February, 2010

The Viper 5 series is finally here.

Development of the Viper series Hovercraft took place over a 3 year period before final production molds were made in the last 6 months of 2009.

Visually, the new design looks like an extended Viper 4, but only in part. The lower hull was reshaped with a much stronger, cleaner profile. New features, such as skirt hook recess and trailer rail recess have added to the versatility.

The cockpit retains the original dash area profile, but the remainder was completely reshaped with a cleaner, stronger floor profile. Larger fuel and storage compartments compliment the re profiled seat base. The engine bay was enlarged to utilize a number of engine styles.

A larger, tuned fan duct was made for this series, with a specially designed bell mouth and splitter to reduce noise levels. Further improvements to thrust were made with the Installation of flow vanes. New larger rudders and elevator vanes are also made.

The most significant development, was the installation of the 100hp 3701VS Hirth engine as standard for this new 5X model. Gone is the 100hp F30K/3002 Hirth from the 100hp line up.

A limited run a 64hp Rotax and 65hp Hirth powered base Viper 5 units have been made, but the standard engine for the base Viper 5 model will be a 84hp Hirth 3702V.

The performance and low noise is impressive for a 4.6m, 5 person design. The Viper 5 series feels light and responsive. Forward speed stability has improved significantly to the earlier Viper 4 series due to the additional length. The new design has adapted well allowing for a much larger driver weight, and increased payload capacity.

We can see this new model will be adopted well in the rescue and fishing fraternity.