Muscoda, June 6, 7 and 8, 2003

All things considered, this has to be the most consistently fun hovercraft event I have ever been to. In spite of it raining off and on Friday and Sunday, and in spite of a record crop of mosquitos. A rain coat minimized the first problem and some killer bug juice minimized the second.

I don't have pictures to cover even close to all the stuff that happened. Most notably, though, is that I arrived there with a working hovercraft and left with one. I only had to do minor repairs during the event, and had INCREDIBLE fun the whole time.

There was a good turnout this time, it seems this event has picked up even more steam than in years before. I don't have a count of hovercrafts that showed up, other than a whole fleet of them from all over the US and even one guy from Canada. The Canadian was an interested party, not a hovercraft owner as yet. And since I met some of these people very few times, I can't get the names down.

Highlights of Friday:

• One of the first times I went out, while going down the ramp I moved over a bit to miss some kids that didn't seem to be paying much attention. Didn't go anywhere near them, but I went down the ramp sideways (not an issue) into a bunch of rocks that stick out quite a ways, that I had forgotten about. Normally that's not an issue either since they were pretty short, but I heard and felt a bump. That turned out to have made a new drain hole in the hull, knocked some skirt attach strip off and torn the skirt. I figured on the hole and after parking on a sand bar a mile or so down I found that hole from the top. It wasn't any big thing, but it was a hole. I went on cruising. My hull hasn't had real water integrity since I got it, so this was nothing new.

• I was getting scary-fast speeds out of the thing, visiting old friends and meeting new ones between runs.

• I went out with Eric and Vince, two guys who built their own crafts and are a lot of fun. We were making mostly short runs. My craft kept getting up to high speeds and then plowing in. This is where the nose dips and suddenly you're stopping like...hard braking in a car, just before the tires squeal. Only you might be going sideways for part of it, but that's not as bad as it would be in a car. There is a bit of warning so you can brace yourself, and if you're not sleeping there's not much danger. But it's irritating especially if somebody's following you. I found out that if I go over about 50, the plow-in doesn't seem to happen as much.

• Some kids got going in hovercrafts that they built. Lots of working bugs out from kids and adults alike, there were a lot of new crafts and a lot of old crafts that need lots of attention. Like mine. Only most of those don't look like they need the attention as much as mine does.

• Going out with Vince and Eric, things finally came to a head. I was sneaking up behind Eric, on the right side. Vince and Eric have headset radios so they can talk, and Vince was on the other side of an island. He mentioned (evidently) that there was somebody coming up behind him on the other side of the island and to be careful. I never saw this guy. Eric is looking over his shoulder to the left and slowly turning right. Probably without realizing it. But I'm close enough I have to evade, which isn't usually a big deal. I turned right, my skirt catches and sucks me down. Vince comes around the island right about then and said the rear of my hovercraft is about a foot out of the water. It didn't seem that bad to me, but right when I have all this going on Eric looks around with these huge eyes, like a deer in the headlights. I never got closer than about 20 feet from him, but the effect was all I was hoping for. Only it didn't quite turn out as I'd planned.

• After I recovered from the plow-in, I couldn't quite keep up with these guys anymore. If I went as fast as they did I would plow in again, and always it would spin me to the right. The rock I mentioned earlier had hit me on that side, so I turned around to go back to the dock. I blocked the thing up and found the tear in the skirt and the broken tack strip, it was a total of about a foot long but it was a "scooper" which means it pulls water into the skirt when you go forwards and, in this case, when you turn right it makes it worse.

• Right about then I find out there's a slalom course. There are five buoys, you have to go around four of them weaving between and then around the bridge pylon and then weave through again, and head past the final one. You have to guess the time in advance and the closest to his guess wins. This equalizes the fast crafts and slow crafts. Quite fun and I entered into it in spite of the tear. When my turn comes up I take off (I guessed two minutes and I had to be quick about it) and when I get to the bridge my lift engine dies again, this time from my own stupidity. It wouldn't start right away and water was rushing in, it's a place I've been several times. The craft floats but it only stops sinking when there's about a foot of water inside. Then the foam takes over and it won't sink anymore. I had to airboat back to the dock though, against current. Water literally pours over the nose and into the lift duct, and it looks like I'm driving a submarine. Several people including Eric thought this was wildly entertaining and there are no doubt pictures of this on a web site or five even as I write this. If not, there are pictures of both my submarine and Eric's hull modification on this page. And each of us giving the other a "friendly gesture" as our picture is taken.

• When I got back and drained out again I went about fixing the hole in the skirt and screwed the tack strip back on. There wasn't much I could do about the hole at the time, but I inherited an audience of new hovercraft owners and people who have partially done hovercrafts for the repairs. They've never seen this process and are inherently interested. A couple of them were helpful. The newbies are probably totally unaware of the frequency of these patches, especially when they're just learning to drive. They got an eyeful that day, because two people started over from scratch and replaced their skirts completely right there on the lawn, and I have no idea how many people patched theirs. The process is similar to patching a bicycle inner tube only there's more technique to it and the materials are different.

• During this time the cruise got organized. Some wanted to go upstream to a dam where they had to turn back, and I'm not sure how far that is. Some wanted to go down to the mississippi which is about 40 miles each way. They're approximately the same distance, I think. I wanted to go upstream because if something breaks you'll be floating closer to the car rather than further from it. The only time I've measured fuel economy on my craft it got about 4 mpg. That's terrible, most folks are over 20 in the homebuilt universals with small engines. So I got a bunch of gas cans and stacked them into my craft like a big floating bomb.

• Right about the time everyone goes upstream, Bill Zang shows up and I helped him get his crafts into the water. He's got the prototype of a cargo craft that he intends to sell as a finished working product. It takes about a half hour to unload since one of the crafts is on top of his van and needs a bunch of guys to get it off.

• After seeing Bill safely unloaded, I hop in and take off up the river. The cruisers had a good half hour on me and I wanted to catch them before they got to the dam. This is the first time I've ever stayed "on the pipe" for an extended period of time on my hovercraft. I have no frame of reference by which to judge my speed, it was exhilarating and scary at the same time, especially when the craft would suddenly plow in for no apparent reason. When this happened about 50 pounds of water would rush into the holes in the hull before I could get back up. This was tolerable most of the time, but every now and then I had to stop and let the water out.

  Another problem was that every now and then my lift engine would die for no reason and with no warning. I still have no idea why, but I suspect that somehow air was getting into my fuel line. It was particularly irritating because the engine would never start right away and in record time the craft would have a foot of water in it again. The current on this river is fairly strong in spite of its being shallow and incredibly wide, so I'd have to airboat it for a few minutes till I got to an accommodating sand bar and then ease it up until the water is drained out. This takes about 15 minutes over all, but the cruisers were taking breaks about as often as this happened anyway. I passed a lot of individual cruisers, including one of the uh-18's which surprised me because they're way faster than my craft if the driver is so inclined. And they're less scary and more safe at those speeds.

  I caught up with Vernon Weber on a sand bar just next to a nudist colony. The few diehards had just taken off to the dam, which is the last stretch. As usual the nudist colony had only a bunch of old guys standing around, I have no idea why everyone picks that sand bar to stop at. There are hundreds of canoeists that float buy and cheer, take pictures and all that, and evidently the hovercraft folks have a complement of the same sort of spectator. The worst thing is that when you're on that sand bar you have to look. And there's nothing to see that you wouldn't see in the men's shower at a gym. considering that hovercraft owners are mostly men, why do these guys always park there? Every last hovercraft seems to park there, including me, on the off chance there might be something interesting. Maybe. Actually I'm not sure why I always stop there, but on all the occasions I've made it that far there were others parked there when I arrived, so I can't really say what I'd do if I were alone.

  Vernon was just about to take off back down the river, and I didn't like the idea that only a half dozen crafts were upstream of me with these bizarre problems with plowing in and with my lift engine dying. Because You Never Know What Might Happen. I stayed behind to adjust fuel lines and fill up fuel tanks, and then took off back down the river towards camp.

  I might point out here that the cruisers had a half hour head start and I caught them inside 40 miles, in spite of the plow-ins and hull draining sessions. This is EXACTLY the sort of speed I like in a hovercraft. I'm not sure how far it is to the nudist colony from the boat ramp, but I'd like to know because that would give me a base line on my fuel economy at high speeds. By the way, this isn't implying that the cruisers were going flat out, only that I was having fun at speeds that much faster than they were TRAVELING.

  On the way back, I caught up to Vernon and the gaggle of crafts that he was going with. I drove with them for a bit and then kicked it in gear again. I looked back and realized that my craft was out of trim and started moving forward until it was in trim. Between that and the fuel line tinkering, I didn't plow in or have the lift engine die all the way back. Well, I plowed once to slow down for a gaggle of kids on a sand bar, but that was intentional. Also, what little water got in during the plow-in drained out after a bit. I got going so fast on the way back that my cheeks were deforming in the wind, and the craft seemed a lot more stable and predictable. I got distracted on the way home and did a lot of screwing around, which is what this weekend is all about. All in all, I barely touched the two extra 6-gallon tanks of gas. I don't know how many miles that run was, but I'm definitely getting better than 4 mpg at high speeds. At least 8 or maybe even 10.

• One guy in a uh-18 offered to take me for a ride. I can't turn this down, I love that craft. There was another passenger at the same time, but I was second in line. I noticed that the driver was making some beginner mistakes so I started giving him pointers. He improved immediately. He offered to let me drive it, and I was stunned. I had never driven a big craft like that, and I wasn't about to break somebody else's new toy. I turned him down and then turned him down again later in the short cruise. When we got back, he suggested that I teach his son and his friend the things I pointed out to him, implying that I drive. I can say no to something I really want twice, but not three times when the offer is in plain english. So I drove the shiny new craft.

  It's very different from mine, I actually drove it several times Saturday and Sunday. It's not as responsive as mine, but the stability is incredible. It's rock solid. I think I had it up to about 65 mph, and it's not scary at all at that speed. The controls have incredible authority and precision. My craft has lots of really snappy control, like a sports car. You can go fast and then turn 360's over and over and over, or snap out of it and go straight. But it's kinda like riding a bull. It'll buck you out if you're not careful. The 18 is very precisely controllable but can't turn as sharply. There are tricks you can use to help it turn faster, and it will do exactly what you ask and hold it there. It's hard to explain how different it is.

  I'm so terrible with names, and I met a lot of people this weekend. The guy that let my drive his craft was really nice, as were lots of other folks there. What I didn't figure out until later is that he probably really didn't trust himself as a driver yet and figured I had a better chance of bringing it home in one piece than he did, in spite of my unfamiliarity with a uh-18. He had me load it on the trailer Sunday too.

• I went nuts all day with hovercrafts in general and in talking to people. It was great fun, and lots of folks said I never stopped grinning all weekend.

• Saturday night there was a dinner that Linda organized, and it was good. They had a disc jockey there too, and he did a good job of picking music everyone liked. Way later, it started raining cats and dogs again and I went to my tent. Spent a while listening to those cats and dogs hitting my tent and then went to sleep.

Highlights of Sunday:

• Sunday I woke up early enough to get hot water, but discovered my towel was still on top of my tent rain fly where I'd left it to dry. Fortunately enough I brought about 10 changes of clothes and I could use a couple shirts. I guess I don't know all about campground camping after all.

• There's always a small core of people that wake up early at these things. Including, believe it or not, me. we wait around wondering when we can start our engines and go play. The clouds were coming at us before we started so we went to put our tents away, still wet from the night. At least the stuff on the inside was dry. The tent is on my deck drying right now.

• About the time I got the tent put away, it started raining. Undeterred, I put on my rain coat and went out to play for a few minutes, then put my craft up on the trailer and got it ready to go. Then I went to talk to people. Then the sun came out and I took my craft off to play again, and it started to rain. I put it back up, then it stopped. One more time, and it stayed clear for a while. Loads of fun, and my craft still works.

• On the way back home, I called marquis and it sounds like he might have found me an engine for my new craft. Brand new, Volkswagen 1.8t. It's a turbocharged 4 cylinder, and it's one of the engines I was hoping for. About 150 hp or so.

  	A tricked out uh-6f. Not sure who owns this. It's a kiddie craft, designed for youngsters. It's made so it won't be able to go really fast no matter how light the kid is. I'm just shooting pictures of the crafts that are there. There were crafts arriving and leaving continually, so there are some crafts that showed that I have no pictures of.
  	LOTS of people showed up. There must have been at least 30 hovercrafts, including four (4) brand new uh-18's which is the same thing I'm building right now. The plans have been available for just long enough for a few of these to have been completed, so it's still a very new thing. None of these guys had the wings on yet. There are people there in droves, the campground was packed and local spectators are all over. This is almost a festival for the muscoda residents.
  	They (the city) didn't want us parking on the boat ramp proper anymore, because boaters couldn't get their trucks turned around down there if we did. So there was a lot of hovercraft traffic up and down the steep part of the ramp. No biggie, except for the few beginner crafts and beginner people who couldn't make the grade. (pun intended and gleefully left in).
  	As you can see, this is Weber StarCruisers are fairly popular around here. This is very close to the birthplace of StarCruisers, and it's also fairly close to the birthplace of Universal Hovercraft designs. Thinking back on it, I think that there were probably close to an equal number of each, but I can't be sure.
  	An Air commander to the right, and a hopped-up Scat on the left. The Scat belongs to Mike Lynch.
  	Vince's red UH-13P and Dave's white homebrew beastie on the left. My gas tanks are featured between. I didn't use NEARLY all that gas, even on the trip back in my car.
  	Dave's craft again.
  	This is a UH-13P that was built either by this kid or his friend. I know there were two that were working/playing hard on it, but can't remember which is the builder/owner.
  	Eric's craft. This is the one I sneaked up on, and the one which takes some pretty serious damage later.
  	This is my craft. I found a really interesting place to park. It was in the grass right on the steepest part of the ramp. There are all sorts of changes in the direction you have to point in order to get into or out of the spot, so it's challenging to park there. And it takes a big engine and some attitude, which I had plenty of. I'd come up the ramp half way, slide in sideways and park, then when it was time to leave I'd pick it up, slide sideways and then backwards down the ramp, turn when there was room and shoot off into the water. It was both fun and gave people something to take pictures of. BTW, if any of you find copies of that video I'd like some.
  	John's UH-19p.
  	Bob's UH-18sp.
  	Eric.
  	Where did the cookie duster go?
  	Dave.
  	A UH-18spw without the wings added yet. This guy was from Wisconsin, I think. Can't remember his name but I should. He called me sometime after he met me at an earlier Muscoda event, and I was short with him because I didn't think he was actually going to build a hovercraft. Turns out he built one which is certainly better looking than mine will be.
  	The UH-18spw (no wings yet) that I drove, and the first model of a brand new UH-15c (cargo) craft that Universal is going to sell as a finished craft. I was a passenger a few times, and this craft is extremely stable with no spray to speak of, and it was pretty quiet too.
  	This is the UH-18spw I drove again. Of all the color combinations I've seen on a hovercraft, this is by far the best I've seen.
  	Sigh.
  	Mine again. Got any paint?
  	Riding on the cargo craft, this is the only time I took a camera on a hovercraft this weekend. As you can see, the river is extremely wide and there are sand bars and islands all over. I have video too, but it's not up yet.
  	We strapped two camp chairs to the deck with a cargo strap. Bill is driving, and i'm one of the passengers.
  	A look out the back.
  	OK, Here I started to point the camera in the direction of travel. Bill's in the center and I'm to the left. I couldn't figure out a way to give the impression of slip with a still camera otherwise.
  	OK, I stopped doing that here. Now I'm just taking in scenery again.
  	These crafts are parked in the water, not stalled.
  	This is a parking shot sequence.
  	I had somebody take some shots of me getting out of the parking spot. He didn't take as many as I'd hoped, but it gives you an idea anyway.
  	I think I'm going about 55 here.
  	Coming in to park.
  	Eric was hopping sand bars and wound up underneath the air commander shown up above. This damage looks terrible, but it's really easy to fix. Eric says he'll have it done in less than a week. I think he's going to be pushing it since both props were trashed.
  	Eric giving me the same salute I gave him when I played submarine captain. The guy who owns the air commander is to the left.
  	These happened right during my attempt at a slalom. I guessed a fairly aggressive time and had to bust my hump to get it done. In the process, I did a complete 180 around the bridge pier, leaning forward and laying on the throttle. This put me in line for a prop strike, which is where the water rushes back into the lift duct and hits the prop. It killed my engine and since that thing won't start when you really want it to I had to airboat it back.
  	I obviously missed my time on the slalom. The current here is really nasty, so it took a while to get back. I think I'm going to add flotation to the nose of this thing so I can use more throttle when this happens.