Ooh, a new foamy project!

[Catherine+twins]

One of my children's classmates built a small hovercraft (it lifted with two 12-yo boys on it) for his science fair project, so I have been looking for plans for dear son and his grandfather to play with. This is one built with plans from Universal Hovercraft, but I was already thinking foam before I found it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/10-HP-Hovercraft/



So, let's see. We'll pull up to our spot in the Fenton Lake camp ground in our foamy camper, pull out the foamy kayak board to fish from, and run up and down the campground roads and onto the lake with our foamy hovercraft.

Do I have to register the hovercraft as a powered watercraft?

Catherine

[be_a_jayhawk]

I'm sure that is going to depend on the state. But that is a great idea for the next pinewood derby outlaw car.....no friction means fast!!!

[KCStudly]

That's neat.



...but, (trying not to be a big downer here) the reality of most hobby hovercrafts is that they are not very practical at all. From what I have observed they are loud, they aren't very well controlled (more like sliding in a general direction than being in control), and the novelty quickly wears off. Are they buoyant w/o the lift fan running? If not, and it conks out, wouldn't it sink? Kind of an expensive adventure for the amount of fun that you might get from it (like every other power boat... and some non-powered ones, too). With a boat, at least it goes where you want it to (most of the time) and if you get tired of the noise and wind, you can shut it off and drift for a while.

Not to mention the safety aspect. That blade, everything it is attached to and that surrounds it had better be well and truly secured and guarded by a proper cage. Catastrophic failure is not a safety option. Sticking your hand into the blade is not an option. Sucking up debris and having a blade go out of balance and/or shatter is not an option.

Sorry if it sounds like I am being a downer; just checking to be sure you understand the ramifications of trying to engineer something like this.

[Mary C]

Cathrine sounds like a fun project . If my sons were that age I would do it too. I am from the try it generation , We rode bicycles without a helmet. I skated without those pads the kids wear today, I played in the street and was out till dark. my protective gear in a car was my daddys outstretched arm. and none of my friends died, got some scars and wore them proudly.
Your kids will be kids and let them try if grandpa will help with the motor and such and the win gards and supervise the building Why not? I say go for it!!

Mary C,

[KCStudly]

Oh yes, what Mary said +1.

I do dangerous things, too. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stand in the way of someone having fun and learning new things. I just see things from an engineering point a view, and feel obligated to help other people if I have a concern for their safety.

Example: My friends and I have a machine that throws pumpkins a very long distance. We play with others who do the same thing. Sometimes these machines break and bad things happen. If you stand in the wrong spot or reach in somewhere that you shouldn't, you could be killed in a blink. So when a new guy comes to play and they have no prior experience with such a thing, and we think we see them unwittingly putting themselves in harms way w/o understanding the potential outcomes, then we jump in and try to explain it.

Same thing here. Did I assume too much?

[RandyG]

There was a couple of hovercrafts built on a show, Ultimate Car Build~off. They used jet skis as a seat and control but one team made their deck out of foam.
A cheaper and easier option is to use leaf blowers as your lift and forward thrust as Mythbusters did. I have always wanted to build one but it is kinda impractical. Even so, would be bad a$$! How many people do you know with a freaking hover craft?

[GPW]

It may be easier to start with a RC model hovercraft .... we’ve built a couple out of Foam and they’re fun and not dangerous at all ...

[Catherine+twins]

The one my son's classmate built (that lifted 2 12-yos) used a leaf-blower for lift. I was looking at one site that built the same one as MythBusters, and it was basically the same, but with a second leaf-blower for "steering" (yeah, it was only loosely related to precision steering). The one comment on the hovercraft not being buoyant and sinking on a lake obviously didn't take a look at the link--it was a FOAMY HOVERCRAFT, although granted it had a big honking fan instead of a leaf blower. Anyway, I wasn't worried about it sinking.

Don't be a kill-joy. This is supposed to be FUN!

Catherine

[Mary C]

Who knows Catherine you may come up with a hover craft that in later years will help people to design a jetson car. I just remember one of my Substitute teachers (a science Nerd) talking about a picture phone, one day we will be able to see who we were talking too, At least we would be able to send pictures to each other on these devices and one will be very small like a watch. Almost the whole class laughed but I didn't I knew that things were going to grow very fast in the world of electronics. My dad said he would love to be around when they came up with radio phones. Sadly he died and never saw cell phones. Catherine don't let the naysayers get to you , Yea safety first but don't carry it too far, It is the arch enemy of the inventors and creators of the new things to benefit our world. We would not dream of sending the astronauts into space in rockets like they first used, Have you seen them? In fact if the same safety conscious people had been in charge, no one would have gone into space. The truth is people get hurt, people can just be walking and fall, I did and broke my wrist. but if the naysayers led the world we would still be walking as the ones did in colonial days, no cars, bicycles or planes.
(in my most adventurous little girl voice.) I want to help , I can do it, please , Please Let me do it....... see I am so excited. I want to be the first to try it. a hover craft. Wow. Neat. A jetson car.......I knew some day someone would invent one but who is going to build the skyways? above the highways? this could get big very BIG.

So with that in mind I think you should go for it. Build it, I will try to be as thoughtful and idea wise as I can to help you. I do know how to think out of the box and to be inventive and I promise to give suggestions and help as I can. now lets see a foamie hover craft, my mind is racing, a jetson car........ so many ideas and understandings of the idea that it is boggling my mind. WOW!!! I am going to have to study up on the subject.

Mary C.

[Catherine+twins]

When we do build it we'll probably try it out on my step-mom's farm in Colorado. We won't have to worry about the noise bothering the neighbors there. We also have access to a canal (irrigation canal) for water testing.

Catherine