Hovercraft!

[Jordan]

Over the last week I've been working on a remote controlled hovercraft!
Today I took it to a duck pond to test it out and boy does it work!

It's 26 inches wide and made of a 1 inch thick styrofoam. When the lift fan turns on, it floats 4 inches off the ground! This is actually the 9th version, I've built four other smaller ones that didn't work right. All in all this thing has taken about 6 entire afternoons. It's been a long time but definately worth it!

Two side propellers move it and the lift fan is a 5 inch, 12 volt case fan i had lying around that i run off a 19.2 volt battery. It blows A WHOLE LOT of air!

It's an awesome thing! Finally I've spent a weekend doing something other than messing with my many PC's!

[Derek]

Great work! Any video of it in action?

[Jordan]

Sadly i never got video of it.
That craft met its demise one day after school when I foolishly took it down a hil and it hit a curb and blew apart.
I made a better one a while ago that could climb hills and go incredibly fast, but I again, foolishly ruined it by forgetting to cover a few soldered bits of wire on the steering system. After I noticed the smell of cooking electronics it was too late; the steering was dead.
So now I'm taking a rest from hovercrafting until I can get another appropriatly powered RC vehicle for the parts.
The good thing is, when I come to make another, it will be really good.