Hover Crafts

by **PotatoNick** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:56 pm

someone said they were going to use shower curtain material. I think that would work very well. I have a 4-man raft i bought on sale at wal-mart for like $12 a few years ago and never opened. I'll try it first. If anyone has something against using a thick shower curtain, i'd like to know. I've been wanting to make a hovercraft for a few years, but I could never figure out a really good skirt material. Will the hovercraft be able to go up hills? I'm going to use something with 4-12hp and a 28" propeller with 12" pitch.

by **MisterSteve124** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:57 pm

For the skirt go to home depot. They have pretty thick plastic you can buy. We made our own at school. Just get the plastic and maybe use 2 or 3 layers staple it to the edge of the plywood(or whatever your using for the base) and just use some duct tape on the top of the base around the edges. It worked fine for me. We just used a leaf blower for lift and a push from someone.

by **PotatoNick** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:17 am

that's what i was thinking about, using duct tape and staples lol. what kind of plastic? was there a name for it?

by **SMOMW** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:15 am

I was thinking about hovercrafts the other day....

Has anyone seen any designs which use two propelling props on the sides of the craft? This would make turning as simple as upping the throttle on one side and lowering the other, alot like some of the bigger lawn mowers are these days.

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by **PotatoNick** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:31 am

a cable system isn't that bad. it's easier than messing with the two motors to get identical rpms (or else it will pull one way). plus you'll spend mo dolla on a dual fan setup. Im going with a 3 wing rudder thing (one on each side and one in the middle). I want to build one so bad, but I have to get some money lol. I want a powerful prop motor. I'm going with a four-stroke and a belt system, the motor will have some head work done, since i can polish the ports myself and mayeb egt the head shaved a little. It needs to go up hills, nuff said.

by **MisterSteve124** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:23 pm

No I don't think there was a name for it. Its just like clear plastic. If you use a few layers it should hold up great. Just dont stop the inflation unless you aren't moving otherwise it will scratch the plastic. The only other thing I can think about using is rubber.

by **SMOMW** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:30 pm

how well would a shower curtain, or any thin plastic material hole up in all terain situations? it'd be easy to go on concrete or black-top since it's relatively smooth... but in a yard where sticks, rocks, etc, could possibly puncture the material would it be worth it?

by **SMOMW** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:30 pm

how well would a shower curtain, or any thin plastic material hole up in all terain situations? it'd be easy to go on concrete or black-top since it's relatively smooth... but in a yard where sticks, rocks, etc, could possibly puncture the material would it be worth it?

by **PotatoNick** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:24 pm

i had a thick clear plastic shower curtain one time and it was more rubbery than a tarp or a thin plastic. I might end up using tarp since it has those nice brads for drawstrings. for drawstrings i'm going to use safety wire i think. Safety wire is a wire used to secure bolts in racing applications and is designed to not break when twisted and it's fairly tough for being only like 18 gaugish, it comes in different sizes like .052" and others

by **davidbowie** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:29 pm

You can get 40 mil PVC sheet at Home Depot in the plumbing section. Dropcloths (I'm pretty sure that's what Steve was talking about) and shower curtain are pretty thin, and I've had both punctured on asphalt. I haven't tried out the PVC sheeting yet, but it's quite a bit thicker, and you might want to give it a shot.