VdGGfan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:04 pm
As a fairly OT link to recent activity, there used to be a hovercraft on Bute back in the 1960s offering pleasure trips to sightseers.
I remember because I went on one!
Iirc it was an SRN5 which left from the beach near Rothesay Pavilion and landed ashore in the middle of nowhere -I suspect at Ardyne Point on the Cowal peninsula.
The noise as the skirt inflated was deafening and you could see b*gger all due the amount of spray generated.
Internet search gives me no details - perhaps a browse in the local library archives may produce more info.
Funny you should mention the hovercraft that ran between Largs and Rothesay (I believe it was a trial thing and then ended because as mentioned, it was extremely loud), there is also a hydrofoil that runs most summer weekends in Largs. Video of it here:
I gave a lot of thought to bidding on the hydrofoil and restoring it, I can afford to do it but not sure if I have enough time left to do it! Getting old is no fun. It is a very interesting boat.
The SRN.4's & all associated Proteous spares are not owned by the museum. They are owned by Wensley Haydon-Baillie. He purchased them for the engines that power his yacht, Brave Challenger. I was told that 1 SRN.4 was suffering from corrosion issues & was cut up mainly for the scrap money to pay owed storage fees.
