Hoverwork BHT130

The Hoverwork BHT130 is a medium size hovercraft, designed by Hoverwork and fitted out in St Helens.

As a civil passenger hovercraft it seats up to 130 passengers, hence the numerics in its name, the first welded aluminium hull (fabricated by Aluminium Ship Builders, Fishbourne, Isle of Wight) arrived at Hoverwork's St Helens works in August 2005.

The first of its kind, named the Solent Express entered cross-Solent service on June 14th 2007, also, in the July of the same year, it was put on trial at a new passenger service between Kirkcaldy and Portobello across the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

Technical Specifications

29.3m long
15m beam
70 tonne all up weight
Service speed over water 45 knots
130 passengers
4 crew
Lift engines - 2 x air-cooled, turbo charged, MTU 12V2000-R1237K37 diesels - each producing 675kW
Propulsion engines - 2 x air-cooled, turbo charged, MTU 16V2000-R1637K37 diesels producing 899kW
2 x 3.5m diameter, five-bladed, variable pitch propellers for propulsion