Sevtec Vanguard Hovercraft

Up for sale is a 14 foot x 7 foot Sevtec Vanguard I bought this hovercraft back in August with the sole purpose in mind to sort it out and make it sea worthy and usable again. In the past ten years I have built or refurbished quite a few hovercraft of various makes and designs. This Vanguard came up for sale local to me, so I ended up buying it. When I bought it, it hadn't been started or used for two or three years, but the owner assured me that the 26 hp Briggs & Stratton engine had only done about ten hours. The hovercraft also did not have a trailer with it.

Once I got the hovercraft home I started to have a closer inspection of what needed doing. Firstly the electrics were not suitable for salt water environment, so I removed all the electrics and replaced with new wires, switches, battery cables, flashing beacon and a new battery. Looking at the engine fuel system needed a thorough overall so I striped the carburettor and it was a right mess inside, from the evaporated fuel and standing idle the past couple of years, so I bought a brand new carburettor and fitted that along with new fuel pipe. I also cleaned out the fuel tank and put in new fuel. Fitted a new choke cable.

Put in two new spark plugs and spark plug caps, cleaned the coil packs and coated them in PCB lacquer to help protect them from the salt water environment. Video of the first test flight: Vanguard first test flight November 7th 2020 - YouTube On the first test flight I found a couple of issues. The pin holding the thrust belt tensioner fell out. I managed to bodge it so I could test flight it that day, but have since replaced the pin with a longer 12mm diameter stainless steel pin with split pins at either end, so that it cannot fall out again. Another issue I found was that it was awkward to use the hand pull brake, as needed to use steering wheel and throttle at the same time, so I didn't have enough hands.

I have now fitted a foot operated brake, making it much easier to operate the brake. On fitting the foot brake I noticed the front corners of the skirt had a small rip in each side, so I have patched them for now, but I have bought enough 910 gram panama weave PVC and glue to make a new skirt, but I haven't made the skirt yet, as I planned on waiting until the spring and the nicer weather to do it. I will include the new grey skirt material & glue in the sale, which cost just over £300. I also bought a second hand fly on / fly off trailer to transport the hovercraft. I fitted a pair of new 12" wheels & tyres to the trailer.

I'm not looking to make any money out of this hovercraft but I do want to get back what it owes me which is around £2750. The paintwork could do with tidying up, but perfectly usable as is. The skirt should do a few more hours before it needs replacing, but that shouldn't be more than a weekends work or a few evenings. There is plenty of help and advice to be had at: Welcome (hoverclub.org.uk) You can also look up Al's Vanguard, under the hovercraft maintenance section, on that website to see what I have done to this hovercraft since I bought it in August. My wife want's me to hang on to it for a year or two so we can use it, but I want to sell it on so I can use the money towards financing a new 20 foot hovercraft build.

So a recap on whats on offer:Sevtec Vanguard hovercraft powered by a 26hp Briggs & Stratton engine.approximately 8mtr x 3mtr length of 910grm PVC for making a new skirtFly on / fly off galvanised trailer with a new pair of 12" wheels & tyres fitted. The hovercraft will need to be collected from Lochcarron which is in the Scottish Highlands IV54.