HOVERCRAFT Plans and Homebuilt
HOVERCRAFT Plans and Homebuilt

 

 

 

HOVERCRAFT Plans and Homebuilt

HOVERCRAFT – Plans and Homebuilt

By Lee Gutschow

Welcome to your first attempt at building your own hovercraft. As with any other project there’s a few things you need to know before you really decide whether you want to do this or not.

The first thing you need to know is that if you start building a hovercraft, there's really no going back. Though seemingly cheap, from as little as $200.00, it's still a big investment, especially if you give up halfway through. Don't let setbacks get you down I have found that after a few failed attempts, that there is always a way to get it working.

Secondly, building a hovercraft isn't hard. Making a hovercraft that will hold one or more people is relatively easy. The materials are easy to find, and assembly is not difficult, given you don’t mind working with saws and wrenches. Your measurements must be precise; all your calculations correct, everything mounted correctly or the entire mechanism will fail to work properly. One loosely sewn skirt stitch or one small leak can potentially be the reason the entire hovercraft refuses to float. Always remember, there's always a way to fix it.

A good way to start your hovercraft quest is online. Building a homemade hovercraft starts by sifting through all the information, plans, and kit options available. But some Hovercrafter’s like to push the envelope and build the ride of their dreams.

With a modest budget and a set of plans or even a kit from a hovercraft expert, and you can get a professional step-by-step guide to building a homemade hovercraft. Several hovercraft manufacturers will sell their plans or provide their craft in kit form if you are up to the challenge.

Of course, the best way to actually learn is to start experimenting for yourself. But it does help to look at what fellow Hovercrafter’s are up to. There are plenty of examples of homemade hovercrafts to go by if you will spend a bit of time surfing the web. You will find plenty of free plans for a hovercraft that can be powered by a leaf blower engine taped to a piece of plywood. There are also plenty of kits available for the more advanced hovercraft projects.

Whether you will be working from a kit or building from scratch, most other hovercraft hobbyists spend plenty of time dreaming up complicated designs. Although the budget is kept as low as possible, you'll have to spring for an engine and propeller parts to come up with a solid craft. Still, if you have enough time on your hands and $200 or so, this can be an amazing challenge!

Hovercraft consists of five basic components:

  • The hover platform – For most small projects the standards is half inch thick piece of plywood.
  • The Lift Engine – This can be as simple as an electric leaf blower or vacuum cleaner motor for small single person or science fair type hovercraft to much larger gas engines for the more versatile and useful projects.
  • The Propulsion – If you are just making a hoverboard the propulsion is achieved just by leaning in the direction you want to go. For the more sophisticated hovercraft you will need to add a propeller and rudders, in most cases you will need a second engine for propulsion.
  • The Skirt - The air blown downwards through the hover platform is trapped by the skirt, creating the air cushion that lifts the craft to hovering capability. There are three types of skirts to be concerned with for hovercraft: Bag Skirts, Wall Skirts, and Finger
  • BAG SKIRT - A bag skirt is like an inter-tube with a piece of plywood on top, holes feeding into the middle, and an air supply. When it inflates its the same principle as simply sitting on top of a ball, since that's essentially what it is. Air is forced through the hover platform, inflating the skirt so it is about two inches high. The air inflating it goes out the holes located towards the center, making the air also build up pressure in a chamber between the ground, the plywood, and the inflated ring of the bag skirt. The pressure build up enough so that it and the bag skirt is lifting the plywood, and the air slides out underneath the bag, creating a nearly frictionless environment.
  • WALL SKIRT - Wall skirts hang down from the edge of your hovercraft (hence the wall name). The skirt inflates and pushes outwards, so the hovercraft rides on a cushion of air, when it is fully inflated some air will pick the hovercraft up still a centimeter more so the air could slide out from underneath. A good bag skirt works similar to a Bag Skirt.
  • FINGER SKIRT: - Finger skirts are most commonly used on professional hovercrafts but a homebuilder can construct one. A finger skirt has a lot of little segments that each individually inflate to conform to the ground so the hovercraft can go most terrain. The fingers are actually a lot of separated "little skirts" that are independently inflated. It takes a lot of work to build a finger skirt, you need a larger hull with a built in plenum chamber. A final note about skirts, when picking a material make sure it can take a lot of wear and tear. Keep in mind this material is going to be dragging along the ground a lot, and needs to be able to maintain it's air tight manner.

    So welcome to our site, and don’t be discouraged by my warnings. Once you really do get your hovercraft floating, it will be absolutely exhilarating! Once you get it floating on air you'll spend most of the rest of your time working out little kinks in design and performance, so congratulate yourself when you get that far. We hope you will have just as much fun as we did making your hovercraft.


    Lee Gutschow

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