In my earlier days i got creative and built a 3 man hovercraft and a two man fuel injected Trike. This website is a collection of the build process i went through to achieve both those tasks.
The original website in general was written by me back in 2004-ish using purely HTML code, and for the most part of it has been left with the same wording as I had it back then, miss spellings and all.
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However nowadays I figured it was time to make it a little more user friendly. Back in the day I wrote the build website in HTML manually, but in this current day it looks ummm….. old 🙂
So recently I have tweaked the design and in some places, the wording, to be a little more relevant. I didn’t go over board with the design keeping it simple and clean as it’s a old website now and really just a walk back in history for me and perhaps informative for some others.
 Navigation
To begin Navigating:
– Click “start here” button above to start from the beginning of the build
– Or choose a category from the menu in the footerÂ
– Or select from the menu at the top of the page
Anyway... let's get into it....
The Hovercraft was started in Mid October 2004, and I achieved my first test hover in one spot on 11th November 2005. The plans were purchased from ASV Australia and I have stuck to the plans up until the stage of mounting a duct, from that point onwards I’m working off the top of my head which could be classed as a scary thought.
So the main items I’m not sticking with in the plans are , Duct, rudders, length, width, steering, fan assembly and the motor
Hovercraft Specifications :
- Dimensions
Length 3.52m (11`6″) + extensions total 4 meters
Width 1.98m (6`5″) + extensions total 2.14m
Height 1.30m (4`3″)
- Total weight without payload
(max) 400Kg (881lbs), weighed on 23-Jan 06
Cushion pressure not sure fully about this yet either
- Empty hull weight –
(no motor or parts, just purely hull and duct) 140kg – weighed on 17th Oct 05
Performance (all these readings may vary from the original plans so they are a guideline for now)
Hover height 230mm (9″)
Speed – max 100km/h (i’ve currently taken as far as 60km/h over water and that’s it till i’m more confident in how it performs)
Speed cruise 50km/h
- Climbing ability
– Static 1 in 6
– Dynamic 1 in 3
- Buoyancy
Not sure, would be more than original plans because i extended and widened the craft
- Braking
– None, relying on no hangover and good judgment
- Hull
– Monocoque, Epoxy resin bonded and sealed plywood
- Skirt
– Extended segment, individually fed, Chip bag on rear material- I’m going to try “polyester Oxford”
- Steering
– Multi aerofoil balanced rudders controlled by 2 marine push/pull cables
- Engine and transmission
– Engine
– EA82 Subaru (1800cc) 4 cylinder, water cooled
Duct – 950mm diameter double skinned fiber glassed duct with internal reinforcing.
Fan – 9 Bladed Multi-Wing PPG 5ZL blades.
Drive train shaft size – 25mm
Gear ratio – 1.8:1
Fuel capacity – 25 litre plastic marine tank
- Cooling system
– B14 Nissan Sunny radiator, approximately 400mm by 600mm
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Click here for The start of Hull Construction