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Report from
the Austin-Houston Hover-in
on Lake
Sommerville May 23-25
Well once again hovercrafts descended on Lake
Sommerville at the Nails Creek State Park with Lane Crampton, Rob Tilton and
myself bringing hovercrafts. It was the Memorial Day Holiday weekend and
while all the campgrounds were full, there were surprisingly few boats. One
reason for the low boat count may have been the low water level. I picked
Nails Creek as the water is normally only 2 feet deep or so not withstanding
the flood conditions we had at the prior hover-in there. The difference was
dramatic. The pavilion we used last time was pretty much unusable this time
for hovercrafts. What was an easy transition to the water from the grass
was a 4-5 foot cliff this time. However, the lower water kept out the
riff-raff (big boats) and skiers. One guy was complaining he could not get
his motor “connected” because the water was so shallow – sorry – honest….
The water was great. Shallow, generally smooth and
warm. On Friday, Lane Crampton and his family (including pooch) and my son
and I arrived at the park. We setup the tents and “stuff” at around 8 P.M.
While we had originally planned to get there at 2 P.M. that did not happen
and we raced the sun to get setup. We all went to bed by about 9:30 but….
There was this loud noise kind of like Craig’s hovercraft sounded with the
big prop. I ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. Then it came again.
Finally I hear Lane say “Howard is that an airboat?” Of course at that
point I was half asleep and not sure I cared. Lane is an insistent guy so I
unzipped the bug screen and ventured into the dark great buggy unknown.
Even half asleep I should have known better.
I followed Lane down to the boat ramp (ramp is very
close to the camping area) and sure enough there was some guy floating just
off the boat ramp in an airboat. Mind you, it is about 11 P.M. now and an
airboat is many things but quiet it is not. This guy is just floating there
with his two spot lights on lighting, at most, 20 feet in front of him while
at the same time trashing any possible night vision he could have had.
Seems he is lost and already ran out of gas once (keep in mind this is about
a one gallon lake. Takes at most a gallon to get to the other end). So
while playing with his handheld GPS he looks up and asks “is this Nails
Creek boat ramp”? In such situations it is hard to know exactly what to
say so we just confirm to him that he is indeed at Nails Creek and tell him
how to get back to the other side of the Lake (Nails Creek is at the very
west end of the lake – i.e. only land to the west of us). I offered to get
my lake map with GPS locations on it for him but he said that was not
needed. So we tell him to just head to the right. We even point the way
with our arms. Off he goes heading to the left. Clearly he was at the head
of his airboat class. It is now about 11:30 and with the sound of the guy
cruising aimlessly around, I went back to bed with at least eight bug bites
for my trouble and I just hoped none of the other campers thought we had
anything to do with the matter.
Saturday we woke to a great day of fair weather and a
light breeze. I had packed pancake mix and ham to cook for breakfast. Lane
and his wife Rhonda were already up and had goodies laid out. My son Mike
decided it was too much trouble to cook breakfast and pigged out on the
Crampton’s food. Having the bad example set for me I joined in. Thanks
Lane and Rhonda. Rob and his father Jim drove in about 9 am. Jim designed
and had his company make the aluminum pulleys on Rob’s 12T4. They are a
work of art. Lane and his Shrike, Rob and his 12T4 and myself in the AC-3
went for a tour-de-force of the lake. I half expected to find the airboat
guy in the weeds somewhere. We went around about half the lake and into the
lilly pad area. It is like a mini lake of lilly pads that is only about 2-3
inches deep. We had a pretty good time flying around in there. After a
couple more trips on the lake we all had a nice lunch. Then, of course, we
hovered some more into the afternoon.
Rob and his father took off back to Austin (Rob has
the baby twins). Lane and his family departed after dinner leaving Mike and
I to hold down the lake by ourselves for the rest of the weekend. We had a
few visitors. Chris Keirs who help me work on my 15T4 came and took his
first hovercraft ride with Rob. Thanks Rob! Evert and his wife came from
San Antonio late Saturday and missed the other crafts but looked over the
Aircommander and talked about hovercrafts for a while. There was also one
fellow that came by to buy a hovercraft. Seems he saw a red hovercraft
earlier in the day and went and got cash to buy it. Sadly, he was too lateJ
Just pulling your leg Lane….
Sunday, we had pop tarts – the breakfast of hovercraft
champions. Then went for a cruise of the lake. We were about half way to
the other end when I noticed a loose bag – make that two bags - shoot. Back
to the campsite to repair. Seems the P clip came loose. The head of the
rivet was pulled off and I only had to put a new rivet through the old P
clip. Hard to get easier than that. But, I found out the AC-3 is A LOT
heavier than the SCAT II I had. It was very hard to get the front up high
enough to work on the clip. Finally was able to get a scissor jack under it
and got it lifted up. Not exactly a repair job for a mud bank. Back on the
water we went and picked up a couple of wave runner guys. They followed us
until I went into the lilly pad lake. They thought better of that and broke
off just in time. We waved as we pulled away. Then we went to the other
side of our camp grounds and went swimming. Pretty fun coming onto the
beach and doing a 180 and parking at the water edge. We always attracted
the attention of the other swimmers. How fast does it go… how to you
trailer it… can it go on roads…. I over heard two young boys talking about
it. The older one was convinced it was VERY fast because I wore a helmet.
If he only knew what a chicken I was he would have been less impressed I
think. All the park rangers were friendly and knew Mike and I and asked
about the craft even when we were not by it.
As this was the first time I flew the Aircommander, it
was interesting to compare it to the SCAT II with the Rotax 532 (64HP). I
traded the SCAT (and some $) to Gary at Aircommander for the used AC-3
(what a long drive – 2300 miles round trip in 2.5 days). I would say the
crafts are about the same speed. The AC-3 has a Rotax 503 thrust and a
single cyl 2-stroke lift engine. I think the SCAT had more acceleration but
it is also lighter. The AC-3 handles the weight of my son and I better and
does not want to plow-in as much. It is easier to slow down on the AC-3
without plowing in. So, on balance, the AC-3 is better for me. I need to
get better flying it and there is still some maintenance work I still need
to do. The skirts need to be looked at as some are kind of loose on top and
one in the rear has a hole from the exhaust heat? Then there was the loose
engine bolt that I found in the craft – not good. Glad it did not go
through the prop. I also seem to be running the thrust engine at 5500 rpm.
I am not sure if that is normal. Seems like only about 20 or so MPH at that
rpm level.
All in all we had a very nice weekend, great weather
and fine hovercrafting!!! Next time we are heading for the Colorado River
for a repeat of the Christmas cruise. Join us for the river cruise!
Howard
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