Texas has experienced some severe winters over the past few years. Many have seen it as the F-150 Hybrid. While the state’s power grid remains unresolved, some Texans have come up with ways to make the random bouts of inclement winter weather hamper them less. With that in mind, a Texas man was seen tearing his fanboat (or airboat, depending on who you ask) off the road while snow covered the streets. Texas gonna texas.
A man drove his fan’s canoe on public roads in Texas
In Princeton, Texas, a man was caught on video driving his fan’s boat on public roads that had been frozen over. According to him, Lee Taggart was behind the camera that captured the scene and later gave footage of it
. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see fan boats on frozen lakes or rivers in the coldest places in the world. However, ordinary boats take advantage of the drag created by the water to slow them down and even stop them. Propeller boats, which don’t have brakes, usually benefit from the same drag from the water, but on ice, the craft continues to slide long after you come off the throttle.
While it’s certainly illegal (well, it’s Texas…), driving a propeller boat on icy roads is probably more fun and less dangerous than driving normal vehicles in these conditions. Especially with this guy behind the sticks. He seems to have figured it out well.
How do airboats work?
Airboats are commonly found in places like the Gulf of Louisiana and the Everglades, places where the water is too shallow for most ordinary boats. Airboats navigate shallow water using a giant propeller that generates so much force that the air pushes the flat bottom boat across the top of the water. This works just as well on ice and snow because the flat bottom slides on the surface.
Ordinary boats use rudders in the water which turn to force the boat in different directions. Airboats use the same idea, but the rudders in the air force the direction of the propeller to inflate the boat from left to right. Again, unlike regular boats, airboats do not have brakes or reverse gear.
Snow in Texas
While our man on the fan boat made headlines, Fox 4 also reported that families across North Texas took to the streets, fields, and hills to enjoy the ice and snow. Reports of children sledding behind lawn mowers and even a gentleman riding a picnic table being pulled behind a horse. Now that is Texas for you.
