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Check out this creation! Custom built no plans! Tim really pulled this craft off. He calls it the River Rat. The design look is very modern and the paint scheme screams FAST. No mouse in around here this rat might just take a bite out of you.
I asked Tim Jeandrevin to give us some back ground info and bring us up to speed on what it takes to get a project like this up and flying so fast. The first fact I got was the translation of his French last name "John of wine!". A glass of wine seems to be a great way to start a build in my book. I'm just wondering what kind of cheese this River Rat likes with it's wine?
It doesn't take long to see that like a fine wine Tim has blended this hobby into a formitable cruising machine. Adventures to places that a great glass of wine and lunch on the beach will make it all worth while.
From bow to stern it's a great example of what determination and obsession can create. Read on I hope you enjoy and keep up with Tim and all his adventures.
Written by builder and owner:
Tim Jeandrevin
I live in Bolivar Ohio, Tuscarawas county, along the Tuscarawas river.......(north east Ohio)
While sitting on my patio the spring of 2006 minding my own business, I saw an airboat go past my house on a trailer. I live near the Tuscarawas river in eastern Ohio near where I grew up. As children, we were always trying to build things that float and ride the river. But we always had to figure out how to get home again, back upstream. An airboat! The perfect answer I thought. I began researching but found that air boats were notorious for eroding river banks, not a great ecological thing. Further research brought me to hovercrafts. They are much more environmentally friendly, and much quieter. In my research, I heard about the upcoming hoverally in Chillicothe. I attended, got my first ride in a hovercraft, and that was it! I was hooked!
I began searching the web, reading websites showing many different features of different styles, designs, manufacturers, etc. etc. Each different style had features I liked, but I didn’t really like the looks of any of them. It is like the old Ford, Chevy argument. It is a very personal thing, and neither is right or wrong. That is what makes the world go around. If we all like exactly the same things, the world would be a very boring place in which to live.
I took the feature of each craft I like the best, and tried to combine them into a craft of my own design. This was very much against the advise of most everybody I talked with that was already in the hobby. I must admit, doing my own design, presented its own problems. Established designs have most or all of the problems worked out already. If you build exactly to the design with no variables, you will have completed a successful craft that will be ready to fly. That "cookie cutter" approach just isn’t my style though.
I have many people to thank for help in over coming problems my craft started out with. Mostly on "hoverlovers" a Yahoo message group of hovercraft enthusiasts. Many people on the board tried to discourage my approach. I believe their intentions were aimed to help me avoid wasted time and money, and keep me out of trouble. Others on the board were very supportive, and offered advise when needed, and answered questions when I needed answers. Between the two approaches, I came up with a hovercraft that is something I feel very proud of.
On my birthday, November 18, 2006 "The River Rat" came out of the shop for the first time. A wall had to be removed to get her out, so no testing had been done in my tiny shop. I couldn’t even start the engines with props on, or I would have sucked things off the shelves and into the fans. The first test went terribly. It was discovered that I needed much more pitch to my lift fan for starters. I repitched the fan blades and the cushion improved 100%, but still wasn’t what it should have been. She still seemed a little tail heavy. My center of gravity was too far back to properly balance. It didn’t seem extreme though, so I decided to try a test on the river as it was to see how she performed. Well, she didn’t sink, but just wouldn’t get over hump and up on cushion.
I thought of an easy way to add 2 feet to the rear of the hull which would move the center of gravity. That was the next approach to "fix the problem". After adding to the hull, it made all the difference in the world as to how she comes up on cushion. Now sitting level and much more balanced the cushion problems now seem totally eliminated.
Back to water for another test! The pictures Jeff has included here on his site were taken that day. I was amazed at the difference in the way it was balanced. There was still a serious problem though. She may "look fast" but she isn’t. Now to solve the next, and what I truly believe is the final problem. A friend I met at the Chillicothe hoverally, David Beechy, was so kind as to give me a thrust prop from and old craft he no longer has. His new craft has a 52" duct so the 48" prop was of no use to him any longer. The problem is, he spun that prop with a 60hp engine. It is just way too much prop for my little 18 Hp twin Briggs thrust engine. I can only get up to 1900 rmps. It should run close to 3600 rpms. It is what we believe to be a 48-50 pitch prop. I am currently carving a 48-35 which I think will spin much faster and solve the last of the serious problems. She should run 35 to 40 mph with this prop.
Am I sorry I designed my own craft for my first build? No, I am not!
Would it be what just anybody should do? Absolutely not!
To build your own hovercraft from a set of plans is extremely rewarding. To design your own hovercraft and build it is incredible! But if it weren’t for the advise and suggestions from people in the hobby, I would have failed. If you are going to design your own, you need to be willing to ask questions, andfollow advice! If you are going to ask for advice, take it! You also have to be the type of person who isn’t easily discouraged. You have to look at every new problem as a new challenge. A new quest to conquer. I knew I had all winter to work the bugs out of "The Rat". By June, she will be ready, and I will be in Chilicothe!
I would like to thank so many people. Those on the board, friends I have made through the hobby,and family. So many people have helped both with suggestions, and patience, and physical help testing the rat. There are really too many to mention, but they all know who the are, and so do I. Truly, thank you! If I can ever return the favor to anybody new to the hobby and pass things I have learned along, you can sure believe I will be there for you too! That is one of the beauties of the hobby. Thanks guys!
Ken Soldin a true hovercraft enthusist. Ken hovers every chance he gets. Check out his amazing web page. http://www.hovercraftalaska.com/
He can also be seen on Discovery"s Animal Planet The Jeff Corwin Experience. Showing off his talents as a hover pilot. He solo's Jeff Corwin on how to cruise the backwoods with a lite foot print on the enviroment with a hovercraft.
Ken comes through again with some great video and photos of Jeff Corwin in his SEV. Sweet stuff, here is a picture of Ken, Jeff and Kens wife Mary.
Ken spent this three day weekend with his two really great grand kids. They loaded up for a long weekend of camping and hunting. Looking to fill the freezer with a Carabou. They spent a little to much time flying and site seeing as they ran into everything but a Carabou. They have a great cabin on Lake Loiuse so they'll be back at it next week. Enjoy some pictures that can only be had by hovercraft. My personal note: Air boats don't count there so noisy they scare the trees away.
These are taken in the Anchorage area. Ken told me they spent a night on the salt water as well. So they must have been on a fairly long voyage. Dam it's good to be a guy with a vanguard 24hp honda craft. Ran all day on a tank of fuel. Wonder who's the number one grandpa in Anchorage, Alaska. I bet two little guys could answer that pretty dam quick. Way to be # 1 KEN. Kens Yahoo photo album
FYI: This craft is also for sale on his for sale page. He has a Falcon hover he is rebuilding. About 20ft or so with 30hp lift I believe and a chevy 350 ci. thrust. The sale of his beloved craft will speed his newest project to completion. I have flown this Vanguard it is a perfect flyer for one of you that would rather not build.
Here is some good info on flying a hover craft: I got this from Universal hovercraft.
CBS 11 News went to the Knik River to try our hands at hovercrafting. A hovercraft might just be the ultimate all-terrain vehicle. It can move over land, water and even ice. The craft is able to do this by floating along on a cushion of air.
"Flying on a cushion of air is exactly the same way as flying on an airplane. The only thing is you never leave ground effect. So you don't have very far to fall--only 10 to 12 inches in a small hovercraft of this size," said Kenneth Soldin of Hovercraft Alaska.
The vehicles are pretty simple to use. If you can drive a car, you'll probably be able to operate one of these. In fact, after a quick lesson from Soldin, he was brave enough to let me go solo on his hovercraft.
I put the craft in hovercraft.
It was pretty amazing going from land to water so effortlessly. I wasn't the only one who had a chance to experience this unique machine.
"I think it's definitely something everyone should try. You can go on any kind of land or water
and it's a good way to explore places you'd never otherwise see," said Ali Reed of CBS 11 News.
If you're looking for a new hobby or a new way to explore Alaska, you'll want to check out Hovercraft Alaska.
For more information on everything you'd ever want to know about hovercrafts you can click here.
If you have any ideas for the Get Out series that you'd like to share, you can give me a call on the Get Out Hotline at 273-3118.
Does anyone in the northwest want to do a trip like the north to Alaska hover trip that you all have read over and over and over and over!!! Live the dream baby live the dream!! Great vaction trip Or anything else? I'm open for a trip to Mexico!!
These guys can build. Not bad for a plans built home project. It's made from recycled milk cartons. video
Website email watercatwn6535nd@yahoo.com I post a lot of picts. Some I take, some I take from you. I always try to give every one credit. Try not to wine about it. But if it bothers you let me know. I'm just trying to have fun and promote my hobbies. More than likely it helps promote you!!
