"The thing is, I've got so many bad days [where it is too windy] so I can't go out.
"Just because of the nature of the weather you can't go out if it's too dangerous."
The uncertainty of wind levels made it difficult to advertise, he said.
"The thing is being able to advertise and to have consistency; it's like a dairy that may be open on a Friday.
"You plan on how many days you can open and when that shrinks even further it's a real pain," Mr Burton said.
"It is mainly bad weather, and we were always in two minds about Rotorua, Taupo is always heaving on the Lakefront, whereas there is not much happening down at Lake Rotoiti."
Mr Burton said the machine had been damaged from someone climbing on it for a photo.
"It has been dented and smashed in, so it has spent two or three weeks out of the water now and we are still waiting for the new fibre glass bits to come along.
"It goes from passengers saying it is fantastic and superb to zero - breakages, maintenance bad weather. It's just crazy," he said.
The one-of-a-kind venture had piqued people's interests.
"A motoring magazine rang up and wanted me to place an ad.
"I'm not scared of trying stuff, and to get the first commercial hovercraft in the world has been great - it's something to put in the memoirs for the grandchildren," Mr Burton said.
