Overview

I guess the technical name is a super-light inflatable tunnel hull boat. Other brand names are Zapcat and Thundercat (and makes like Aquarius, XTMreme). Basically a 4.1m (13'6") boat with a 50+hp outboard on the back.

I picked mine in San Diego from Curt (owner of Thunderduck Inflatables) and drove it back up to San Francisco.

To get an idea of what these boats can do here are some of my favourite videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Wpe4CRUlM

Latest Trips

Trip One - Petaluma River

The first put in was at Blackpoint on the Petaluma River. It was sunny but the wind had been up all night and even the river had white-caps on it. With three aboard we got pretty wet.

(BTW click on any of the pics for a bigger shot)

Enhancements #1

I did a few mods to make it more accommodating for a solo rider. Basically getting some weight up the front. A full tank weighs 42lb and the battery is 24lb.

The straps used some 18oz vinyl covered polyester I had leftover from the last hovercraft skirt.

Next up was a mount for my old Garmin GPSMAP 76CS. I use this on the hovercraft and have a ram-mount for it (nice) and found a spare handlebar ball mount. I curved some polycarbonate plastic sheet with a heat gun to match the curve of the tubes and bolted the ball mount onto it with countersunk screws and some tape backing. Next I made an oversize patch and using the same UH-66 vinyl glue applied it to a position on the starboard tube right in front of the pilots "seat". Works really well as its pretty much under your nose so button pressing is even possible underway.

Second trip out - solo from Sausalito, CA

It was 68F on Feb 1st - so a good day to do a quick solo sea trial. I launched at Clipper Yacht Harbor in Sausalito and did about 16miles darting about seeing how it made turns, took off, handled rollers etc. I took her up to 42mph. It seems to get there so quickly - just a quick blip of the throttle and she's up on plane and moving really fast. Cornering? Well just phenomenal! These boats are a must try experience.

Heading out to the tip of Belvedere Island on the tip of Tiburon there were some 2 foot rollers. I see some excellent jumping potential when I am more comfortable with the boat. I stayed to about 25mph and it took them with ease. I also did some cruising in some shallows up by Mill Valley (maybe 2 feet at most) and no prop strikes.

Only stopped to take one still. Let's just say it's not the type of boat you can sit back, relax and take photos - one hand for the tiller and one for holding onto to the rail-line. I think a helmet cam (like the GoPro helmet wide) is in order.

Third Trip - Napa River from Vallejo

Just a quick family outing up the Napa River. It's pretty open and exposed at its south end. It was not as warm as it seemed. Zach was OK with the speed though - that is good.

Modification - add TinyTach

First time round it worked fine at low rpms - but about 4000rpm it would start picking up the other leads somehow and show a much too high rpm. The pic below shows how I moved the wraps to the first bit of the core wire - not the end of it - so it's closer to the coax screen. I also reduced the wraps from four to two and a half. I am wondering if I should trim off the excess core wire. For the moment I have it below the spark lead away from the other leads (above).

Here's a pic of how the engine sits in relation to the hijackers, sponsons etc.

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