannot carry any sort of backpack or power pack. This can pose a problem to laser wielding divers, and thus I recommend a trip to here to enquire about the smaller belt power packs. Backpacks can though, be worn on the front of the diver. This does cause some obstruction for the diver, and all rolls will be at a -1 modifier for the duration of having the backpack there.
Remember to waterproof all weapons, power packs and backpacks!

Movement:

There are a few things that a diver has to consider when swimming under the waves, one of the most major is the depth that they can swim to. A swimmer cannot just keep diving until they hit bottom, there is pressure and other factors to consider. Consult the following table as a guide to how deep a diver may go without decompression. With decompression, you can go deeper (the record for a scuba depth is around 400'), however how many people want to keep stopping for ten minute+ breaks in a combat situation?

Diver	Safe Depth	Safe Time
Diver, no additional equipment:	25'	As determined by Swimming Skill
Diver with snorkal:	25'	As long as desired
Diver in Scuba gear:	130'	10 minutes
Diver in Articulate Armour:	250'	As long as air permits

Remember that these are safe depths and times only, and require no decompression on the part of the diver.

[Note on Articulate Armour: AA should not be counted as part of the divers equipment when calculating speed loss. With a minimum weight of 100 lbs, a diver wearing this gear isn't going to be going anyway otherwise!. Instead, this armour slows down a diver to half speed, after all modifications for encumbrance. Provided encumbrance doesn't slow the diver to 0 mph, they may always move at 2.5 mph]

Then there is visibility , the deeper one goes, the darker it gets.

Getting onto a sub whilst it is travelling underwater is the same as getting onto a land vehicle and uses the same modifiers and table, provided the diver is at the same depth as the sub. If the sub is on the surface, then use the boat table above. This is because underwater you can just reach out and grab the sub... hopefully! If the sub has diver rails, then treat the speed as 10 mph less, after all, that's what diver rails are there for. Once you are on a sub, then getting is could a problem, subs don't generally have airlocks (well, these subs don't!). Thus you will have to fight your through, just like trying to get into a locked car.

Combat:

With the advent of more weapons that function underwater, there are obviously a lot more ways for a diver to be hurt - torpedoes with pin point targeting, spearguns, bluegreen lasers, and so on.

Skills:

There are two skills that are useful for divers to know:
Swimmer: As described above, knowing how to swim gives speed bonuses to a diver, allows them to stay underwater longer, and gives them the knowledge of diving, so that they can suffer less damage when leaping into watery situations.
Note that the maximum speed of a diver is 5 mph. With swim fins this can be increased to 7.5 mph, but without them it is always 5 mph.
Scuba: To be able to achieve reasonable depths, a diver must be wearing either Scuba gear, or AA, and to be able to use either properly, the diver must have the Scuba skill. Scuba +1 or higher is actually required for Articulate Armour.