THE HOWERCRAFT

20211113_130413

Autumn came, and I was a little sick. Spending a lot of time at home, I thought about my ekranoplan and read various articles about hovercraft. Remembering the feeling of how easily a 120-kilogram boat flies out of the water, when you give gas, I thought that it would be easy to make a hovercraft according to a scheme similar to my ekranoplan and no excess power would be needed. Since it is difficult to get a powerful engine with my budget, I decided to quickly design a hovercraft with a front-mounted engine that would work as a supercharger and as a sustained engine. No sooner said than done. First, I created a scale model using cardboard and hot glue. And with a vacuum cleaner in hand, he began to conduct tests. I was satisfied with the results and immediately began building a full-scale boat. The engine I used was an old Raket 120 Aero. The body was made of plywood and foam. And I made a skirt from an old banner that was lying around at work. I took the cockpit from the dreamfighter project, the fiberglass lightweight body was already becoming a lot. In general, pretty quickly I put it all together, even there was time to paint everything. The rudder had to be large enough for the boat to handle well, and I tried to make the rudder not only functional but also fit the shape of my entire structure. It worked out pretty well. Skirt pressurization tests were successful and now it was necessary to wait for the real winter. The fact is that going out on the water is always very difficult for me. Since I have to negotiate with very different people in order to take my product to the water, and then I decided to test everything right on the territory of the plant where my workshop is located. In short, last week it poured properly and on the weekend when there was no one in the territory of the plant, I pulled my boat out for testing. It rarely happens that everything turns out as desired, and this time everything happened exactly that way. My hovercraft works great. The cushion inflates and the boat picks up speed quickly. I quickly figured out the controls and got used to it in five minutes. On a relatively narrow road, I was able to easily maneuver and turn sharply. I am very happy and now I can start developing a more perfect apparatus on the same principles but with a more perfect body and with a different more powerful engine. I will not reveal all my secrets. I hope everything will come true. In the meantime, look at the photos and video reports of the tests ..

20211108_082910 DSCF2491 DSCF2490 DSCF2488 DSCF2479 DSCF2545 DSCF2550 DSCF2564 DSCF2580 DSCF2581 DSCF2586 DSCF2588 20211113_130413

My dream boat “Streamlined beauty”

IMG-20211022-WA0000
The Streamlined beauty boat in its modification – a front motor and a pulling propeller – turned out to be as close in design and spirit as what I tried to express in this product. The enclosed cockpit and the propeller face perfectly complement the sleek lines of the late thirties seaplane. The feeling of driving is just a delight. And the appearance does not allow you to turn your eyes. I was inspired by the seaplanes that raced the Pavia Venezia race in the 1930s in Italy, and also the flying boats that raced the Schneider Trophy. In particular, the Macchi M.33 aircraft. The golden era of air and water racing. Great streamline design. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do, especially without copying anyone, just taking as a basis the location of the engine above the pilot and the general dieselpunk atmosphere. I ended up with a wonderful small boat, balanced in composition, which gives an amazing feeling of uniqueness from owning it. I am very happy to share my joy with people. As a designer and artist, I can say that the boat is finished and does not need any addition or improvement. This body was originally going to be done with a motor in the back and with a beautiful aluminum tail and a motor in the front and a closed cockpit. Having driven on both variants and having estimated their appearance, I can say that the crazier, the better, and the front-engine layout wins 100 percent aesthetically and romantically, but a slightly inferior inconvenience. A slight inconvenience is associated only with a strong wind flow in the face, it is weakly deflected by a small windshield. However, I think this is more of a plus than a minus because this fact practically physically introduces you to those distant times when the pilots of boats and airplanes sat in half-open cockpits open to all winds. All in all, a great boat. Please enjoy the photos of the latest modification and watch the video of the trip.

IMG-20211021-WA0005 IMG-20211021-WA0007 IMG-20211021-WA0000 IMG-20211021-WA0003 IMG-20211021-WA0002 IMG-20211021-WA0001

 

IMG-20211021-WA0004 (1) IMG-20211022-WA0000

Altering the ekranoplan

ekranoplan M3.9

Winter continues and I continue to prepare for spring. I redid the ekranoplan. He lengthened the front wing by 18 cm to get a little more lift and redesigned the cockpit. Moved the cockpit forward a little to move the center of gravity a little forward. I think this will solve some of the problems that arose at the maximum speed of the boat. I also hastily made a 3d model of the boat as I see it, ideally, and I want to make a new boat if the tests go well and the result satisfies me, then the next boat will be more licked and other materials will be used in it. But this is still only a dream, but for now I am looking for a more powerful motor for testing, if I cannot find it, then I will have to rent again the one that I took last time. Power is not enough for him, but I think it will do for the next experiment. Photos of the model and video of the alteration of the ekranoplan below.

My new boat Streamlined beauty

S0122015

After building several classic square-shaped airboats, I decided to make the boat more streamlined and pointed. I understand why classic airboats have such unpretentious shape, it’s all about practicality, but I am an impractical person, I am an artist by nature, and since I idolize the design of the era between the two world wars of 1920-30, I chose the form characteristic of that era. I was inspired by such beautiful boats as Bootleggerboat and Miss Canada 4, so I decided to cross the streamlined boat hull and the propeller engine. Since I am constrained in the possibilities, I managed with what I have, that is, a low-power 21 horsepower engine, and picked up a small streamlined body for it. I chose a drawing of a boat made by William Jackson, the famous American designer who designed a boat called Dragonfly. A small teardrop seaplane for one pilot and an outboard engine. I redesigned the entire rear end by adding another frame and changing the transom to accommodate the propeller-driven paramotor engine. I made the hull of plywood pasted over with one layer of fiberglass, and I sheathed the boat deck with pine plywood and varnished it. The boat has two seats, one behind the other. Steering is carried out using a steering wheel connected to an aluminum tail, designed in the same style as the body. The boat turns out beautiful and impetuous, I like its appearance and I hope you too.

S0202023 S0102013 S0092012 DSCF2027 S0192022 S0112014

The second stage of boat building

20201223_122245

Well, the new year is approaching and I am already at the final stretch. Over the past month, there has been little work and using idle time at work and weekends I managed to sheathe the boat with plywood. With a triple made of pine, I sheathed the top and sheathed the bottom and sides with a six millimeter birch. I polished everything and covered it with fiberglass. My friend Roland helped me with this. I also chose a color for the bottom and sides – it will be ruby red. I’ll cover the deck with clear varnish. I painted the bottom in three layers, now it remains to turn the boat over and finally process the deck and cover the bottom of the boat with varnish, after which you can start assembling the engine and tail, which I also made in parallel from aluminum. I think not to paint the tail, leave it aluminum and just draw the number 41. In general, if everything goes well and no excesses happen, I can finish all the processing of the boat and the installation of the engine by the middle of next month, after which I will only have to wait for spring. I would like to finish this boat as soon as I want to do the alteration of the ekranoplan. There are plans to redesign the cockpit and front fender. For summer trials. The only truth is if I can get the engine. Photos of the work done below.

20201130_093927 20201201_123447 20201110_093400 20201111_091953 20201116_091627 20201215_120212 20201222_121355 20201223_115441 20201219_122946 20201219_122923 20201219_102037 20201221_152305 20201223_122230 20201214_123229 20201223_122257