The worlds first electric airboat
PRODUCT
Jack de Hosson
11/9/20232 min read
The problem
A few years ago my family bought a little property situated on and island! It quickly became more then a getaway place, and we ended up spending alot of our time there. In winter time this presented a problem. How do we get over the ice when it is to thick for the boat, but not strong enough to walk on? The answer? Airboats!
The solution
Airboats, a popular type of boat in North America, Finland, and Russia, excel at one specific task: traversing snow, ice, and even land while maintaining the ability to float. They achieve this thanks to their flat hull designs and anti-slip surfaces, powered by—you guessed it—an air propeller. Unlike hovercrafts, they don't rely on a motor for lift, making airboats a simpler vehicle. However, traditional airboats pose their own set of challenges. They are generally big, heavy, and powered by large, obnoxiously loud engines. While these traits may make them cool, powerful, and fast, they are also cumbersome and expensive to operate, making them an inadequate solution to our problem.
The idea
And so, the journey began. We built countless prototypes using off-the-shelf components until one day Dad had enough of components not suiting our project and went the custom route.
And this is when the project really took off.
Attention
As this started becoming a much bigger project than we initially thought, one day, we decided to showcase our hard work on YouTube. And oh boy, did it get more attention than anticipated—likes, comments, ideas, and hundreds of thousands of views. Even people wanting to buy the boat!
Click to view full-screen.
Stills
Summary
In November, almost 4 years after our Airboat journey started, I am standing on a frozen lake in Åre, Sweden, in front of our last preproduction unit. Dad is in the garage 8 hours south of me, assembling the two first production units for customers, and I can't believe how far we have come. This is a real product now. You can buy one. And it is better than I ever imagined it becoming. It is more powerful, more durable, and has more range than ever, allowing you to travel further over even trickier terrain. It is a true work of art.
If you, just like us, have a hard-to-reach place, why not check out our boats? They might just offer that perfect sweet spot that we went looking for all those years ago.
See you on the lake!
/Jack de Hosson