Do you think 2 leaf blowers is enough to lift/thrust a 3 ft. by 5 foot hovercraft?

Question

i am a 12 year old trying to build a hovercraft. i will use plastic sheeting for a skirt. it will be 3ft by 5ft. made of 1" ply. would 2 200mph gasoline powered blowers work for lift and thrust?

Answer 1

I was about to ask what power of leaf blowers, but 200 m.p.h. x2 should be more than enough! (depending on how much you weigh) thats an interesting idea, ive never thought of that!

And 3/4 inch or 1/2 inch plywood shuld be more than strong enough, not to mention 25% to 50% lighter! (so your hovercraft would have more power!)

lemme know how it goes!

Answer 2

maybe if you had 4, 1 in each corner. good luck

Answer 3

Depends....if you want to move across a smooth gym or tiled floor, and you don't weigh 300 lbs - probably not. If you want to go faster than 1-5 mph, then it will DEFINITELY not be enough. Plywood is heavy, two leaf blowers won't even dent moving that. You need serious air movement, and leaf blowers, while they may move air fast, there is no LOAD on it, it's just blowing against more air ( and leaves ). When it's trying to force it's way out from under a  heavy board and skirt (and driver), then you lose power fast, because it depends on the power of the motor, and the seal of the fan blades. If you can put your hands in front of the blower opening, and keep them shut, then there's not enough power there to do what you want.

- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 4

Simple enough question here.  A couple of clever two hundred pound people did try to make hover craft with leaf blowers on a TV show called Myth-Busters.  They didn't do too well with just two leaf blowers.  But they had a lot more weight to push around.  They succeeded when they added a few more leaf blowers to their machines, but not very well.  Your machine may in fact work because it only has to lift a twelve year old.  Please Use Caution.  If you do figure how to make your self a real working hover-craft you may find it a little bit harder to control than you thought, and capable of going faster than you thought as well.  Good luck in all things.

Answer 5

Should be. The myth-busters did an episode on that and they were pretty succesfull.

Answer 6

i think so but make shure the skirt is good and evan. when i was in grade school (87) the high school made one out of a vacume cleaner. you shood be fine

Answer 7

should be alright, be careful, as this could be quite dangerous.

Answer 8

I wouldnt hold my breath on that one.Seems to me a couple of blowers wouldnt be enough to propel the craft plus your weight.