Proposed New Giant Hovercraft!

Description of Craft Below:

This is an artist's impression of a new giant hovercraft currently
undergoing the early stages of development. The pictured version is
approximately equal to the size of the SRN4 Mark 2, but with greater
capacity. A stretched version with the lower deck given over 100% to cars
would more or less match the capacity of the Seacat vessels, but with SRN4
type performance.

The craft would also be available in a fully passenger version without the
bow and stern doors fitted. The theoretical capacity of such a craft would
be about 600 passengers, but in practice only about 450 seats would actually
be fitted in order to allow a more luxurious interior environment.

Noise levels would be considerably lower than for the SRN4. The actual
choice of powerplant has yet to be made, but it is hoped that [ with the use
of active noise suppression systems ] the total noise level would be about
20% of that of the SRN4.

Operating costs should be approximately 50% of those of the SRN4.

The cockpit is designed for two man operation, but would be much larger than
on the SRN4. The intention is to fit at least three observers seats in
order to expedite training. The cockpit is shaped to follow the contours of
the superstructure in order to reduce drag, but would still allow all round
vision - it is actually set higher than the upper deck, although this is
difficult to see in the painting.

Passenger windows are set back further than on the SRN4 in order to reduce
the problem of spray on the windows spoiling the view. Indeed, for the
upper deck at least there should be no spray problem.

The people behind this project are in contact with a number of tentative
schemes round the world which would involve hovercraft services that would
require craft of this size, and based on these initial contacts, a very
rough estimate is that an initial production run would consist of between 15
and 20 craft. Assuming this works out in such a way that concurrent orders
can be placed for the craft, then it is hoped that the cost of each craft
would be around 50m Sterling for the version illustrated, and about 60m
Sterling for the stretched version.

Unfortunately it is not possible at present to identify any of these various
schemes, for reasons of commercial confidentiality, but details will be
posted on Hover-Gen as soon as any announcements are possible. Similarly,
any progress with the new craft will be detailed on Hover-Gen as and when
possible. The current state is that the basic design has been worked out,
but much detail remains to be sorted.

Roughly half a dozen people are now involved, all on a spare time basis,
with various degrees of involvement and each covering specific subjects.

Once certain key decisions have been made regarding vital design aspects,
this will allow work to speed up somewhat.

The current design status is:

* General hull layout design done.
* General arrangement more or less known.
* Lift fan design completed.

Current areas of ongoing detailed discussion are:

* Exact choice of engines and transmission.
* Exact construction method for superstructure.
* Construction of a full sized cockpit mock up to aid design and layout.
* Construction of a 1:20 scale radio controlled test and development model.

Additional updates will be made in due course, but it is impossible to
predict the timing of such announcements. However, it can be said that the
1:20 scale model would be of a 65m long craft as this version has the
greater sales potential.