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.

Buy_Sell wrote:
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.



Check out the alt.rec.hovercraft NG. Loads of very knowledgable and
helpful guys there, including several guys whos companies make
hovercraft. Pleanty of folks who have actually built, owned and operated
hovercraft. Nice, interesting bunch of folks. Whatever you are
thinking, there is a good chance someone there has thought of,
investagated, and/or tried it already.

I have wanted to build one of theses things since I was a kid. One
day, perhaps...

Have fun.

Al A.

Thanks for the tip on alt.rec.hovercraft NG I'll check it out.

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Al A. Jan 29, 7:23 pm

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- Show quoted text -
Buy_Sell wrote:
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.

Check out the alt.rec.hovercraft NG. Loads of very knowledgable and
helpful guys there, including several guys whos companies make
hovercraft. Pleanty of folks who have actually built, owned and
operated
hovercraft. Nice, interesting bunch of folks. Whatever you are
thinking, there is a good chance someone there has thought of,
investagated, and/or tried it already.

I have wanted to build one of theses things since I was a kid. One
day, perhaps...

Have fun.

Al A.

I have wanted to build one of theses things since I was a kid. One
day, perhaps...

When I was a kid growing up in the UK I remember being taken on
holidays to the Isle of Wight where the first commercial hovercraft
were being built and tested. Some 45 years later I visited the Isle
of Wight and the hovercraft still provide a regular passenger service
across from Portsmouth.

I wanted to take my wife on the large car carrying hovercraft that
flew from Dover to Calais but alas they are no more.

--You might also want to check out the WIG page for
wing-in-ground-effect vehicles; IMO superior to hovercraft because of higher
speeds and (slightly) better maneuverability. They make kewl models, too;
check out this link: http://media.putfile.com/HydroFoam/wide

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I can make damn near anything
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : ...except money, sigh.
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Thanks for the tip about the WIG page. I noticed that on the
www.hovercraft.com webpage, some of the hovercrafts have been converted
in "wing in groundeffect" vehicles. The downside is that the fuel
mileage is drastically reduced when flying in ground effect. I was
shocked to see this but happy to see that most of the hovercrafts had a
range of 200 miles on only 10 gallons of fuel.

I did some heavy searching today and found a very lightweight
hovercraft called the "canair 340". It weighed in at 350 lbs. That
sounds quite reasonable for one man to handle this vehicle by himself.
Most of the other personal hovercrafts out there are a few thousand
pounds. Getting something like that unstuck from a situation can be a
nightmare. A few hundred pounds on the other hand is manageable.
http://www.decastris.com/hcc/builders/ulh/ulhcanair.htm

-----------------------------------------
steamer Jan 30, 12:19 pm

--You might also want to check out the WIG page for
wing-in-ground-effect vehicles; IMO superior to hovercraft because of
higher
speeds and (slightly) better maneuverability. They make kewl models,
too;
check out this link: http://media.putfile.com/HydroFoam/wide