What can I use a hovercraft for?
Fun, Fishing, Pleasure trips, Joy rides, Passengers, Cargo, Search and Rescue, Going places no man has gone before (in a boat), Bird counting, Research, Sea Weed beds, Aquaculture, Weed Spraying, and the list goes on.
It is difficult for me to understand why people like boats, they are inefficient, heavy, costly to run and the wake destroys the shore line, they need launching ramps, when the tide is out they get stuck on sand banks and mud, they suck weed into the engine cooling systems, yuck..... I live in the southern most mainland town in Australia, established years before Melbourne was discovered, and I go flying for hours, I simply don't want to go home.
 When the tide is in this area is covered with a metre of water
Soon I will organise a Hover trip to Tasmania and return, over Bass Strait, it's only 180 Km from here, the weather would have to be perfect and it will take much planing and safety backup procedures. There are islands every 20 Km or so across the strait so it's tiring but not a bad trip. The most exciting thing for me is cruising quietly across the sand and mud flats across pools with fish and huge sting rays sleeping in the shallows, closely observing unafraid wading birds, exploring the deeper pools that fishermen cannot get to. I enjoy taking people on a cruise across the sand flats to Wilsons Promontory and very quietly cruising along the beaches, maybe stopping for a picnic or a walk in the sand on remote beaches. In America and Canada, hovercraft are used to tow water skiers, (In Australia, most crafters drive hovercraft less than 12 ft long, not good for skiing), They also do search and rescue on ice, for goods deliveries to remote communities and for taking people on camping and tour holidays to areas inaccessible by any other means. Hovercraft can easily travel over land and water, mud flats, swamps, ice, in fact any surface, smooth or bumps, waves or undulations. There is no vibration in the water like boats with high-speed props, and little wake to erode the shore, they do not crash over the waves and ripples like a boat so birds and fish are undisturbed. Hovercraft can carry loads depending on their design and size, generally speaking, the larger the hovercraft the larger the load and the more passengers it can carry, they can go up and down slight slopes and are an exciting craft to fly in racing and enduro competitions. I use my hovercraft to take cargo and passengers to remote islands when the tide goes out. eMail Hovergo SG for more information
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