Hovercraft maker to rise again

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ADRENALIN PUMPER: Rudy Heeman demonstrates his flying hovercraft, which he says is not for the faint hearted, in Nelson Haven.

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The man and his magnificent flying machine have been parted, but it might not be long before Nelson sees Rudy Heeman, in his suit and crash helmet, making a scene with another home-built creation.

He is still not saying what it is, but it will involve flying and it does not have tyres.

His flying hovercraft, or more appropriately a machine called a "wing in ground effect", sold on Trade Me on Saturday night to a Christchurch buyer for a final bid of $27,500.

The listing attracted an astonishing more than 232,000 views, and more than 8000 "watchers" by the middle of last week.

The expected last-minute bidding for the machine classed as a boat, and a flying machine when wings and a tail are attached, did not eventuate because of a tightly controlled auction, Mr Heeman said.

"There were a few more (bids) at the end, but they were deleted because they looked a bit dodgy," he said.

Fake bidders caused Mr Heeman a few problems, including one last week who caused a "major drama" by placing a bid for $500,000.

Mr Heeman who is a mechanic by trade and who enjoys dabbling in engineering developments, said although the past few weeks had been very stressful, he was happy with the final price, which would allow him to move on with his next project and buy his wife her dream car – a classic Mustang.

"I put the reserve at $20,000 and I thought $10,000 more than that would be great, and we almost got there," he said.

Mr Heeman was grateful to everyone who had shown such a big interest in the project, and its sale. "Kiwis rock. The support and help from people around me has been awesome. I have had offers of help, including sponsorship, workshop space, organisations offering free advice and private individuals offering business advice.

Mr Heeman made special mention of his mother, Bev Heeman, for "buying all those flying magazines", and his wife Jill and daughters Shannon and Emma for "standing by my side and not minding me spending lots of time in my shed".

Mr Heeman will now embark on giving the new owner flying lessons and making sure he was comfortable with handling the flying hovercraft.

- © Fairfax NZ News