Flood Rescue

Rescue Hovercraft

Memories fade, but many will remember the terrible floods in Thailand last year and the level of devastation and disruption floods can bring. Recent announcements from politicians in Thailand seek to assure residents that last years floods will not happen again this year, indeed very comforting to hear, but not necessarily true. In the UK, we have just had the wettest June records began in 1910; I think we are probably heading for the wettest July, there goes summer!

Rescue organisations and governments need to make preparation for floods before they happen. Every year we receive urgent calls for rescue hovercraft to be made available for next day delivery, alas hovercraft take a little time to manufacture, flooding preparation is required, to ensure equipment is available to emergency services, before the emergency happens.

Rescue Hovercraft are often more practical than a rescue boat, because unlike search and rescue boats, hovercraft do not have propellers to get snagged on submerged wire fences, street furniture, tree roots etc. In addition to flood rescue, hovercraft rescue craft make all the difference between life and death for victims of ice rescue, sand and mud rescue – boat rescue is impossible from these surfaces, and speed is essential to ensure that victims do not succumb to drowning or hypothermia. (Even a fast rescue boat will slow down on mud and sand!)

Ice training rescue will have rescuers donning dry suits and throwing lifelines as far as they can be thrown, but hypothermia will paralyse victims and make it difficult to grab a life line. Mud rescue victims get sucked down, an air lance mat be required to pump gas to reduce the suction to release the victim. Emergency services seeking water rescue boats for sale should consider the wider capabilities of rescue hovercraft for flood, mud and ice rescues.

Hovercraft are now smaller, more affordable and do not require specialist pilots or engineers to maintain them. Easy to drive, maintain and transport behind standard car with optional trailer, the unique Hov Pod Hovercraft is in a league of its own.

Rescue hovercraft need to be tough, and as hovercraft are weight dependent, many smaller hovercraft tend to be manufactured from very thin lightweight glass fibre, not suitable to stand up to rescue activities. We manufacture hovercraft for rescue applications from tough and extremely buoyant High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Here is a video clip showing just how durable HDPE is for rescue hovercraft applications. - http://hovercraft-durability.blogspot.co.uk/

The most popular rescue hovercraft for sale we have available is configured with a 120HP Turbo powered 4 stroke engine that will lift 325 Kgs from an on-water start.

Contact us for a free guide and hull / skirt sample pack.

For further information, please visit www.hovpod.com and www.rescue-hovercraft.com/

Rescue Hovercraft

Rescue Hovercraft

Hovercraft can travel across some many different types of terrain, so can quickly be deployed to save lives that might otherwise be lost if rescue teams have to rely on other forms of transport.

Flood Rescue
During floods, boats often become immobilised due to underwater obstructions, such as street furniture, wire fences that can damage a propeller - hovercraft have no propellers to get snagged.

Compared to Helicopters

Hovercraft are more affordable to buy and operate than helicopters. Helicopters create tremendous down draft winds of up to 100 mph, so long winch cables are deployed, and rescue attempts can be long. During floods, rising waters force victims to climb trees and power pylons - helicopters cannot operate near power lines, and pilots cannot see victims below dense tree cover. Helicopters have poor communications with people affected by floods - rescue hovercraft often prove more cost effective. Hovercraft are very helpful in post flooding relief efforts to transport food and medicines where required.

Mud Rescue

As tides change, the viscosity of mud changes and becomes more difficult to escape from. If you put pressure on one foot to pull out another, the supporting foot gets trapped. Boats, Jet Skis, so called ATV all terrain vehicles are pretty useless during mud rescues, and rescue teams place their own lives in danger trying to reach the victims. As conditions are usually cold, not only is the victim subject to shock and drowning, hypothermia can immobilise movement, so getting a victim to grab a rope (assuming it can be thrown) to pull his own body weight is not always possible. Hovercraft provide the quickest way to reach mud victims, to help them escape before they succumb to hypothermia. A CO2 mud lance can be used to release suction pressure, provided you can get the right tools to the right spot in time.

Ice Rescue

Ice rescue is difficult with normal vehicles, hovercraft  provide the quickest method to rescue a victim who has fallen through the ice, and speed is essential to minimise the threat of the cold and hypothermia. Hovercraft rescue teams can reach victims that are impossible to reach by any other form of transport, without putting their own lives into danger.

Essential features required for a rescue hovercraft.

Durability

Rescue hovercraft in the past have tended to be manufactured from thin glass fibre, the Hov Pod is unique, the only Hovercraft available manufactured from High Density Polyethylene. HDPE is extremely strong and durable, so won't crack and fracture like glass fibre. HDPE has impressive buoyancy properties, and the Hov Pod has been tested to hold over one ton in weight before any water ingression.

Some suppliers fit neoprene coated nylon or Hypalon skirts that need constant replacements. We fit polyurethane / nylon skirts - they cost more to fit, but last much longer. The Hov Pod hovercraft skirt material is a unique specially developed weave and fabric combination with anti-rip properties and incredible wear resistance. It means you can operate in greater safety and will not be forever changing or repairing skirts. Individual skirt sections and the unique IAPSS skirt design gives far greater flexibility, continued operational ability and high speed safety.

Ease of Use

You cannot rely on specialist pilots 24/7 so ease of hovercraft use is essential. We can provide full training but most operators can operate confidently after just a couple of hour's tuition. Hov Pods are designed to be easy to use, with automatic trim, minimal controls, just start, accelerate, steer and stop.

Speed of operation

The Hov Pod Hovercraft can reach speeds of up to 40 mph. Optional trailer can be towed by a standard car, and the Hov Pod Hovercraft can be unloaded or loaded in 30 seconds by one operator. See video at http://www.hovercraft-options.com/p/standard.html

Reliability - Hov Pod Hovercraft Engineering

We exploit digital technology using Computer Aided Design (CAD) to provide digital data for computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs to ensure your trouble free operations. In modern CNC systems, end-to-end component design is highly automated using computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs. The programs produce a computer file that is interpreted to extract the commands needed to operate a particular machine via a postprocessor, and then loaded into the CNC machines for production. Robotic automated control systems move the component and select different multiple tools to follow the complex series of steps needed to produce the engineered parts in a highly automated way - without manual human intervention.

We tried using the parts other hovercraft suppliers' use, but they suffered unacceptable failure rates, so we now fit highly accurate engineering parts to ensure low vibration, minimal wear, and extremely low component failure rates to ensure your trouble free operation. Electrical connections and all electrical terminations are made in dry compartments and/or contained within sealed boxes using the highest quality marine IP67 or IP66 sealed inline connectors. When operating on water this offers far greater security of operation than standard exposed terminal blocks and crimped butt connectors.

For further information, please visit www.hovpod.com and http://www.rescue-hovercraft.com/