AmphiCoach GTS-1

The AmphiCoach (later marketed as the AmphiCoach GTS-1) is an amphibious passenger coach designed by George Smith, a Scottish engineer who had retired to Malta, and built there by his company GS Specialist Vehicles. Smith first contacted the archive in January 2005, when the coach existed mainly as a computer rendering and road and sea trials were about to start. By March 2006 the 46-seat yellow prototype was being demonstrated at Marsaxlokk.

Design

The makers set out to build a vehicle that drove and looked like an ordinary coach, unlike the converted ex-military DUKWs, LARCs and Stalwarts used by most "duck tour" operators. The hull is 6 mm marine-grade aluminium (5083 alloy), built under Lloyd's supervision. It takes the form of a catamaran filled with buoyancy foam and carries about three tonnes of ballast for stability, so the makers claimed it would stay upright and afloat even if holed or swamped. The coach was built to the UN/ECE R66 roll-over standard and to European emission limits (first Euro 3, later Euro 5). Equipment included ABS disc brakes, air conditioning, reversing cameras and the usual marine navigation gear, as well as bilge pumps and fire suppression.

Power came from Iveco Tector common-rail turbo-diesels. The 2006 prototype had 180 hp and reached 70 mph (about 113 km/h) on the road. A small control engaged a propeller and twin rudders for the water. The makers also offered hydraulic or diesel-electric marine drives, two-wheel or four-wheel drive, left- or right-hand drive and seating for around 50 depending on layout. A 2009 Dutch report says the production coach used an Italian Irisbus chassis. The draught is just over a metre, and the coach was said to cope with waves of up to 1.2 m and wind up to force 6.

History

After three years of development, Smith reported in 2006 that he had more than a dozen firm orders and about 50 serious enquiries, including from Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. He planned a factory in Malta to build about 12 coaches a year. He also proposed a four-wheel-drive search-and-rescue derivative that could carry 5 to 6 tonnes or around 50 to 60 people, reach over 20 knots afloat and use a hydraulic lift for flood rescue. A Rotterdam tour operator later bought an AmphiCoach (see Splashtours amphibious bus).