In the
middle of the Pacific Ocean, Home Island is a tiny, palm-covered speck at an
uninhabited coral atoll, much like “Gilligan’s Island” in 1960s television
series. Home Island is the world’s most remote privately-owned land, a thousand
miles from Hawaii, 400 miles from an airport, and 130 miles from the nearest
island village in the Republic of Kiribati.
Home
Island co-owner Manantial De La Torre of Santa Fe, New Mexico has an access
problem. The atoll is a necklace of islands around a deep lagoon, entirely
surrounded by an impassable coral reef with no natural “passes” where boats can
pass through. The lagoon became navigable only in 1941 when the U.S. Navy built
a ship channel from the ocean into the lagoon during World War II.
Today a boat
can access the lagoon, but then nearly a mile of shallow, non-navigable
mudflats prevents access to Home Island. These flats, part of a National
Wildlife Refuge, are a protected habitat for mollusks and sandworms. Even at
high tide the water on the mud flats is only ankle-deep, so no boat can pass.
At low tide the flats are exposed but are too muddy and fragile for normal
vehicle access.
The ideal
solution for crossing these mud flats was a hovercraft. And, because of its
advantageous features, a Neoteric hovercraft was selected as the ideal
solution. As the world’s most experienced light hovercraft manufacturer, with
hovercraft operating in 50+ nations, we produce the only hovercraft on the
market with the ability to brake and back up.
Neoteric customized
a rescue hovercraft specifically to meet the challenging needs at Home Island.
The hovercraft flies on an 8-inch cushion of air across the mud flats, lagoon
water at any depth, and dry land without leaving ruts or damaging the coral
reefs or the sand creatures’ burrows.
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De La Torre's hovercraft, customized with oars and other features,
undergoes stringent performance testing on the Wabash River near Neoteric's
factory before delivery.
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Another difficulty solved by the customized Neoteric Hovercraft is corrosion. Year-round rain, tropical heat, humidity, and wafts of corrosive salt spray make corrosion a constant problem on Home Island. In World War II, military equipment rusted rapidly, wood rotted, and now even vinyl rots. Neoteric refitted a used saltwater rescue hovercraft with extra marinizing protection to resist long-term corrosion.
Visits
to the remote property are rare, so the hovercraft will likely be stored there
unused for long periods of time. The electronics are encased in a waterproof,
static-proof Faraday Cage. Epoxy coatings are used throughout. Metal hardware
is predominantly stainless steel. During storage, the engine and other
components must be covered with a waxy protective coating that is more inert in
the heat than Vaseline or industrial Cosmolene. Junctions of unlike metals are
protected from galvanic (bimetallic) corrosion.
The
hovercraft’s detailed customization eliminates yet another threat: in tropical
storms and tsunamis, sea-surges occasionally wash right over Home Island.
Neoteric designed a craft-portable aluminum “raised igloo” shed that suspends
the hovercraft from its roof, seven feet above the ground to allow a storm
surge of seawater and flotsam to pass under the craft. The structure is
anchored against these surges as well as protected from 600 miles-per-hour
winds and flying debris.
The final
menace is voracious swarms of hermit crabs. Scuttling around in scavenged
seashells, they will eat anything soft - from shoe leather to plastic to each
other. Since the hovercraft is elevated during long-term storage, its insulated
wires and the nylon skirts will be kept crab-proof.
Because of
Home Island’s extreme remoteness, the need for frequent hovercraft maintenance
would be highly impractical. It was critical that De La Torre's hovercraft be
as structurally sound and protected as possible, with a reputation for
longevity and low maintenance. It needs to stay operative as long as possible.
And that is another reason why De La Torre says he chose a Neoteric Hovercraft.
As
Neoteric President Chris Fitzgerald says, “We
ship marine hovercraft to exotic locations all the time, but this could be the
ultimate. It’s beyond the beyond.”
From hand-painted color schemes … to specialized equipment ... to Bubba’s Hover …
Let Neoteric customize a hovercraft made just for
you!
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