I was looking at a website yesterday called www.hovercraft.com and I
got to wondering what materials would make the lightest possible
hovercraft? Would aluminum be lighter than fiberglass? I know that
when I owned an aluminum fishing boat, it was sure a lot lighter than
my fiberglass boat. But then again, if you put a thin sheet of
fiberglass over foam, you can get a really light composite. Afterall,
this is how they build surfboards and they are really light and strong.
Anyway, I've got a couple of air cooled Ruggerini diesel motors
sitting in my garage doing nothing. They are about 20 hp each and I
think that a hovercraft would be an ideal project. The hovercrafts
supposedly get much better fuel mileage than a fishing boat because
there is less drag. They are not pushing water, they are floating
above it. The hovercrafts on that website can get 200 miles on ten
gallons of gas. This is as good as most north american cars with the
exception that you can fly over the lake instead of having to drive
around it. I wonder what a more efficient diesel motor would get on
the same amount of fuel? Lots of questions but sounds like a fantastic
summer project.