DIY Homebuilt Hovercraft

even as a child I had a Fascination about hovercrafts Fascination may not be the correct term looking back on it it was more of an obsession in this video I will show you how I built my craft I acquired the hull from a village near my home the hall was in the abandoned building and was destined for the landfill whoever started this seemed like they had the right shapes so I felt the design should work what I will show you is not based on a plan just my intuition based on previous experiences this project truly was a leap of faith as so much energy and time went into the build without knowing for certain if it would work a friend had a 1985 Toyota Celica that had a good engine but a rusty body the car had lots of spunk so it seemed like a good engine for The Craft the problem was that the car had the first fuel injected 22r engine there were nearly 30 pounds of wiring harness and I had to shed most of the weight I had to get the engine started first and then pruned back wiring and get rid of non-essential parts July 25th and we got fuel flowing through [Music] through tank and contact yeah I needed flexible fiberglass panels to complete the hole so I made my own sheets by waxing a steel plate and then laying fiberglass matting onto the steel sheet the wax made it easy to peel away from the steel sheet I had to close in the plenum where the air would get directed through holes that would feed each skirt segment you will see the fiberglass Runners I fabricated for the bottom of the craft by waxing a 2x2 board and covering it with fiberglass with the bottom sheets in place I was able to fiberglass over the structure to provide rigidity I started work on the Rudders they were made with three wood airfoil shapes then covered with clear plastic I poured expandable foam then sanded it to shape and fiberglassed them the rod supporting them is from a fiberglass roadway marker so it will not corrode or swell with humidity what would be a hovercraft without a joystick I wanted a joystick handle the custom fit my hand so I used paper mache to get the shape right and then fiberglass it the whole bottom lacked rigidity so I used my fiberglass panels to make box structures I filled them with expandable foam and then sealed the top with a fiberglass sheet I had to order the fan as I need to get the drivetrain working I ordered the fan and belt from Universal hovercraft I needed a pulley for the belt I couldn't find a lightweight pulley so I had to make one out of laminated plywood I did some research on the Belt profile I then drafted the profile and cut it on my CNC plasma table to make a tool suitable for Machining the grooves and the wooden pulley the plywood had some knots in the layers so I used resin to fill in the holes and then re-cut the grooves on the pulley thank you police seem perfectly balanced I was so happy even better yet the belt fit perfectly now it was time to work on the drive system I cut a quarter inch plate on the CNC and mounted a flexible coupler a shaft connects the coupler to a pulley supported by a pillow block bearing assembly I had to fiberglasses support for the engine mount and radiator I fabricated a mount for the upper pulley that drives the fan there are close tolerances between the fan and the duct in this case about an eighth of an inch maximum I did not want any vibration that would cause fan contact with the duct so I stiffened the mount assembly with cross braces at the time I did not have a belt tensioner but later I added one I mounted the Rudders and it was time for the first test to be honest I was quite scared that I'd have contact between the fan assembly and the Shroud and the whole thing would blow apart it's January 5th 2016. this is the first start of the engine with the fan starting off the fuel pump now leaks foreign start to draw custom skirt segments based on the measurements of the hull fortunately I found a document online of how to do this there are seven different skirt profiles my wife is amazing she sewed the 107 individual segments that make up the entire skirt the craft cannot be complete without a cab we brought back a 1997 Jeep Cherokee from the local auto wreckers the cab is amazing but I needed to reduce its weight as much as possible at this point I wasn't sure how that cab was going to fit on the body my neighbor Murray came over to help me figure that out and we seemed to have a good fit the craft needed a heater to keep the occupants warm and also keep the windows from fogging so I built a box around an old school bus auxiliary heater core and attach it to the window assembly I began work on the dash to fit a GPS Tac voltmeter coolant temperature gauge ignition switch hour meter and a ham radio as well as a bank of switches it was time to test the craft to see if it would lift now that the skirt segments are installed [Music] foreign worked perfectly I want to test the craft outside but found out that there is a slight slope in front of the shop contact every hovercraft needs comfortable heated seats so I found two seats from a Volkswagen Jetta this is the final dashboard complete with switches for the light bar side and cargo LED lights strobe navigation lights bilge pump window washer wipers and Horn it was time to paint starting with a primer coat I love the color red the last application was a clear coat that made the red come alive I want to try the craft at the lake but I had no way to haul The Craft so I found a gutted RV for seven hundred dollars and made it into a flat Deck with a loading platform it was time to bring the craft to the lake notice that there are no guards in front of the fan I was so eager to see if it worked I couldn't wait [Music] [Music] the craft worked really well top speed was about 58 kilometers per hour with three people on board I added a screen assembly and closed in the cab rear with a sliding door assembly [Applause] thanks for watching if you like please subscribe

Channel: atlantisdiving1

Views: 106,334

Keywords: diy, hovercraft, 22R, universal hovercraft, build, fabricate, homebuilt, cruiser

Id: Gm585HbVTdU

Length: 12min 40sec (760 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 08 2022