The Hovercraft

A while back Mike Pontecorvo (Cornell ’09) and I built a hovercraft. It had major issues, but nonetheless could be ridden down one’s driveway.



Just recently, I decided that I needed to make a new hovercraft that had better lift and real propulsion.

I started with a peice of 3′ x 4′ 1/2″ plywood. I cut a 24″ hole in the middle for my prop, and mounted the motor. The previous version had a leaf blower, but I figured that a prop would be better. This worked in the small test versions. Yet, after I had attached a good skirt and fired up the prop, it simply sat there, despite my prodding. I found that the model versions worked because the props spun very fast. Yet this version – a 24″ prop on a tractor starter motor – hardly acheived the same speed. Thus, my prop hoverfraft failed.

I wasn’t quite done yet though. I had designed my skirt much more efficiently than the previous version, hoping that I could use left energy for the lift fans. When I arrived at Mike’s house with this new version, we strapped on the leaf blower and gave it a run. It floated right out of the garage! Mike hopped on, and began cruising down the driveway. He probably reached 15 mph, until I heard a large POP then “Ahh!”. Apperently the un-reinforced skirt couldn’t take the pressure, and exploded.

As you can see, it ripped right up the corner. What’s was our answer to that issue, you ask? More Tape.



In the end with the tape, we took the hovercraft for a run in the pouring rain down a bit of a hill. This was quite interesting, becuase rooster tails of water and vapour came out both sides, and the ground behind was dry. But asphalt is abrasive, and we soon had more skirt holes. Perhaps this didn’t turn out to be the great project had originally hoped, but nonetheless it was quite entertaining.