Hovertravel BHT130 hovercraft
From Wightpedia
Hovertravel BHT130 hovercraft at sea
The Hovertravel BHT130 hovercraft was designed/built in the early years of the twenty-first century. Hoverwork designed the craft - the welded aluminium hull was fabricated at the Fishbourne works of Aluminium Ship Builders and the craft was fitted out at the Hoverwork's St. Helens works.
Hovertravel BHT130 hovercraft at the Ryde terminal
The 'Solent Express', (the first of these 70 tonne, 130 seater craft) began trials in March 2007 and entered cross-Solent service on 14th June 2007.
The BHT130 hovercraft were found to be uneconomical on the short Ryde/Southsea route and were replace in 2016 by the Griffon Hoverwork type 12000TD 80 seater hovercraft.
