Is there such a thing as a road-legal hovercraft?

Preferably legal on both UK and French roads?

😯 If you don't already own a helmet cam, can I please buy you one. This has the potential to be absolutely out of this world awesome.

(edit, I have no clue what the answer is)

http://www.hoverclubofamerica.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=1858

what a question! Ha

No, its not. Mainly because it'd be borderline impossible to stop in a hurry I suspect!

a man like you needn't be concerned with legal minutiae – get that camera from tthew and get going !

I'll have a Jackalope steak please.

orsm!

when i grew up in the sixties its all they ever had on blue peter and tomorrows world – legal? impression was they would be compulsary by now – just get on with it

ps don't the marines use them?

ps don't the marines use them?

In combat, no doubt, to get some shopping…?

ALL hovercrafts are road legal, tax exempt and free to insure..

EDIT: according to a bloke down the pub.

You wont be on the road, you'll be slightly above it

My mate's brother's girlfriend's cousin told me that if you drive (fly?) one on the road you get paid 10p/mile by the government as a sort of negative insurance because they don't wear out the tarmac, don't crush the wildlife and blow all the leaves & grit away so the road is cleaner after you've driven (flown?) over it….probably 😉

these people reckon their's have brakes – and no i don';t what the duty rate would be for import

http://www.neoterichovercraft.com/showroom/showroom.htm

I certainly hope they will never be legal, just think of the noise. Now if they were silent, you can go ahead and have one.

….but no erosion!

"." The pressure a hovercraft exerts on its operating surface is conservatively 1/30th that of the human foot! The average human being standing on ground exerts a pressure of about 3 lb per square inch (20 KPa), and that increases to 25 lb per square inch (172 KPa) when walking. In contrast, the average hovercraft exerts a pressure of only 0.33 lb (2.2 KPa) per square inch – even less as speed increases. This "footprint pressure" is below that of a seagull standing on one leg!"

courtesy of Neoterichovercraft FAQ now compare that with a nobby nick
doesn't mention noise but they seem to come with power horns and sirens as standard

This "footprint pressure" is below that of a seagull standing on one leg!"

I think that says more about the problems we face from seagulls.

only if it is full of eels

you have to bring your own conveyer belt though

You wont be on the road, you'll be slightly above it

I like the lateral thinking.

I like the lateral thinking.

uh, vertically…

uh, vertically…

STOPPIT 🙂

And anyway, isn't it horizontal?

This may be the best question ever asked on this forum. I applaud it. 😀

I can think of hovercrafts that are legal on UK roads, and ones that are legal on french roads, but I'll be buggered if I know of any that are legal on both. I think Andrewh is preparing his pitch to the next series of Dragon's Den. The multiregion-road-legal-hovercraft, a solution to a problem you didn't even know you had. This the same man who brought us the 'pay-as-you-go parachute' and the 'Gander Bender'

i think for road use has to be legal in both a country where you drive on left AND a country where you drive on right – this is to equalise the wear due to road camber on the skirt – if you just stuck to the UK then you'd have to spend half your time reversing

During the 2007 floods I remember reading an article in the paper about some people who were managing to get about using a couple of racing hovercraft…

Any luck finding the answer Andrew? I suddenly want one, just for UK roads though.

As yet, no, unfortunately. And to be honest, I wasn't really thinking of using one on the roads, I was just testing the principle of non-wheeled craft on public roads. I'm working on something far more interesting…

As an aside skidartist, the Gander Bender wasn't one of mine, I'll be intrigued to know what one is though!
I have missed a couple of great ideas. You know the large-stack-height crown-race Hope and CK are now making? I invented that a couple of years before either, except mine was better in that it would work with any headset (although different sizes for 1", 1 1/8", 1.5" etc). Never got round to getting a patent though. Also invented a squirrel-proof bird feeder which I have since seen advertised in the inovations catolouge. Bit cross about that too, but also no patent.
I'll not give away the secret of my astronaught training-aids here though, still a work in progress.

only if it is full of eels

My nipples explode with delight!

I'm working on something far more interesting…

This was already the best question/thread on here for weeks. Now you've really got me baffled.

The Italian made hovercraft that Gloucester Fire and Rescue use, and BARB (Burnham Area Rescue Boat), at Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset are hoping to replace their small craft with have airbrakes that swivel out from the drive fan to give reverse thrust, which stops the craft in a pretty short distance, and allow very accurate steering. They're fine on a six mile long beach like Burnham/Berrow/Brean, or on flooded fields and roads, but I'm bu99ered if I'd want to try taking one where there's traffic. Scary thought.

My day has been fairly shite.

You have turned it around.

Just a quick update.
I drove a hovercraft for the first time last week. Can you all please join me in starting a campaign to have greater run-off areas on all corners on all roads, especailly any which are downhill and off-camber.
Thanks.

VID !!!! 😆

My hovercraft is perfectly legal on roads, pavements, footpaths, and I can drive it drunk through red lights and with complete reckless abandon without fear of reproach. However, it’s right-hand erm… hover, and I only have a basic TomTom with UK and Northern Ireland mapping, so you won’t catch me using it south of Dover. Fact.

It did occur to me that a hovercraft would be very useful indeed for crossing the Bristol Channel…

Camber may cause issues….

Used to be one to cross the Forth. Never went on it though, tried to once but public transport links at the far end were rubbish (trying to get from Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh airport, and couldn’t get passed Waverly) Took the car instead, another public transport fail.
(yes. I know it’s far to ride but I was meeting someone who didn’t have a bike with her)

Hovercraft accross the Firth of Forth. Was that Gerry and the Pacemakers?

My friend has a restrictive covenant on his house which expressly states that it should not be used to launch hovercraft from. It would be worth checking whether this is a common clause in coastal areas (where I assume a hovercraft would have most value and biggest market potential) before embarking on any business.

YEAH !

just checked our deeds: No washing lines, no hedges out front but NO mention of a hovercraft ban 😀

Seems I’m in the clear for nuclear testing too – and possibly running a brothel/heliport/KFC franchise (all of which are lacking in the vicinity at present)

I’ll get my people in contact with your people, andrewh (hover-thru KFC ho’house with a pad on the roof ?)