Shelton, Washington · Building hovercraft commercially since 1997
Where boats stop, we keep going.
Custom commercial and passenger hovercraft for water, ice, snow, mud and shallow rivers. Designed, built and tested by the people who run them.
1965
Designs forged from real world operation, starting with Barry Palmer’s first craft
1,800 mi
Run on a single Mackenzie River expedition in Canada’s Northwest Territories
500+
Vanguard hovercraft built worldwide from the designs behind our craft
3.4 gph
Fuel burn at 32 mph cruise in the Explorer 24, carrying twelve people
Who we are
A hovercraft manufacturer that still builds every craft by hand.
Our designs come from real world operation, not from a catalog. These craft cross rough water, rivers, rapids, swamps, mud flats and ice while carrying heavy loads, running quieter and burning less fuel than the boats they replace. Everything is built, tested and serviced in our workshop in Shelton, Washington.
Manufacturing
Repair
Parts
Kits
Bryan Phillips at the helm of an Explorer 24, running Puget Sound in late fall.
Where they run
Ice, mud, sand, rapids, open saltwater.
A hovercraft does not care what is under it. Our craft work in places that strand a boat at low tide and stop anything on wheels or tracks.
Glacier ice
Taku Glacier, Alaska
Tide flats
Puget Sound at low water
Shallow rivers
Southeast Alaska
Shorefast ice
Stikine River
Open saltwater
Seychelles water taxi
What they do
One vehicle, three very different jobs.
Commercial operations
Tourist excursions, crew and supply runs, oyster and clam harvesting, tidal research, surveys and pipeline work. Operators run ours seven days a week. More on passenger hovercraft.
Search and rescue
Ice rescue, flood water rescue and mud rescue where a boat runs aground and a truck sinks. Our first Prospector SAR craft went to Fall City Fire and Rescue, near Seattle. More on rescue hovercraft.
Personal and government
Hunting, fishing, camping and remote cabin access for private owners. Agencies use the same craft for weed abatement, oil spill response and shoreline work without a dock. More on remote access.
Our craft
Two hovercraft, built for different missions.
Both hulls are molded in house with no wood anywhere in the structure, and both carry brakes that let the pilot slow and turn, a feature you will not find on another hovercraft.
Explorer 24
Our flagship passenger craft, fully enclosed, seating ten to twelve. It cruises at 32 mph on 3.4 gallons an hour, handles saltwater and a two foot chop, and has run expeditions as far as the Arctic.
12 passengers
32 mph cruise
164 hp Steyr diesel
2,400 lb payload
Surveyor 16
Our newest craft, lighter and quicker, built for rough water, rivers and ice. It carries five adults at up to 40 mph on 1.6 gallons an hour, with a carbon fiber belt drive that never needs re-tensioning.
5 passengers
40 mph top
37 hp Kohler EFI
595 lb empty
It flies 16.5 inches above the surface and leaves virtually no wake at cruise.
Explorer 24 · 32 mph on 3.4 gallons an hour
How it works
A cushion of air where a hull would be.
A lift fan pressurizes air under the hull and skirt, so the craft rides above water, mud, ice or snow instead of pushing through it. A separate propeller drives it forward, with nothing in the water to strike a rock or a log.
In the shop
Vacuum infused hulls, welded skirts, built here.
Every hull is resin infused in our own molds: structural foam core, glass fiber, carbon reinforcement and epoxy, drawn together under vacuum in a single shot. The result is lighter, stronger and more durable than a welded aluminum structure, and there is no wood anywhere in the craft. Skirts are cut and heat welded in the same shop, so a replacement is a phone call rather than a search.
Our story
Sixty years of hovercraft, refined by the people who run them.
It starts in the 1960s with Barry Palmer, an aeronautical engineer who built some of the first practical air cushion vehicles in the United States. Bryan Phillips built the first Vanguard 14 from Palmer’s plans in 1993, then the prototype Explorer 20, which he ran 1,400 miles up the Inside Passage to Alaska in 1998. He has been refining the designs ever since. Amphibious Marine has been building commercially since 1997, family owned the whole way.
“The Explorer 24 hovercraft is a quality product, designed and manufactured by the very dedicated and talented Bryan Phillips.”
Paul, Yellowknife, Canada
“There are so many options, you can truly get exactly what you want. And if you need something special, Bryan can make just about anything.”
Mike, Washington, owner for ten years
See them in action
Photos and video from real trips and real jobs.
Owners send us many of these. Glacier landings, water taxi runs, duck season, and a lot of ordinary days on the water.
Get in touch
Tell us the job, and we will tell you which craft fits it, or build one that does.
Ask about pricing, specs, lead times, or an application you do not see here. If you do not hear back quickly, please try again. The shop keeps odd hours and the internet is not perfect.
3121 SE Kamilche Point Rd
Shelton, WA 98584