Driver Training for
Airboat Operators
Answers to most of the questions are found in the airboat FAQ
1. I'm sure you have figured out by now that the test and the answers are somewhat tongue in cheek. :-) An airboat is an all terrain vehicle so it can be driven down the street. However, it is not street legal. A street legal airboat would probably have to have a license plate, different lighting, brakes, and mufflers. (If you have any thoughts on this, please write) Use the back arrow on your browser to return to the questions 3. Not only can you but we have done it more than once. This is not to say that this is legal or safe. We have never been asked to build a street legal airboat. I suppose it could be done. 4. Top speed on water is in excess of 60 mph.
The highest speeds are achieved in very shallow
water. Top speed through the timing lights on an
asphalt race track is 47 miles per hour. This
record was set by a stock air ranger. 5. The warranty is limited to the kind of situations the boat was designed for. The hulls are bulletproof but unless you have specifically requested it, they can be damaged by mines. If you want to drive the ATV down the road then you must indicate this at the time of purchase so a thicker polymer shield can be installed. The warranty covers all defects in materials and manufacturing that might be uncovered in rough but normal use including minor accidents. What is normal is defined during the design phase. 6. Again, unless your boat was designed for this use, don't expect the warranty to cover all possible damage. The danger in whitewater is not so much the risk of damage to the hull but the possibility of capsizing or getting stuck behind a big rock. The boats can glide across half submerged logs but there is a limit to how big a boulder it can scale or how big a drop it can sustain. Our shipper accidentally dropped an Air Ranger from 45 ft. onto a concrete slab. The impact was enough to bend the 1 in. square tubing used for the motor mounts but the hull remained intact and floatable. 7. So we can say with some confidence that waterfalls can be done but not without some additional insurance coverage. The warranty covers only the first 45 feet of vertical drop. 8. Nil if it is a hull built by American. They are bulletproof. Dimple caused by a .45 caliber bullet at 3 ft. 9. The PowerShift composite prop delivers more thrust at low rpm according to an independent test reported in US Airboat #__. 10. One way is to reduce the tip speed of the propeller blades. Another is to add mufflers. 11. Every 80 hours or every 3 months would be sufficient. In other words, the interval would be about the same as with your auto. On our tour boats we change the oil and filter after 40 hours of operation. 12. American Airboats recommends automotive engines for ease of maintenance and repair. Aircraft engines are designed to deliver high torque at low RPM which makes them ideal prop turners. To get these characteristics in an automotive engine requires a cam change or a reduction drive. Continental and Lycoming air cooled engines also weigh less. These advantages, however, are offset but their high cost of maintenance. 13. Some airboats with 454's are reported to burn as much as 15 gallons per hour at cruise (US AirBoat magazine #54). AirRangers with up to 8 passengers aboard average about 4-6 gph. 14. Aft - left hand
control. The control stick for the rudder is
typically mounted on the pilot's left side. Imagine the
stick mounted in front, to turn left you would move the
stick left. Now imagine moving the control to the
side. Left would correspond to a rearward movement.
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