full size homemade hovercraft (unfinished) full version

[switzercraftbullet]

if u had used a lawnmower engine instead i would be better

[owensgud]

Using a lawnmower would mean more modifications to the original plans and the lawnmower, using leafblowers is far more simple and effective.

[levybest]

What were the dimentions of the body/hull, does it work on water,i'm making one and it's going to use 2 25 cc leaf blowers, when are you going to finish. any time soon.

[owensgud]

4 foot by 8 foot, it would have worked on water yes but i never risked it seeing as if the engines had cut out for whatever reason, it would have sank. 2 25cc leaf blowers are ideal, they work great. Sadly i ran out of money for this project some time ago (spent like, £500 birthday money on it ._.) and the wood on it has just been slowly rotting, its useless now, mabye someday i will start from scratch and make a new one.

[clnmyjts]

Cool guys..you did great..is it heard to steer..

[lilly02pilly]

cool, what's with da cat let him drive

[Kirilltraceur]

nivce

[yusha32]

Does the description say 500 miles per hour, or am I misreading it? If so it would be cool to see that.

[owensgud]

lol, I wish it did do 500mph, no you are reading it wrong, it's the tip of the propellers I'm talking about, the very tip of the 3 foot props would be moving at 500mph.

But the discription kinda looks like a typo lol.

[qais225]

yo my base is really heavy, but urs is big, did u use a special leaf blower to lift it or was the leaf blower just able to do the job?

[owensgud]

My base was 4 foot by 8 foot and a quarter of an inch thick, very thin plywood, use as thin and light base as you can, its all about saving weight with these craft, the engines are just 2x28cc leafblowers, completely standard and capable of lifting 2-3 people :D.

[PyroManiac424]

hey i want to build a hovercraft but all i have is to small gas weedwacker engines. do you think it woud be enough for lift and thrust?

[owensgud]

Is that two engines you said and what CC are they?(my 2 leafblowers were 28cc each) I wouldn't like to try to make one as big as mine, but one about 6 foot long by 3 foot wide should be liftable, another thing you'll have to consider is the type of propeller/fans you need to put on there, i'll need more information before i can help much more, such as the max revolutions per minute (RPM) the width of the shaft on the engine output, im out of space now so get me that info and i'll help more :)

[PyroManiac424]

well the engines are broken now so i still need to fix them so im not that sure about there specs. also i still need to get props i dont know wer to get them or how much they will cost but im looking for some pretty cheap ones because i have a low budget for this thing, ill try to get as much mroe info i can and ill keep you posted about the engines

[owensgud]

well starting with broken engines is usually a bad idea set yourself a realistic budget for a project like this, mine was £700-£750 I didn't manage to get hold of the last £200 to fnish it but it would have, at least I got it to hover! Search universal hovercraft" on google they sell any and all parts needed to make a hovercraft, there not cheap, and there an american based company but they ship to other places too also look though thecomments here i listed the parts used.

[PyroManiac424]

ill fix them and im american so i dont understand pounds or euros wtvr you just used so if you could translate that budget into dollars that would be gr8

[owensgud]

£=Great British Pounds, the conversion is roughly £1-$1.75 so about $1350-$1500 i think (if anyone has the up to date exchange rate it'd be great to know :)) yeah, so if you can get me as many details about the engines i'll be happy to do my best to do the maths and work out what type of propeller/fan you need ect ect, :) getting parts for you should be much easier than it was for me cos your in america :D

[carsonhillbilly]

hahaha this is so cool!

[animalityyy]

NIICEEE

i made one of those like 2 or 3 years ago

for a school project

but i had to use a blower with a cable haha

since that day it has been sitting outside

i think the duct tape we used to hold the skirt is all worn out haha

if i get my hands on wireless blowers

i'll revive it :D

hovercrafts rock

[owensgud]

use petrol blowers, just 1 of those is enough to lift me, yes unfortunatly mine is just sitting outside,becoming home to god knows what creatures and is a bit rotten, i haven't lost intrest in it i've run out of money only another 150 to 200 would finish it. ill just wait 6 months to my b'day lol.

[FRANKANDGDOG]

may as well have built a go-kart and put that huge engine on it

[owensgud]

go-karts are a bit more complicated and everyone has them how many people do you know who have a hovercraft?

[Kirilltraceur]

nice! keep it up!!!

[cw020288]

hi. u said it could lift 2 ppl just with the leaf blowers? how heavy r those 2 ppl?

[owensgud]

it can lift me at 10/11 stone dont know what that is in kg and my freind who weighs about 7or 8 stone which i think may be about 60-70 kg so in total about 150/170kg i think correct me if i'm wrong. but it is enough to lift me and a 35 kg engine so its no problem.

[owensgud]

Unfortunatly i couldn't do a wall skirt and pond liner is just as strong as nylon but less flexable and cheaper.

[PDJ11]

The kind of skirt you're using is a bad idea. You should use a wall skirt. Aiso, a pond liner will wear out and tear faster than if you used a stronger material like water proof nylon.

[owensgud]

The leaf blowers suprisingly can lift 2 and a half people easily i need about 150 quid to finish it and the parts listed below but i will definatly duct the air from the fan to the skirt.

[owensgud]

You can't yet we attached strings to it but hopefully i will have it finished soon with a rear prop and rudders but it all cost money

Donations welcome!

[IFightTheFlood]

hey! how do you steer it?

or can u.....

[owensgud]

My budget is under 700 pounds any more and i could buy a proper kit got about 1 to 150 left.

[scottdgl]

cant wait to see the next vid. have you any idea how much it would cost to build when complete. cheers

[HeroesRox5]

really cool what parts did u use and did u get a car engine?

[owensgud]

full parts list:

3/8" 4'x8' plywood sheet

3/8" 2'x6' plywood sheet

5'x9' pond liner as the skirt

2 upturned mop buckets, lol

2 6'x2"x2" pieces of wood to strenthen it

2 28cc leafblower engines

1 390cc 13hp generator engine

loads of nuts and bolts

[owensgud]

parts to come:

3'hovercraft propeller

12" keyed shaft

chain and sprocket with 2:1 ratio

prop mounting hub and cover

fiberglass for bodywork and prop cover

wire for throttle linkeages ect.

And no i used a generator engine.

[owensgud]

I will probably put it as a video response to this one but it will be something like

'How to make a hovercraft'

Or something like that. i plan to do it within the week

[BobSantiago1]

what is the video gonna be called? the one that your gonna make with tips on how to build one

[BobSantiago1]

what are you gonna call the video for how to make it ?

[davesgud]

very impressive owen, the rel test though is does it work on water?!

[BobSantiago1]

i saw spoolys` hovercraft and yours can you guys post a comment on this video of how to make them

[owensgud]

I'll tell you what ill do, because it's difficult tell someone how to make one i'll make a video and put it on youtube make sure to subscribe to get it fast,

thanks for the interest. I'll have to do it in a day or 2 because the only camera i have is built into my laptop and a mate if mine spilled water on it and it's drying out, you'll see it soon.

[Spooly]

very cool! excited to see the final result on video! :D awesome!