THE HOWERCRAFT

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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 ..

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Altering the ekranoplan

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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.

The final test of the ekranoplan on the water in the 2020 season

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I’ll be brief. I finished with the ekranoplan. The water tests went well and now I have to return the motor to its owner, disassemble the boat and put it in a corner for the time being. This time everything was very fast. The weather was good, I quickly assembled the boat, sat at the helm and started off. With the Polini Thor 250, the boat immediately jumped into the water and glided along the surface. The front wing is always in the air at a speed of 35-40 km / h, the rear wing is also in the air and the boat is held by the water only with rubber strips that I screwed on before the last test. In general, at a speed of 50 km per hour, the boat flies very confidently, but at some point (I want to note that not always) the boat begins to sway and longitudinal instability arises. The first thought that came to my mind was that because the wings were too close to each other, it would be possible to lengthen the hull, or install a horizontal stabilizer to balance the boat in flight. I would also like to redo the motor mount again and reduce the motor angle by five degrees, plus raise it a little higher. Finally, you need to slightly reduce the angle of attack of the front wing by a few degrees. But this is all another time, I was exhausted during this season, there were so many alterations and visits. It is both physically and mentally difficult for one person to do more. Therefore, with a light heart, I postpone this project until modern times, what I wanted to do – lifted my boat into the air. Made my own small ekranoplan. Though not high, it flies. And it is also well managed. I didn’t make any extreme reversals so that some accident didn’t happen. Since the motor is not mine and I didn’t want to get a few thousand euros. Having made three high-speed races on the lake, I understood everything for myself and quickly disassembled the boat, washed off the lake until no one woke up in the vicinity. So now I am satisfied and can calmly engage in other projects that I am already doing in parallel. These will also be motor boats. One will be a two-seater motor boat which I am going to make according to the drawings of 1960 and the second one is a single-seat speedboat according to the drawings of 1941 which I am going to convert into an airboat with aviation styling. So what’s next is more. The video is as usual below.

First tests of ekranoplan

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The first tests of ekranoplan made. For the first time, fine, I think. The steering is working. The boat is not leaking. The motor has little power for this boat. The rear wing has a large lifting force and therefore presses the nose and does not allow the boat to accelerate. Perhaps if there was more power it would be pulled. I don’t know, I need to try different options. While I calmed down. I don’t have a powerful motor, which means that you can do airboats. I will rearrange the engine to a new aero boat and arrange races. now I have two airliners and two motors for my small boats will be just right, and the winged aircraft needs to be improved and a new engine. And in general, to come with him to the lake is a very big problem. Three bulky parts need to be assembled and taken by bus and then collected and adjusted for two hours. Very hard. For such tests, you need a base near the water and some free funds, then things will go faster. Yes, and I forgot to say, I was flooded with water from spray from head to toe. And the propeller hit the water. I don’t know when the next time I will take this green monster to the test, but so far I’m satisfied.

Special thanks to my friends Karlis, Tom and Roland for their help at an important moment.

Pasting and painting

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Christmas and New Year’s holidays came, everyone scattered home and the workroom remained at my disposal. Last week, the boat was glued with fiberglass for two layers. My colleague Tom helped me in this for a small fee, for what many thanks to him. And a week later, on the 24th and 25th, the boat was painted with dark green paint, my brother Vyacheslav helped me, thanks to him. I need to wait a couple of days until the paint finally hardens. In the hangar is plus eight  degrees centigrade, for the paint that I use (two-component polyurethane) this temperature is critical. But I hope everything will be fine. Thanks to global warming, the winter in our latitudes is getting milder and this winter is December 25, plus five on the street and does not seem any snow. These circumstances help me a lot, otherwise I would have to wait for spring, but I do not like to put aside what I had planned. Better I will do everything for the previously pack and put aside until spring and I can live and work quietly waiting for sea trials.

When everything dries well I’ll put together all the boat components. This is a very important occupation and I do not know how much it will take time. After all, I need to twist everything well, fit and adjust. Install the motor, guide the wires into the cab, install the tail and put the control handle. And most importantly, start the engine and check how it works in such a pulling mode and whether there is enough traction. This may take a couple of days or maybe a couple of weeks. In my workshop, I can only go about my business on the weekend, and then take it apart and take it away in the corners. But nothing, I will find the time. In the meantime, photos of the painting process below.

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