Search and rescue
Search and rescue hovercraft.
Flood water, swift water, ice, mud and tide flats. A hovercraft reaches people where a boat runs aground and a truck sinks.
Why a hovercraft
It crosses what stops everything else.
A rescue crew rarely gets to choose the surface. A flooded field turns into shallow water, then mud, then a fast channel. A frozen lake is solid ice in one spot and open water in the next. A hovercraft rides on a cushion of air over all of it, without stopping to change vehicles.
- Water, ice, snow, mud, sand and flooded ground in a single run
- Nothing below the waterline to snag on debris or hurt a person in the water. The propeller is in the air, behind a guard.
- Crosses shallows only inches deep, with 11.25 inches of hard clearance on the Surveyor 16 and 16.5 inches on the Explorer 24
- Sealed flotation compartments front and rear
- Brakes that let the pilot slow and turn, a feature you will not find on another hovercraft. See how the brake works.
Our brochures list the rescue work our craft are built for: search and rescue, ice rescue, mud rescue and flood water rescue.
Proven in service
Our first commercial craft was a rescue hovercraft.
In 1997 Barry Palmer and Bryan Phillips built a 16 foot Prospector for Fall City Fire and Rescue, in the Cascade foothills near Seattle. It was a joint venture of Sevtec and Amphibious Marine, with the hull and assembly done at our Campbell Lake shop. The department used it for flood water and swift water rescue, and it stayed in service for more than 20 years.
Fall City crew on the river.
Running on open water.
Carrying four aboard on dry ground.
Thrust fan and rudders, above the water.
Ice and open water at Flaming Gorge
Built for Daggett County Search and Rescue.
In early 2013 we delivered an Explorer 22 TDi SAR to Daggett County Search and Rescue in Utah. Their water is Flaming Gorge Reservoir, a long, deep canyon lake that freezes along its edges in winter. A boat is stuck at the ramp when the ice is too thick to push through and too thin to walk on. The hovercraft runs over open water, thin ice and the shore between them at the same speed, so the crew can reach someone whatever the surface is doing that day.
We delivered the craft on its trailer at the end of January, trained the crew on the ice over the next two days, and it was working the reservoir the same week. The Explorer 24 we build today does the same job with a larger, fully enclosed cabin, a bigger diesel engine and half again the payload.
The Daggett County SAR Explorer 22 TDi running from open water up onto the ice at Flaming Gorge, February 2013.
Hovering on the ice, red rock behind.
On the ground deployment trailer at the icy ramp.
Running across the ice below snowy hills.
Rescue craft today
Two hovercraft for rescue work.
Both hulls are molded in our shop with no wood in the structure, and both carry our brakes. Pick by the crew you carry and the water you cover.
Surveyor 16
Light and quick for a first response crew. It carries five adults or 1,100 lb, runs up to 40 mph on flat water and burns 1.6 gallons an hour. At 595 lb empty it suits ice rescue, flood water and river work.
5 adults
1,100 lb payload
40 mph top
37 hp Kohler EFI
Explorer 24
A fully enclosed cabin for longer runs, open water and saltwater. It carries twelve adults or 2,400 lb, is rated for waves up to 4 feet, and cruises at 32 mph on 3.4 gallons of diesel an hour. It folds to 8.5 feet wide for the road.
12 adults
2,400 lb payload
32 mph cruise
164 hp Steyr diesel
Training and support
We train your crew and keep the craft running.
Every craft is built to order in our shop in Shelton, Washington, so we can talk through how your team will use it and what it needs to carry. We also provide operator training, maintenance and repair.
A hovercraft is not a cure-all. Wind, current and water depth all need to be considered, and it will not do what a boat of similar size or power cannot. Our FAQ covers the conditions they handle.
Ready at the shore.
Search and rescue
Tell us about your rescue work.
Call or email with the surfaces you cover, how many people you carry and where you launch. We will tell you which craft fits.