Imagine . . .

skimming along on a cushion of air, over land and water and ice and snow. Sevtec sevs (Surface Effect Vehicles) give you all the pleasures of hovercraft, and you fly along, efficiently, with low spray, with a minimum of commotion.

There are commercially constructed hovercraft that do just this, but you have to put up with incredible noise, lots of spray, and usually a cantankerous, high strung two stroke engine that guzzles amazing amounts of fuel. Some of these hovercraft are so loud, that if you use earplugs, you can still hear them with your teeth! No wonder there are not very many of them around, they are not very good neighbors. After all, skimming along on a cushion of air shouldn't take a whole lot of power, but the fundamental engineering has to be in the design to accomplish this.

The Sevtec line of sevs covers surface skimmers from a the single place Scout which uses a 12 to 25hp engine; the 2 to 3 place Vanguard which uses a 16 to 23hpengine; the 4 place Surveyor, which uses a 25-28hp single engine, or up to 41hp two engines; the 6 place Geoduck, which uses a 45hp Geo Metro 3 cylinder or 60hp 4 cyl inline single engine or up to 78hp two engine: the 4 to 5 place Prospector, which uses a 80-98hp engine; and lastly, the 6 to 8 place Explorer, which also uses a 80-98hp engine.

Search Sevtec for Sevtec newsgroup activity, including tips on building, operating and design of sevs.

As a home construction project, sevs offer an adventure of the level only associated with projects like homebuilt aircraft or ultralight aircraft. However, while some of the same building skills are used as are used in homebuilt aircraft or ultralights, a sev can be built for a tiny fraction of the cost and time that is required for home construction of a homebuilt aircraft.

Also, the Sevtec sev project, with its foam and fiberglass composite construction, can be a valuable training aid for someone interested in building a composite homebuilt aircraft, and provide a source of new adventure as well.