What an awesome day for a review guys!
Today we are going to leave our favorite dirt and offroading
for some beautiful water areas. The matter is we have an exciting machine for a review. Take
your seats in the newest Airboat which is called the North, we are to start right now!
Hi there as usually its me just a voice over you are watching review machines and this is
all new airboat The North 650. If you are not in the know, airboat – it is quite a peculiar
kind of transport. Airboats are very similar to hoverboats. The main difference is that any
airboat doesn’t fly over the ground, it slides on it. The main feature of these machines it
is ability to move not only on water but on many other kinds of terrain. Today we are going to make
a detailed review of this machine and certainly some exciting tests in different conditions.
Then we will speak about the prices of course. And now it is high time to begin lets go.
Well lets look at this boat closer. The total length of it is 7.35m, the width is 2.55 m,
carrying capacity up to 1500 tons, and the weight of the boat is 1050 kilos. The base
of the boat – it is waterproof aluminum frame and airfilled balloons attached to the aluminum boat.
Totally there are 14 balloons here. They are made of a very durable 5 layers material.
Despite it is really robust, all the bottom is covered with special armor.
It is made of special plastic 5 mm thickness. As a result this armor provides a perfect ability to
slide on different types of terrain. Not only on water but in other much more harder conditions,
you will see it a bit later. Besides it is easy to replace a damaged element of
armor with new one without dismantling all the armor.
At the front of the boat we see the platform where you can put some cargo or just do fishing
from this spot. In the middle of the boat there is a cabin with large durable windows. It looks
amazing, besides it provides a perfect view from inside the cabin. All the elements are covered
with a special heavy duty paint. And finally at the rear we see the engine compartment. The engine
drives the huge propeller and it moves the whole boat. By the way there is hydraulic power steering
system, that makes it easy to handle the huge machine. And the most interesting this boat is
equipped with engine Chevroley V8 LS-3 6.2 liters capacity and 430 hp. Well lets get it started!
Lets look what we have inside the cabin! At the front there is a waterproof door. There are two
seats at the front and the large seat from behind the interior. There are seats for up to 10 people.
There is an advanced sound proofing of the cabin. Behind the rear seat there is a special room
for fishing rods or rifles for example. The rear seat can be quickly modified into a bad
where you can stay overnight in comfort. There is a heater and aircooling system.
The drivers seat is at the right. We see here a simple dashboard a steering wheel and some
other levers. At the left there is a seat for a passenger and huge glove box. Then there is
a central system to control the air pressure in the all the balloons. Well it seems we’ve
covered all the main parts of the construction of this boat. Lets try it in practice now!
You may remember that some time ago I already tried to test similar machines. But this time
we deal with a machine absolutely another class. Nevertheless the handling is also very similar.
All I need to do its to operate the throttle lever and maneuver, that’s all. The more the throttle is
the more sensitive the steering is, but we should always remember about inertia, its huge here,
and we should get the feel of it, before actually operate this machine.
Most of all I was impressed by the fact how sensitive the boat is to the throttle.
Just push it a little bit and the huge boat literally takes over. Acceleration is surprisingly
fast. Now it is clear why this machine is equipped with huge and expensive engine from Camaro.
Now it is like a sportcar, but in the world of amphibious vehicles.
Well I hand over the steering wheel to the experienced captain,
and he will show us what this machine is actually capable of.
By the way according to the manufacturer they have already sold more than 800 units of such boats.
But why such kind of transport is rather popular? There are several reasons. Firstly
it provides a decent level of comfort for passangers in long travels. Now we
are sliding on a huge open water area. But this machine can move on much more harder terrains,
like on rocky north rivers for example. And you may travel there in comfort in warm and cozy
waterproof cabin with even sleeping compartment. But the most important you will be able to travel
quite fast! As a matter of fact, these airboats – one of the fastest amphibious vehicles available
on the market. Well it is high time to check the maximum speed of this boat, lets do it!
Let me remind you, we are testing the model with 430 hp engine, but there are
other models with 550 hp. But even with our engine we managed to get the speed 126 kmh
as you can see. Quite an impressive result for an amphibious vehicle, isn’t it?
And it is a result on water. In winter on ice, this boat can accelerate up to 200 kmh!
Speaking about the popularity of this kind of transport. The next reason – it is maneuverability
and simple handling. As I said the handling is really simple, the only thing – you have to get
used to inertia, thats all. Besides the boat can be very maneuverable. It can turn around literally
on the spot. On the other hand you should now, that there are no any brakes, and no any reverse
mode…Well we don’t have any brakes, but we have such an acceleration, that’s much better!
And now few words about the most important reason why these boats are quite relevant. The matter is,
this airboat is a versatile amphibious all terrain vehicle is some way. There is an armored
flat bottom, so we can move not only on water but on swamp, rocky rivers and even on ground.
Besides it is an all seasonal transport. So on snow and ice it moves even faster. And no matter
how thick the ice is, as we remember it is a boat, so you can travel on a thin spring ice
without being afraid to fall through it. Besides it is very funny to look at some
people who not in the know about these boats when we do In this way.
Now we are watching the boat moving on the field. As you can see it is able to maneuver
here and it moves on a ground without serious difficulties. The only thing you should now,
the fuel consumption is much more when moving on such terrains.
By the way speaking about the fuel consumption. As a matter of fact it is significantly depends
on a kind of terrain we are moving on. So we can speak very roughly. And it is
from 40 to 90 liters of gas per hour. Yes we can consider it as the first drawback.
Another drawback, it is a very noisy machine. It makes noise like an old airplane.
Thanks to the soundproofing of the cabin it is not so annoying when we sit inside it.
And then we probably should speak about the prices. Well actually it is rather costly
machine. The total price as usually depends on set of options. If we consider such model as we’ve had
today, the price will be about 100 000 dollars. And now lets call it a day guys, please post
your comments what you think of this machine! Consider subscribing the channel if you liked
this video. Stay with us, there will be many more interesting materials here, good bye!