Amazon river, Loadum up

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Ravencry, Mar 16, 2009.

  1. mydauphin
    Joined: Apr 2007
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    Location: Florida

    mydauphin Senior Member

    Ken,
    I think you wrote the book on Hovercraft real world performance. I was thinking of buying one to run in the Everglades. A friend beat me to it. He took it out ran it through the grass. It last about 2 hours before the skirt got cut to spreads and had to have several air boats come to rescue him...

    What is maximum height that a small hovercraft can fly above its skirt?
     
  2. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    interesting thread folks
    kinda makes me wonder if my plan of building a ocean going schooner along a major waterway and sailing it downriver to open water might be a tad more difficult than I thought
     
  3. kroberts
    Joined: Mar 2009
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    kroberts Senior Member

    I really must apologize to the original poster for hijacking the thread. Had I known it would be like this I would have started a separate one.

    I'm not nearly the most experienced hovercraft guy out there. I may be the most experienced one who posts on this forum, but that's not saying much. No offense intended.

    I know somebody who operates a hovercraft in the Everglades, but you have to stick to the more open water.

    It all comes down to power. Check this page out: http://www.hoverhawk.com/lcalc.html

    The average recreational hovercraft is designed to operate on open water, sand, dirt or grass. You can make them to operate elsewhere, but there are a lot more considerations, and I probably don't know all of them.
     
  4. Ravencry
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    Location: Iquitos

    Ravencry Junior Member

  5. Ravencry
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    Ravencry Junior Member

    The picture worked, how nice. Here is a picture of what kind of boat I can get. This is a picture I got off the internet. It would cost me around $1000 to buy one used. Do you see any reason why this would be a bad design. It kicks up a lot of water with a 60hp and the 11 people and gas. I will attach two more pics below, one of the water being kicked up and the other of a design that I used to see in Venezuela on the Orinoco river, made of wood. Thanks, Ravencry
     
  6. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    looks like there is a lot of debris in the water
    hit one of those logs at speed and you could be in trouble
     
  7. Ravencry
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    Ravencry Junior Member

    [/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

    the shoe boat, I like to call it, has a 75hp yamaha. Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Ravencry
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    Ravencry Junior Member

    That is a danger, you hit a log, and it makes the outboard turn all of the sudden and the boat turn and flips. =)
     
  9. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    sounds like fun
    were do I sign up
     
  10. TeddyDiver
    Joined: Dec 2007
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    Location: Finland/Norway

    TeddyDiver Gollywobbler

    Looks like flat bottom?
    Perhaps the main drawback with used one might be the weight. All the additional stuff, roof and car seats(?) plus maybe a bit wetted hull.. Any idea of total weight?
     
  11. TeddyDiver
    Joined: Dec 2007
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    Location: Finland/Norway

    TeddyDiver Gollywobbler

    We have only rocks and shallow river .. however if you hit one same results follow.. or might see the foot of the engine flying to orbit..
     
  12. apex1

    apex1 Guest

    That is exactly the boat I mentioned in my first reply here! There are thousands of them on the Amazon and they are neither easy to wreck nor are they slow. And they can carry a hell of a payload. If you look for one of the next larger size (about 30 - 33ft), you might have what you need.
    And they have one advantage over all the modern (Alu, GRP) boats. Minor repairs like a broken plank, a puncture, a leak, can be repaired easily besides "the roads" whith basic tools.
    Regards
    Richard
     
  13. Ravencry
    Joined: Mar 2009
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    Ravencry Junior Member

    Guys, Got a question, If I put 12 people in 4 rows of three and make the boat narrower it would be better for a boat that would not plane off, right? And if I wanted to try to get it to plane off it would be better to do 3 rows of four and make the boat shorter and wider, right?? I did the numbers and I will have around 5500lb of boat, people, gas, luggage, roof, motors. I downloaded a free program and am tying to get a design that will displace that weight. Thanks, Ravencry
     
  14. rasorinc
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    rasorinc Senior Member

    On the Amazon River, I would want twin engines for sure. I think a backup engine that alone could drive the boat is a necessity. My 2 bits.
     

  15. TeddyDiver
    Joined: Dec 2007
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    Location: Finland/Norway

    TeddyDiver Gollywobbler

    It's more simple way if you drive upstream.. free ride home if smth fails:D
     
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