Hovercraft For Sale!

milindu · January 28, 2008

The Navy has called for tenders for the sale of a 75 person capacity Hovercraft in working order. Supposed to guzzle 150 litres per hour.

Any thoughts?

Supra_Natural · January 28, 2008

milindu said:
The Navy has called for tenders for the sale of a 75 person capacity Hovercraft in working order. Supposed to guzzle 150 litres per hour.
Any thoughts?

I really do wonder What on EARTH anybody in SL is going to do with one of those.....

hornet · January 28, 2008

No matter who buys hope it wont fall into the wrong hands.

Edited January 28, 2008 by hornet

Ripper · January 28, 2008

hornet said:
No matter who buys hope it wont fall into the wrong hands.

Nah this not a super weapon nor is it that fast...i've seen this making a landing in Crowe Island navy detachment...

On ground it can't even go in a straight line

Our feline friends up north will not be interested in such high tech and expensive stuff cos the low tech cheap one seems to be getting the job done for them...

This craft is too large and too slow for them to use properly...IMHO

Supra

Well don't know the feasibility of doing this but i think this can make a good adventure tourist attraction... Maybe somebody can can convert it to like a mini cruise hover craft and take trips to hikka/galle/matara etc or even maldives...

just a thought

Supra_Natural · January 28, 2008

Ripper said:
Nah this not a super weapon nor is it that fast...i've seen this making a landing in Crowe Island navy detachment...
On ground it can't even go in a straight line

Our feline friends up north will not be interested in such high tech and expensive stuff cos the low tech cheap one seems to be getting the job done for them...

This craft is too large and too slow for them to use properly...IMHO

Supra

Well don't know the feasibility of doing this but i think this can make a good adventure tourist attraction... Maybe somebody can can convert it to like a mini cruise hover craft and take trips to hikka/galle/matara etc or even maldives...

just a thought

that's an idea bro, but did you notice the bit about the fuel consumption? 150 Liters per Hour! in airplane territory!

ash · January 28, 2008

Supra_Natural said:
that's an idea bro, but did you notice the bit about the fuel consumption? 150 Liters per Hour! in airplane territory!

It's not much if you divide it by the number of persons it could occupy if you use it for the adventure or tourist field. Actually What fuel do Hovercrafts use???

Bit OT....

One of the foreign investor has inquired to invest in a canal ways in Colombo & suburbs to set up a company for the transportation of people & goods. In return they wanted the exclusive rights of the system, and they will take care of the cleaning & maintenance of the waterways. But the idea has died out eventually because of the systems we have. Sooner or later we'll have to use our canal ways in transportation with the increase number of vehicles on the road.

Ripper · January 28, 2008

ash said:

It's not much if you divide it by the number of persons it could occupy if you use it for the adventure or tourist field. Actually What fuel do Hovercrafts use???

Bit OT....

One of the foreign investor has inquired to invest in a canal ways in Colombo & suburbs to set up a company for the transportation of people & goods. In return they wanted the exclusive rights of the system, and they will take care of the cleaning & maintenance of the waterways. But the idea has died out eventually because of the systems we have. Sooner or later we'll have to use our canal ways in transportation with the increase number of vehicles on the road.

Yep... i think certain segments of society wont mind paying a little bit more if the offering is good enough IMHO Sri Lankan eco tourism is in it's infancy and we're presently offering very little to potential customers when you look at all the things we have here... Thanks to a very few adventurous entrepreneurs we have a few services but i t can improve a lot...

on colombo waterways, canals

I always loved the whole canal thing but the initial investment and acceptance period for the public to embrace it would be high. Heard sometime ago that even the ferries were built for this project but somehow it failed to launch. If this gets off ground it'll bring more attention to all those buggers who are dumping their factory waste, garbage and other pollutants to water ways without treating them...

But on the downside, the security threats will also increase...

The Hamilton Canal near my place in wattala was a waterway was used many centuries ago for transportation of goods, people etc but today it's totally neglected and blocked with weeds etc not even an adventurous kayaker can go through it I think they won't bother clearing it mainly due security reasons...

GTAm · January 28, 2008

How interesting. I am quite fascinated by Hovercrafts. Any idea what kind of engine? I mean piston or other? And the fuel is petrol? This must be a very old machine?

I always thought there should be a Hover service to and from India to make it less costly.

Ripper · January 28, 2008

GTAm said:
How interesting. I am quite fascinated by Hovercrafts. Any idea what kind of engine? I mean piston or other? And the fuel is petrol? This must be a very old machine?
I always thought there should be a Hover service to and from India to make it less costly.

apparently they have bought this for a cool 250million rupees

they've got three offers for 25 million or so sometime back

it can carry 10 tonnes or 77 troops

some specs and the fuel is diesel

http://www.abs-hovercraft.com/watercooled-engines.490.0.html

and here's our one

http://www.abs-hovercraft.com/Sri-Lanka-Navy.477.0.html

miniace · January 28, 2008

The hover craft type we had gave plenty of snags.Was a big white elephant.

MINIACE

Ripper · January 28, 2008

miniace said:
The hover craft type we had gave plenty of snags.Was a big white elephant.
MINIACE

Mini...when you they hit a lot of snags... was it due to it's mechanical/technological reasons or was it due to operational reasons since this would be a soft target in enemy territory.

The manufacturers claim it can do over 50knots even on shallow waters but in our conflict i think this will serve little purpose...

Maybe they could've retrofitted into S&R but maybe the operation costs would've been to high compared to a traditional vessel...

Gotta say it was quite a pretty "white elephant" when it was operational

I've seen a spectacular landing once when i was fishing in the kelani river inlet as this thing came from the sea and got on to dry land just like that in heavy cloud of sand, dust and debris

GTAm · January 28, 2008

miniace said:
The hover craft type we had gave plenty of snags.Was a big white elephant.
MINIACE

Looks like some so called V*P made a VLC (Very large Commisson) !?

miniace · January 28, 2008

Its not good to give more negative details about as the machine is on sale now.

Very unstable in rough seas,High operating costs,Lack of spares ...many many problems....The initial-UK trained crew-first officer deserted after operating here sometime you know :lol:

MINIACE

miniace · January 28, 2008

GTAm said:
Looks like some so called V*P made a VLC (Very large Commisson) !?

Bulls eye!! You speak my language! :lol:

MINIACE

Ripper · January 28, 2008

miniace said:
Its not good to give more negative details about as the machine is on sale now.
Very unstable in rough seas,High operating costs,Lack of spares ...many many problems....The initial-UK trained crew-first officer deserted after operating here sometime you know

MINIACE

true but isn't the stability issue quite an obvious one with the propulsion method and the shape of the hull

You can't expect a flat hull like that to take on heavier seas... I'm sure the ride must be quite rough even in moderate seas with 4-6 foot waves

miniace · January 28, 2008

Ripper said:
true but isn't the stability issue quite an obvious one with the propulsion method and the shape of the hull
You can't expect a flat hull like that to take on heavier seas... I'm sure the ride must be quite rough even in moderate seas with 4-6 foot waves

Exactly...Sri Lankan nothern seas are very vulnerable to both monsoon seasons.During North easterly monsoon the winds go 20-30 kts even in shallow waters.During inter-monsoon-Rain make them rough.So stability is THE issue in hot waters.

MINIACE

Arc Angel · January 28, 2008

ash said:

It's not much if you divide it by the number of persons it could occupy if you use it for the adventure or tourist field. Actually What fuel do Hovercrafts use???

Bit OT....

One of the foreign investor has inquired to invest in a canal ways in Colombo & suburbs to set up a company for the transportation of people & goods. In return they wanted the exclusive rights of the system, and they will take care of the cleaning & maintenance of the waterways. But the idea has died out eventually because of the systems we have. Sooner or later we'll have to use our canal ways in transportation with the increase number of vehicles on the road.

Ash, would you be reffering to the invtment in the havelock area? Cos i visited them bout two weeks ago and the dude said that this was one of the features. If it's not gonna happen, then the value of the said investment would go down (yippe )

xXx · January 28, 2008

miniace said:
Its not good to give more negative details about as the machine is on sale now.

i'm sure who ever going to buy this will do his research before taking the plunge. specially when you are spending 25mil of share holders money unlike the goons who bought it for us. so minace publishing your insider information here wont dig any bigger hole than the one it's already in.

Overdrive · January 28, 2008

do you reckon this hovercraft can glide over the johnny batta's??? without detonating them?? hmmm

SeanD · January 28, 2008

I'm guessing this is the same hovercraft that was used a few years back for the Porsche Cayenne launch.

Ripper · January 29, 2008

Overdrive said:
do you reckon this hovercraft can glide over the johnny batta's??? without detonating them?? hmmm

I'm sure the thrust generated by the engines to keep this on a cushion of air is more than enough to set off APM's and even larger pressure mines...

And remember this can't go on rough terrain...needs somewhat flat grounds to operate in so from a military sense it can only do beach landings sorta ground work and not venturing into land and serve as a personnel carrier...

even still this would be an easy target for enemy fire with a rubber cushion keep things working

miniace · January 29, 2008

xXx said:
i'm sure who ever going to buy this will do his research before taking the plunge. specially when you are spending 25mil of share holders money unlike the goons who bought it for us. so minace publishing your insider information here wont dig any bigger hole than the one it's already in.

Now I work for money after many years of charity service.So any info to the potential owner is for money :lol: .So its at a cost :lol:

MINIACE

xXx · January 29, 2008

miniace said:
Now I work for money after many years of charity service.So any info to the potential owner is for money .So its at a cost
MINIACE

good one. might as well make some money out of it as the big boys did. plus it'll be tax free

Edited January 29, 2008 by xXx

miniace · January 29, 2008

xXx said:
good one. might as well make some money out of it as the big boys did. plus it'll be tax free

Yeah ...now hunting info of bidders

MINIACE

pradfred · January 29, 2008

Don't know about the big sucker ( the Hovercraft I mean) but theres also a two person one languishing as the armed forces will not give permission to use it ....... :blink: