Purchasing a Hovercraft? Intro Series #3

Intro To Hovercraft Purchasing #3
If purchasing a hovercraft for the first time, there are quite a few items you need to be aware of in order to determine the right vehicle for your needs. This four (4) part series will guide you step by step through the important points to consider to ensure your safety, complete satisfaction and to that the hovercraft you choose is durable & strong.

Many issues affect Hovercraft performance, just as they do a boat, aeroplane or helicopter. Since the Hovercraft is partly all three of these vehicles, it is important that you consider a range of factors from durability, performance and safety, to the type of hovercraft skirts and hull materials used in construction. In addition, operational considerations and terms such as "ploughing-in" and "getting over the hump" should be understood and the manufacturer questioned on these items, before choosing the model and brand that will best fit you.


PERFORMANCE Continued.

Skirts!
Occasionally, hovercraft skirts may get damaged so you need to know how to replace a skirt, how expensive and how difficult the job will be. There are generally two approaches to skirt design, a single skirt, that wraps the entire craft or a segmented skirt design. Single skirts tend to cost less for a complete craft-wide replacement, however replacing one single segment on a segmented skirt, is a lot less expensive than a whole wingle skirt. Additionally, damage to a single skirt may require replacing the entire skirt, while again, only the segment in question would need to be replaced on a segmented skirt. Replacing an entire skirt can be a big job and usually means recovering the whole vehicle back to a workshop or garage, while many segmented skirts can be replaced in the field.

-- The Hov Pod has 65 different segments for damage limitation, so rather than having to replace the whole skirt if damaged, at great cost, you simply replace the damaged segment. Naturally you will wish to go exploring with your hovercraft, but need to get home safely, so having a few spare skirt segments handy is a good idea and only takes a minute to change each segment.

Skirt Strength
Skirt strength is dependant on the material used and the way a skirt attaches to the Hovercraft. Rips and holes torn in a skirt, combined with UV degradation can quickly destroy a seemingly good skirt. Should this happen while touring the countryside, you will want to ensure your Hovercraft is capable of getting you home.

--The Hov Pod uses a Polyurethane / Nylon material for excellent wear, UV and salt-water protection. We invite customers to try tear this material during demonstrations - no one has managed in over one year - we even cut it with scissors to give them an easy start!! The Hov Pod in tests has operated with up to 25% of the skirts missing. The careful design of the skirts also means that in normal use the Hov Pod generates little to no spray and the drive and passenger can stay virtually dry.


Hull Material
We touched on the importance of a good quality hull in our last segment, with regard to stopping on land. However even in general use, the impact resistance of your Hovercraft Hull is vitally important to keeping you safe, dry and most importantly - afloat. Glass fibre hovercraft not fitted with bumper bars can disintegrate on impact with stationary objects; cracked GRP damage can be difficult and quite costly to repair. It is possible that Glass fibre hovercraft hull's can literally fall apart after hitting a wave, because of the difference in design form a standard boat hull to a Hovecrraft hull and skirt system.

-- The Hov Pod hull is unique, manufactured from HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). HDPE has been used in the past to construct Formula 1 Race crash barriers and artificial joints; it is extremely strong, impact resistant and extremely buoyant. We invite customers to strike our hulls with a baseball bat to test their sturdiness. Try asking to do this with other brands of Hovercraft! Hov Pods are designed to withstand accidents when they occur, protected by an aluminium and rubber bumper strip which helps to further minimise damage to the craft. Just to make sure and because we really do like using Hov Pods on land, we also fit aluminium impact sheets, aluminium runners and wear bolts on the underside of the Hov Pod for durability and support whilst coming to rest on firm ground.


"Ploughing in"
This is a term used in the industry to describe a problem where a hovercraft suddenly stops, due to the nose of the craft dipping into water - as anyone knows, sudden stopping or deceleration will cause passengers and driver to part company with a vehicle. This can happen through excess speed, lack of appropriate lift or one of many possible scenario's usually linked to operator error.

-- The Hov Pod has been designed to overcome the problem of "plough in" - in fact, we recommend suddenly stopping in the Hov Pod should you need to, at which point the Hov Pod will operate more like a boat slowing in the water rather than a Hovercraft. The Hov Pod has never ploughed in, though we continue to hear of incidents where other hovercraft have suffered this problem, sometimes with quite serious consequences. It's simple controls avoid the opportunity for user error.


Transportation
Once you have a Hovercraft, you now need to get it to your place of recreation. Most standard trailers will not do, while cheaper, they require either two, three or four people to back breakingly lift the craft off and on the trailer. Fly-on Fly-off is sometimes offered as an option but in reality is not as simple as it sounds, since Hovercraft tend to drift downhill with gravity. If your trailer is not situated on a perfectly flat location, getting it on or off a trailer can become quite tedious.

-- The Hov Pod can be supplied with a fully galvanised custom designed trailer made by an approved trailer manufacturer. For safety this trailer is designed for single person operation - a big bonus for Search and Rescue (SAR) organisations. The Hov Pod trailer utilises 4 rubber coated rollers (to protect the hull and stop that annoying banging when trailering) and a simple winch mechanism to gently unload or reload the Hov Pod in about one (1) minute.


Safety
Good safety design is no accident. Safety is a very important aspect of design for the leisure and commercial market. Just as with any other quality vehicle (boat, car, plane), that you would consider putting your family into, your Hovercraft should have reasonable and sufficient safety mechanisms in place. Consider sealed batteries and ventilated fuel tanks for example. Properly waterproofed and marine standard electronics. Marinised engines, aluminium parts for marine use. Even something as simple as fan guards should be stock standard on a Hovercraft - the majority of hovercraft manufacturers do not fit these.

-- The Hov Pod has undergone extensive development wih safety as a key factor. We fit a front and rear guard to the fan assembly - who in their right mind wouldn’t? Sealed batteries, electronics, ventilated fuel tanks, marine grade wiring and operating parts. Designed to manage air-flow and avoid "ploughing in." Finally, one of the largest safety factors inherent in the Hov Pod is the Hov Pod's ease of use. Don't believe me? Please visit our website for pictures of children as young as Three (3) years of age driving the Hov Pod (with adult supervision of course). The Hov Pod only needs fingertip control, no need to shift your weight to turn corners! With CAD and CNC designed parts, the Hov Pod has gone through a full governmental certification.


So we come to the end of our 3rd part in the Introduction to Hovercraft Purchasing series! I hope it has been informative!! Keep an eye out for the next in this four part introduction to Hovercraft series.

For more information visit: http://www.hovpod.com.au/