Evolution of the Fiberglass Hulls

Pioneers of Airboating

- David "Straycat" Laviolette

In the earlier days of airboating, there were many regional or local airboat pioneers who were helping to grow airboating across Florida. There was a large amount of airboat construction going on from the late 1940s into the 1950s. Folks were experimenting with many styles of airboat fabrication. These are a few of the early pioneers of the fiberglass hulls.

Norman Padgett

Norman Padgett was quite the South Florida legend. He was an early builder of airboats around the West Palm Beach area. He was a skilled hunter and fisherman in the Glades so he had a great interest in traversing the Florida Everglades.

Padgett lived on a houseboat on the Miami River. This was before the dredging and earth moving when the marsh and river were one large moving body of water.

Padgett's airboats were featured with pictures and stories in the first Airboating Magazine, owned by Bob and Alicia Hopwood, in the early 1970s.

My dad, Everglades Ernie, would let me tag along with him in his 1949 Chevy truck to Padgett's shop. I remember some of the hulls back then were not much more than glorified cement mixer boxes. They were rather square, but they did the job with their small, low-horsepower Continental and Lycoming engines.

You can read more about Padgett in a book titled, Everglades Lawmen. There is a section devoted to Norman Padgett.

David Gore