hovercraft

20 Articles

A suitcase made of two rectangular plastic crates latched together sits prone on a concrete floor. The top shell is a beige-ish grey with a navy check and the word "JerseyMaid" on it updside down. The navy bottom crate is navy with the letters "lsen" in large cursive font ant the letters "ORATION" in smaller print below it. Much of the text is covered by a large latch and a power tool battery mount. Bright pink tape affixes a blue tarp skirt to the bottom of the hover suitcase.

Hovercraft Suitcase Gives Your Luggage A Smooth Ride

September 25, 2025 by 8 Comments

The wheels on roller suitcases are one of their primary failure points. After the destruction of the wheel mount on her DIY suitcase, [Laura Kampf] wondered if it would be better to dispense with wheels altogether.

To give her suitcase a lift, [Kampf] decided to turn it into a hovercraft so it couldn’t be stopped by pavement or puddles. The first task was finding an appropriate fan, and a compact leaf blower donated it’s body to makerdom for the project. After reducing the blower to it’s constituent components and finding a secret turbo switch, work began on the momentum curtain.

“Nose-holing” the arrangement and size of the holes to pipe air through the stapled tarp and tape skirt seemed to be the bulk of the trial-and-error in this one. Based on other hovercraft designs [Kampf] found, keeping the holes near the center of the inflated portion gave better lift. In the end, the carry-on is able to lift a decent amount even on its lowest setting, resulting in a suitcase that is “not embarrassing” for travel. No word yet on what TSA thinks.

If you’re looking for another unexpected lift off, how about a full-sized flying Delorean replica? We’ve also covered some of the reasons why we don’t see more of these all terrain wonders.

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The Hovercraft Revolution And Finding The Right Niche For A Technology

December 11, 2024 by 41 Comments

In the world of transportation, some technologies may seem to make everything else appear obsolete, whether it concerns airplanes, magnetic levitation or propelling vehicles and craft over a cushion of air. This too seemed to be the case with hovercraft when they exploded onto the scene in the 1950s and 1960s, seemingly providing the ideal solution for both commercial and military applications. Freed from the hindrances of needing a solid surface to travel upon, or a deep enough body of water to rest in, hovercraft gave all the impressions of combining the advantages of aircraft, ships and wheeled vehicles.

Yet even though for decades massive passenger and car-carrying hovercraft roared across busy waterways like the Channel between England & mainland Europe, they would quietly vanish again, along with their main competition in the form of super fast passenger catamarans. Along the English Channel the construction of the Channel Tunnel was a major factor here, along with economical considerations that meant a return to conventional ferries. Yet even though one might think that the age of hovercraft has ended before it ever truly began, the truth may be that hovercraft merely had to find its right niches after a boisterous youth.

An example of this can be found in a recent BBC article, which covers the British Griffon Hoverwork company, which notes more interest in new hovercraft than ever, as well as the continued military interest, and from rescue workers.

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Hotshot 3D Printed Hovercraft Is Devastatingly Fast

January 27, 2024 by 8 Comments

These days, it’s pretty cheap and easy to build your own little RC hovercraft. [ValRC] demonstrates just that with a hovercraft build that is surprisingly nimble, and fast to boot.

The build started with a design [ValRC] found online. It was simple enough to print and assemble, needing only a pair of a brushless motors, a speed controller, a receiver, and a servo to run the show. The design uses a plastic bag as a skirt, assembled around a 3D printed frame. That proved to be the hardest part of the build, as hot glue didn’t want to play nice with the thin garbage bag.

Even despite the challenges, once assembled, the hovercraft performed well. It readily slid around on a cushion of air, drifting across asphalt with abandon. Upgrades included a better rudder and a skirt made of thicker and more resilient plastic.  The final craft looked mesmerizing as it glided over the smooth concrete of a parking garage with ease.

A hovercraft is, honestly, one of the cooler printable projects for beginners. All you need is a simple design, some powerful motors, and you’re good to go.

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Trash Bag And Foam Board Hovercraft Doesn’t Fail To Succeed. Or Fail.

December 5, 2022 by 23 Comments

When you think of a vehicle that can do it all- water, land, ice, snow and more- the hovercraft often comes to mind. And while they might not be ubiquitous, hovercraft catch the imagination of many a hacker just as it has for [JamesWhomsley] of [ProjectAir]. [James] has built a small, but just big enough hovercraft as you can see in the video below the break.

Starting with a small RC proof of concept, [James] tested out some of his favorite construction materials: foam board, trash bags, duct tape, and our personal favorite: hot glue! After a successful run with the radio controlled model, [James] set out to build a hovercraft big enough to carry a human.

The resulting hovercraft was definitely enough to take a human for a spin, despite still using RC airplane parts for power. Sure, there were a couple of instances of parts going flying, foamboard being shredded, and loss of control. Even so, the trash bag air skirt stayed intact, and the aforementioned damage was nothing some tape and hot glue couldn’t fix. [James] was back on the air in no time.

Of course, some of the very reasons that we don’t see hovercraft roaming the streets come up in the video, namely off-camber paths. But the build itself is quite good, and for those of us who’ve wondered what it takes to make a hovercraft, this video shows how the sausage is made.

This isn’t the first garbage bag based hovercraft, and we featured another RC/Arduino controlled version just a while back.

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Radio Controlled Hovercraft Apes The SR.N1

December 15, 2020 by 7 Comments

Hovercraft never really caught on as regular transportation, but they are very cool. The Saunders-Roe SR.N1 was the very first practical example of the type, and served as a research vehicle to explore the dynamics of such vehicles. [mr_fid] was looking for a lockdown project, and set about crafting a radio controlled replica of his own.

The build is crafted out of a canny combination of plywood and balsa, the latter substituted in sections within the plywood hull to save weight. A pair of brushless outrunner motors are mounted in the central duct to provide lift, fitted with counter-rotating propellers in order to avoid torque effects on handling. Steering is via puff ports a la the original design, which allows the craft to spin very quickly in place to much amusement and no practical effect. The skirt is of a colorful design, carefully assembled out of polyurethane-coated nylon.

While it’s not the quickest way to build a hovercraft, it’s all the more beautiful for its attention to the details and function of the original prototype craft. We particularly like the sharp handling thanks to the puff port design. If you’re looking for a weirder design however, consider this Coanda Effect build. Video after the break.

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Foamboard Makes For A Light Hovercraft

May 12, 2020 by 3 Comments

If we are to believe many science fiction movies, one day throngs of people wearing skin-tight silver spandex jumpsuits will be riding around on hovercraft. Hovercraft haven’t really taken the world by storm, but [Fitim-Halimi] built his own model version and shows you how he did it. You can see the little craft moving in the video below.

In theory, a hovercraft is pretty simple, but in practice they are not as easy as they look. For one thing, you need a lot of air to fill the plenum chamber to get lift. That’s usually a noisy operation. The solution? In this case, a hairdryer gave up its motor for the cause. In addition, once floating on a near-frictionless cushion of air, you have to actually move without contacting the ground. Like many real hovercraft, this design uses another fan to push it along. You can see in the video that the designer uses Jedi hand motions to control the vehicle.

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Compact 3D Printed Hovercraft Is Loungeroom Floor Fun

December 26, 2019 by 7 Comments

Hovercraft come in all shapes and sizes. and while they’ve largely disappeared as a major commercial transit option, they remain popular in the hearts and minds of makers everywhere. [RCLifeOn’s] latest project concerns a compact, indoor-sized hovercraft piloted via FPV, and it looks to be brilliant fun.

The build consists of a 3D printed chassis, with a skirt cut out of a garbage bag and held on with press-fit clamps. Twin ducted fans are employed, one for propulsion, the other for levitation. A 5GHz FPV camera is nestled on top of the rear fan housing to provide a video feed for the pilot.

The craft was somewhat uncontrollable in initial testing. Tweaks to the weight distribution and the addition of a bigger rudder helped tame the rig. [RCLifeOn] also demonstrates a unique way of balancing damaged fan assemblies in the field; it’s a technique we’ll keep in the back of our mind for future use.

The trick to a good hovercraft build is light weight, big control surfaces, and a good skirt. You can even go off-book and use the Coanda effect, if you’re so inclined. Video after the break.

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