Why I bought a Hov Pod Hovercraft

Why I'm Glad I Chose A Hov Pod

After a long-term passion for hovercraft, I decided this year to investigate the different types of small pleasure hovercraft available. I was quite shocked at some of the things I discovered. I'd like to share some of my experiences with you so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

I began my search on the Internet and headed for eBay to see what was available. The craft I found were old, self made, tatty, racing hovercraft that looked half decent but had NO regards for safety whatsoever! I asked myself "Where are the decent hovercraft, the trendy, safe, reliable and smart looking hovercraft that you would expect".

I continued searching through eBay until I found a small hovercraft advertised for Ł2500. It looked quite nice and the owner told me that it was a lot of fun to pilot. I purchased and collected this hovercraft but to be honest wish I had never brought it, here's why:

1. Very difficult to get on and off of the trailer, two or three adults required to load or unload.
2. Extremely noisy. I received several noise complaints within an hour.
3. No consideration for safety; no rear fan blade guard so goodbye fingers if they get too close!
4. Constant "ploughing-in" on land and water. My friend and I were thrown off the hovercraft several times and hurt.
5. Hardly any steering control at all, at 30mph you would turn the rudder and nothing happened. It was uncontrollable!
6. The quality of build was untidy and rough; although designed for a marine environment, no stainless steel parts, just very rusty ones.
7. Only a single skin hull, when we stopped on the water we started to get water inside the hovercraft. Good job we had bailers!
8. No hull impact bumpers/protection whatsoever, if you stopped on the smallest of stones/rocks the floor was likely to crack open!
9. The seating was just a solid fibreglass hump that was very painful on the rear after ten minutes.
10. No engine housing, a very difficult pull starter that sometimes took seven or eight pulls to start.

I only used the hovercraft about five or six times because it was just too dangerous and frightening to take my friends out on. It took me several months to sell it and I lost money when I did.

So my search continued for a more reliable, safe, well designed hovercraft. I went to visit another hovercraft manufacturer and discovered the following:

1. Their brand new hovercrafts had second-hand car engines from scrap in, Shocking! Would you buy a new car with a second-hand engine?
2. Some of their hovercraft hulls are made in sections and then cut & shut together much like a car. This is illegal in the motor trade, so why stand for this unsafe practice when it comes to hovercrafting?
3. Safety was at the bottom of the spec. list, no rear fan blade guards were available because I was told it hinders airflow, hence less speed. I would rather go a couple of mph slower and feel confident that nothing will get caught in the fan.
4. When I asked about ploughing-in, they told me that all hovercraft plough in and that it's just something you have to put up with! I was not happy about that; ploughing-in is very dangerous.
5. Their factory was very unimpressive, a lack of organisation and no apparent quality control.
6. When I asked about how easy their hovercraft were to control, they told me that you would need to weight shift all the time to complete turns and that it would not be wise to stop on water!
7. I saw some hovercraft they were building for customers and was quite shocked at the shoddy build techniques and the way that the hulls were very messy and flimsy. The company had no professional hull making facilities whatsoever.
8. The staff told me that a customer of theirs had returned a hovercraft to them he brought because he had eleven noise complaints in two hours!
9. Obtaining spares and contacting the company is question was very difficult, they didn't answer phone calls, text messages, emails, faxes or letters. I soon gave up trying with them and looked elsewhere.

After all my bad experiences I was looking through a list of UK hovercraft manufacturers and saw that there was one local to me in Southampton called Hov Pod. I searched on the internet for Hov Pod and found lots of useful information on their website. They had several videos on their website from when the Hov Pod had appeared on national TV. All the TV interviewers thought it was great! At last I had found a company that were producing just what I had wanted, a fun, safe, reliable, pleasure hovercraft that didn't plough-in, could be steered with just one finger, loaded and unloaded from it's trailer by just one man and one that looked trendy, like my friends jet-ski's! I decided to contact them to find out how much a Hov Pod was.

I was contacted very quickly and I really liked the professionalism of the staff, they were very knowledgeable about the product and understood the problems I have had with other inferior hovercraft makes.

I was invited to Southampton for a demonstration of just what the Hov Pod could do, and to my surprise the Hov Pod was actually better than I had imagined. The instructor took me out for about half an hour and it was so so different from the other hovercrafts I had piloted and been on. The ride was so smooth, the controls were very responsive, and yes it turned when you wanted it to. The seating was comfy, the noise level was not a problem, the build quality was to a very high standard, and to-date it has never ploughed in, the design is trendy and up to date. I took the controls and after ten minutes, was spinning it around in circles and making transitions to and from land to water. I loved its ease of control and stunning looks. I had to have one of my very own! I had a last found what I was dreaming of.

The price of the Hov Pod was more than other hovercraft of it's size but no other manufacturer could match the build spec and quality that the Hov Pod has. Not to "plough-in" is a miracle, but the design has taken years of testing. In life it really is true, you pay for what you get and the cheaper products are usually ****! So the price of the Hov Pod was well worth it to give me safe, reliable and exciting hovercrafting that my friends and family can enjoy.

I have owned my Hov Pod since August 2004 and have over thirty hours of flying time on the clock. I have used my Hov Pod named 'Lucky 7' all over the UK, On the Isle of Wight, Kent, London, Portsmouth, Southampton and not received one complaint from the public or authorities. The reliability of the engine has been fantastic, I have not needed to replace any parts as yet and it runs perfect like the first day I took her out for her maiden voyage. I have operated on surfaces such as sand, water, mud, grass, gravel, concrete, tarmac, clay/seaweed, wood, marshland etc and the Hov Pod has outperformed any other hovercraft I have owned.

Every single part of a Hov Pod is new, the hulls are professionally made in a famous Southampton boat builders, the engines are aviation spec and are extremely reliable, the overall build quality is to a very high standard, safety is of paramount importance, control of the craft is excellently balanced to allow for tight turns without weight shifting. The skirts are durable and easy to maintain, general maintenance is also easy and simply to perform, the twin-skin hull and impact protection bumpers give peace of mind when out at sea. There are so many other features, too many to list here. Take a look for yourself and compare the Hov Pod to other hovercraft you have found.

The ability to take my friends and family out on the Hov Pod is just great, we go all over the place and really enjoy going to places where no other watercraft dare not go, such as sandbanks, creeks, tidal rivers, low water harbours etc. There is so much you can do with a Hov Pod that you just can't manage in any other type of boat or vehicle. I have had my Hov Pod's graphics designed by Abstract Signs in Southampton and it has a truly British theme to it that all my friends and the public really enjoy, I get cheers and looks everywhere I and the Hov Pod go.

Friends that I have taken on the Hov Pod and let control it are so surprised how simply to control it is and easy it is to pick it up in a short time, one of them was pulling 360's in the first five minutes! I have now been flying Hov Pod for about four months now and can say that it turns on the button and all it takes is your little finger. The amount of fun manoeuvers you can pull on the Hov Pod is amazing, traveling in two directions at once, 360's, sideways fans, all terrain transitions, unlimited spins. It's just pure fun with a capital F!

After-sales service is great, spares are quick, easy and inexpensive to obtain, I can rate Hov Pod as being a fantastic manufacturer and if anyone asks me I would definitely recommend Hov Pod to anyone out there looking for a new exciting hovercraft as a toy for next summer or a serious bit of kit for work/business. Try the rest and then buy the best. You’ll be glad you chose a Hov Pod in the long run.

In a nutshell the Hov Pod is a pleasure to pilot.

I hope this helps you in deciding what pleasure hovercraft to purchase now or in the future, I have told you my story and wish that I had found Hov Pod in the first place, it would have saved me a lot of time, effort, injury and money. To find out more about the Hov Pod why not log onto their website www.hovpod.com and have a read at just what other people had to say about the world's latest and most advanced pleasure hovercraft.

Sincerely,

Alex

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