Everglades Boats

The operator/pilot/driver and in most instances the passengers, are seated in elevated seats that allow visibility over swamp vegetation. The improved visibility permits the operator and passengers to observe floating objects, stumps and animals in the airboats path.

The characteristic flat-bottomed design of the airboat, in conjunction with the fact that there are no operating parts below the waterline, permit the vessel to be navigated easily through shallow swamps and marshes, in canals, rivers and lakes as well as on frozen lakes. The airboats design makes it the ideal vessel for flood and ice rescue operations.

Steering the airboat is accomplished by swiveling vertical rudders positioned at the rear (stern) of the vessel. The propeller produces a column of air that produces forward momentum. That column of air passes across the rudders, which are directed through the forward and backward movement of a vertical "stick" located on the operators left side. The "stick" is attached to the rudders via teleflex cable or linked rods. Overall steering and control is a function of water current, wind, water depth and propeller thrust.