Floatboat

Ars Fivvle's floatboat

A floatboat was a large atmospheric vessel utilized by the Ugnaught species as the preferred form of transportation within the Life Zone between the Ugnaught city of Ugnorgrad and Cloud City on the planet Bespin. Repulsor engines were used to generate the vessel's thrust and steering, while four large, floating bladders filled with Tibanna gas governed the ship's altitude.

History

Ugboat was the largest manufacturer of floatboats on the Ugnaught Surface.

Action Tidings holojournalist, Ars Fivvle worked upon two such vessels known as Floatboat 1 and Floatboat 2 during the Ugnaught rebellion. Floatboat 1 was destroyed three years after the Battle of Yavin, and Ars was forced to continue his work upon Floatboat 2.

During the Ugnaught Rebellion, Lando Calrissian boarded Floatboat 2 and used the ship's belt drive as a sling, firing projectiles into the path of advancing Imperial stormtroopers at the Ugnorgrad region known as Pleasant Meadow. Later, Ars and Lando piloted Floatboat 2 to Cloud City, where the ship's crew assisted in a coup against the Imperial administrator, Captain Hugo Treece.

Ten years after the Battle of Yavin, Ars Fivvle was still using Floatboat 2 to broadcast episodes of Action Tidings.

Floatboats also saw major use on Abregado-rae as semi-aquatic vehicles, where the native Gados used them to cross the canals of the Old Patch district, floating on the water and using repulsors over land.

Appearances

• Star Wars (1977) 57 (First appearance)

Sources

• Coruscant and the Core Worlds
• "Bespin: Action Tidings, Part 2: That Den o' Human Iniquity" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• "Bespin: Action Tidings Part 5" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia