The PMX series was a name that emerged several years ago when I saw the complexity some owners were using to incorporate wear panels on new skirts. They were adapting the original Turbo Hovercraft skirt (now PMX1) by adding a wear panel from first manufacture. The pattern was never intended for that kind of manufacture and the resulting skirts were never satisfactory.
The PMX2 became the first in a series of skirt designs that have had continuous improvement for function and ease of manufacture.
Recently I have developed a new form of extended segment skirt construction that is derived from loop segment systems used on larger craft.
This is a summary of each design in sequence that they were developed.
| Skirt | Description |
|---|---|
| PMX1 | The original Turbo Hovercraft skirt from 1984. Typically rounded profile as was common then. Optimised for better material efficiency. |
| PMX2 | Functionally the same as the PMX1 but made from separate panels allowing specific materials for each part. Designed for a wear panel to resist the abrasion. |
| PMX3 | Owen Ellis’ version of the PMX2. It has three sections on the top compared to the two on the PMX2 giving a more rounded profile. |
| PMX4 | A design melding the smooth round profile of the original skirt, the multi-material use of the PMX2 and designed to minimise material offcut waste in manufacture. |
| PMX5 | The next development in this series of skirt shapes. The PMX5 panels became regular shapes further reducing offcuts by better nesting for cutting. The top panel narrows to the width of the width of the segment simplifying fitting to the hull |
| PMX6 | The minimised skirt. This is as about as minimal a skirt can be with a wear panel. Very angular and very fast to cut and sew. |
| PMX7 | This is the last iteration of kind of skirt construction. Designed specifically to be cut from 1500mm (60″) material the PMX7 has virtually no offcuts, minimising material cost. Still quick to sew together having all flat seams. Easily done on a domestic sewing machine by builders with no sewing experience. |
| PMX9 | A new approach to extended segment configuration. This is a Cap Finger skirt. It has a simple Finger typical of the fingers on large hovercraft and a top part, the Cap, that retains it. The finger is intended to be readily replaceable so can be attached to the Cap with nylon bolts. The Cap itself consists of two identical pieces of material with a single joining seam. Both the Cap and Finger are attached separately to the inner tie. The profile of the PMX9 is quite angular. |
| PMX10 | Another Cap Finger skirt using the same Finger of the PMX9 but with a three piece rounded profile for owners that prefer a rounded skirt. Unlike most PMX skirts, the Cap requires sewing the straight edge of the top panel to a curve on the side panel. |
The PMX7 is the latest and best version of the multipanel type skirt and the PMX9 is the new standard for advanced skirts.
All skirt drawings are in PDF format and sometimes distributed in a ZIP file. They are mostly A4 size so they can be printed on a home printer.
PMX Craft
PMX skirts are design to fit the following hovercraft:
PMR Series
Turbo Superwedge
Turbo Vortex 245 265
Revtech Racer
Revtech Revolution
Viper Hovercraft (various)
PMR1
Turbo CST
ASV E2
Revtech Renegade
Airlift Revolution
HCA30/40
Turbo Wedge
Expo
Revtech Razer
Revtech Renegade Hybrid
Hornet
PMX1
The original Turbo hovercraft skirt from 1984. Thousands of these skirts have been worn to shreds on hundreds of the Turbo stable of craft.
A single material skirt with low spray and good crush resistance.
This drawing is free to download and consists of full size dimensioned cut out template, instructions to assemble and a side profile of the hull that they fit.
