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| Sea-Truck Does It All |
Stan Hewitt built his first amphibious vehicle 20 years ago. Hewitt, a duck hunter, cobbled together a clunky 10-wheeled truck-boat hybrid that topped out at only 10-mph on land and a meager 7-mph on water.
Hewitt's goal was to be able to access the prime duck habitats of the Alaskan tundra, a region hard to even get to with regular vehicles, much less traverse. Speed and maneuverability were his goal as they'd help him with the currents there.
The main obstacle was the drag creating wheels his truck would haul through the water. After a year of redesign, the 21-foot truck-boat was fitted with rubber tank-like treads that could pivot 180-degrees when on water while the Chevy Trailblazer engine inside drove an outboard propeller.
With that solved, he then had to face the pumps and motors which were prone to breakdown. Another redesign lead to a hydraulic pump to vertically lift the lower treads in and out of the water. This redesign worked and he had the first amphibious vehicle with a fully retractable drive assembly ever created.
The new design can hit 30-mph and can plow through mud flats, bogs, rivers, ice, snow and lakes all while carrying a 1,500-pound load. Five can sit comfortably inside with plenty of room for search and rescue gear or any other fieldwork.
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