/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.468990]

Hey /diy/!
I got a little Question. At some point most of us probably thought of this. A homemade Hovercraft.
One that can drive on asphalt and water. So here is my point:
How does one make said Hovercraft?
I already saw that people made them and theoretically it sounds possible. Has anyone already made experience with those? If i decided to build one i will post them here. The Budget of me and the other people helping me doesn't have any restrictions right now.
inb4 OP is a rich fuck.

Pic releated. Maybe like this but a bit more.... massive maybe. With a real floor like a boat.

[bump No.469001]

>>468990
Selfbump

[Anonymous No.469002]

>>469001

Slow board, no need to bump. Shit will still be here tomorrow, come back then.

[Anonymous No.469004]

>>468990
that boat (from Half-Life-2) is not a hovercraft, it is a combination of a pontoon boat and an airboat. -And with somewhat-fictional performance.

------

There ARE vehicles like that really built and used.... they are called "arctic airboats" {Google it yourself}

The reason that arctic airboats work is because the floats act like sled runners on ice and snow. They can still be used in water, but they don't have enough power to slide over dry ground.

------

Airboats of either style tend to need bigger 'forward drive" engines... A small hovercraft might have a 5hp lift engine and a 40 hp thrust engine.

With a typical airplane propeller, you can only get about 2 lbs of thrust from 1 hp. If you made a 'fanjet'-style prop, they can get ~2.75 lbs of thrust per HP, but making one is not a minor task.

[Anonymous No.469005]

>>468990
>GUYS HOW MAEK HOVERCRAFT
>posts picture of an airboat

[Anonymous No.469006]

Its not worth the effort. Just putting it out there.

[bump No.469007]

>>469005
Sorry man i really had no clue about the difference. So is the thing from CSI miami a hovercraft?

[Anonymous No.469008]

>>469006
Why not? It seems like a pretty cool thing once finished

[Anonymous No.469013]

>>469006
>Its not worth the effort. Just putting it out there.
what is not worth the effort? building a hovercraft?
,,,,,
hovercraft are high-maintenance and not very fuel-efficient,,,, but if you have to get around in a vast area of mud, they do work well

[Anonymous No.469022]

>>469007
If you mean this, then no.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airboat

[sage No.469023]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft

fan boats and hoverboats

i made a basic infographic for you.

[Anonymous No.469025]

>>469007
No.
An airboat is a flat floor or float watercraft that is propelled by a propellor. Airboats are popular for navigating shallow waterways, swamps, marshes, and everglades because they have a very shallow draft and don't have a propeller underwater to get snagged on things.

A Hovercraft is different in that it rides on a cushion of air. Pic related.

[Anonymous No.469027]

>>469023
Thanks! Man this board is even more useful than i remeber it to be.

[Anonymous No.469028]

>>469027
So i guess we aren't talking about a Hovercraft anymore. Let's collect tutorials for Airboats!

[Anonymous No.469030]

>>469028
Plywood base with plywood walls and backing, simple design, just google fan boat.

make it watertight and strong, add cross beam supports along the base near the back for motor and fan mounting and middle for the seat. Build a steel frame for your motor (get that first), build a light simple control system and add a fan (MAKE SURE ITS CAGED!)

1) before assembling final parts, make sure that the boat is steady and balanced with CoG where centre of upthrust, and does not change no matter the weight of the driver.
2) only use on flat and smooth water/ice and not in bad weather.

[Anonymous No.469046]

>>469030
Thanks this helps a lot!
Another idea i had... let's say i'd add wheels. Just sturdy enough to basically drive on flat asphalt. I could put a little motor on and make it that they don't get harmed when driving in water.
Would that work?

[Anonymous No.469051]

http://lonestarhovercraft.com/

This guy made a few hovercrafts himself. He's gonna start selling kits.

[Anonymous No.469056]

>>469028
>aquire boat
>attach fan
>airboat!

[Anonymous No.469062]

>>469013
>hovercraft are high-maintenance and not very fuel-efficient,,,, but if you have to get around in a vast area of mud, they do work well
Bingo. A friend bought one, paid I think 15,000 dollars or some shit. Hovercraft have a heavy vinal "skirt" that holds the air under the unit. This skirt likes to get torn on sticks and rocks, and if the tear is bad enough, you're stuck... sewing.
If you ask me, one of those swamp boats (airboats) would be the bomb.

[Anonymous No.469073]

Hey guys just found this link:
http://www.airboatfun.com/

Seems to be pretty much what we are looking for eh?

[Anonymous No.469327]

So are we not talking about hovercrafts anymore? Just wondering because my friend had a project to build one from scratch. We stopped after fiberglassing a few foam cores for the body because it was a pain in the ass to handle boards that long. But after that, it's not so bad. Put on a skirt, throw on a motor or two and there you go. It was scratchbuilding the body that's difficult. It has to be light but strong.

[Anonymous No.469576]

>>469327
Nah Hovercrafts seem to unhandy to build, maintain.

[Anonymous No.469625]

>want to build motorized boat
>doesn't even know what it's called
I don't think you're going to build something like this anytime soon.

[Anonymous No.469629]

>>469625
I am not from america or any other english speaking country. I didn't know the word that is all.

[Anonymous No.469730]

http://youtu.be/bcyFSyglWpY
Here ya go OP

[Anonymous No.469756]

>>468990
Pic you have there op reminds me of Gentle Ben.
Try building the chasis of your hovercraft from aluminium [or carbon fibre if you wanna invest] and using the engine of an old volkswagen Beetle as they're air cooled. Just my two cents.

[Anonymous No.469788]

>>469756

That is probably another thing.
Let's say i wanna transport around 2 people. What motor should i use? And what kind of motor?

[Anonymous No.469791]

this.

[Anonymous No.469793]

>>469788
Look into buying a paramotor motor, they're light, strong, sturdy and cheap

[Anonymous No.469798]

>>469793
well the ones i am looking at aren't that cheap. Also i can't find many. Most of them are already in complete sets with parachutes etc.

[Anonymous No.469805]

You can make a hovercraft for $100, but if you want to make one for two people, it might cost you around $500
The best and cheapest motor to use to push air out from the bottom of the hovercraft would be any kind of gas powered leafblower (add two per person, make sure they're identical.) Use plywood as a base for your hovercraft, I advise using two sheets (one on top of the other) for durability. Use a tarp for your airskirt; poke holes the size of ping pong balls (or golf balls) evenly throughout the tarp, secure the centre of the tarp to the plywood of your hovercraft with metal screws (use washers to secure the bottom of the tarp unless you want it to tear) the longer your hover craft is, the more you should use (if its completely round use one, if it is longer, use two, and space them evenly from each other for proper skirting) now tape that tarp to the plywood. By now, you will have a functioning hovercraft, but it probably wont move on its own, so you're going to need a fan, for best results, order a paramotor engine, as the kind sir above has clearly provided, attach it evenly to the back of your hovercraft, and you're in business, have fun!!!

[Anonymous No.469807]

>>469798
looked on craigslist or ebay?
you might also want to use an industrial fan if you cannot afford a paramotor engine

[Anonymous No.469808]

>>469798
>>469807
whats your price range for a motor? I could help you look

[Anonymous No.469809]

>>469808
Well the most important thing is that it is available in europe/germany.
I don't know the range because i literally know nothing about motors.

[Anonymous No.469811]

>>469809
it has to be lightweight and reasonably strong

[Anonymous No.469814]

>>469811
I found a suitable motor on ebay... Used for snow sleds.
But that thing costs 1000 Dollar....

[Anonymous No.469815]

>>469814
its easy enough to make one

[Anonymous No.469818]

>>469815
How do you mean that?
Completely making a motor of scratch?
Also: Would you think that i should check the local scrapyard? maybe they got one

[STOP RESPONDING TO SHITTY TROL(...) No.469821]

this is a screenshot from a video of a hovercraft i made a few years ago. this was made with a leaf blower, plywood, a lawn chair, a tarp, a paint can lid, a nut and bolt, duct tape and staples. if anyone's interested, i can provide more in-depth details

[Anonymous No.469825]

>>469821
do it

[Anonymous No.469831]

Find a way to super-magnetize the entire world.

[Anonymous No.469838]

>>469818
they might have parts, yes

[Anonymous No.469841]

>>469825
excuse the MSpaint graphics hare, but this is basically it. Side view of the hovercraft on top, bottom view on bottom. Air is blown in by a leaf blower through the top of the plywood, and inflates the tarp into what looks like half of a donut. The air is then pushed out of the holes in the tarp that circle the paint can lid. This creates an area of pressurized air underneath the center of the hovercraft. When that air bleeds out underneath the tarp, it separates you from the ground, and you can float on your merry way. the paint can lid just acts as a large washer that keeps the tarp from ripping around where it is attached to the plywood in the center. The tarp is attached to the top of the plywood with staples and some duct tape, as you can see in the original screenshot.

[Anonymous No.469875]

>>469825
> i thought her knees were her boobs

[Anonymous No.469901]

Buy airboat. Add a fan pointed down. Add a skirt and skids under the hull. You hovercraft now.

If you want a more powerful hovercraft, consider the weight to horsepower ratio of the military models. The US model has a 12 MW powerplant to move a full load of 185 tonnes at 75 kph. I don't know about you, but I don't have a megawatt-class powerplant lying around my garage. If I took my truck's engine out, that's a 175 kW powerplant; if the ratio of power to displacement (1:15) is kept the same, that works out to 2.5 tonnes max displacement. So in theory I could convert my 2-tonne truck to a hovercraft with 500 kg headroom for carrying cargo. That could get larger or smaller depending on how much mass I lose (tires, wheels, brakes) and add (fans, skirt, and rudder) in the conversion.

[Anonymous No.469900]

ITT: MFW retards asking retards about retarded shit!

[Anonymous No.469911]

>>469901
it would be easier to just make an oiler system on the bottom you can already run air boats on grass

my buddy rides his right up onto his trailer in the grass

[Anonymous No.469929]

>>469901

Mind that the majority of that output is directed into MANEUVERING the craft, not lifting it. Given a big enough surface area, you can lift very heavy objects with relatively little pressure. They just won't hover that far off the ground, giving you limited clearance for rocks or debris or what have you.

[Anonymous No.470027]

I don't think that a Hovercraft is buildable with
1. The parts i got and
2. The Product i look for
An Airboat seems a lot more suitable for my needs.
So what do i need next to a sturdy base, a Fan and a rudder?

Or should the fan be moveable from side to side to maneuver?

[Anonymous No.470063]

>>470027
moving an industrial fan fron side to side is mighty dangerous, so rudder

[Pinzfag. No.470071]

It is a dream of mine to make a replica half life 2 airboat.

[Anonymous No.470160]

Hey guys i made a simple sketch and went the thing through with the others.... What should i build the Hovercraft's balloon out of? it should be sturdy enough for both water and asphalt, grass. Any ideas?

[Anonymous No.470381]

>>470160
Well, they ARE going to probably take a pretty bad beating, so think of something that's sturdy, but also cheap and lightweight. Now, I'm thinking of a replica of the Half life fan boat. An actual hovercraft would need something like the material for jumping castles, but stronger.

[Anonymous No.470457]

>>469046
I suppose,if you want to go really slowly on both land and water

[Anonymous No.470460]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ScW6qrsX2A
These guys managed to make a hovercraft in 10 hours from scrap, it's certainly doable