WONDERFUL BOAT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 July 1924, Page 6

WONDERFUL BOAT.

REQUIRES HARDLY ANY WATER. Experiments in Lahore (India) with the hydroglissia, a flat-bottomed boat driven over the surface of the water by an aeroplane engine and propeller, have been so successful that the designers of the boat have now sold it to the engineers of the Sutlej Valley project, where it is being used for communication purposes. This boat, owing to its unique construction, floats in some of water, and \jhen in motion rises to the surface, so that it will pass over a sandbank that is only a few inches submerged. The keel of the boat is divided into two halves by a step of 9in., and this is the secret of the construction. When the 90-h.p. engine is started up the boat moves forward, compressing' the water under the bow, and causes it to rise to the surface The water then swirls under the 9in. step, and another wave is caused, lifting the rear. The faster the forward speed the higher the boat is lifted. Already with this craft a speed of 35 miles an hour has been obtained with no fewer than seven people on board. The advantage of this craft in India is that at a high speed it can pass over submerged sandbanks, which have always been found most difficult to locate\ by navigators of Indian rivers. Also, being propelled by the air, the difficulties caused by sand getting into the water propeller bearings are eliminated.