How to build hovercraft skirts?

Answer 1

Find some airtight (make sure it's airtight before hand!) material to use for your wall skirt. Next, get enough material to fit around the outer edge of your hovercraft, and remember to always get a little bit extra. If you're constructing an 8-by-4 hovercraft like we did, we recommend making your skirt around 13-17 inches tall, but make sure it stays the same height all around. If you notice that the material you're buying comes in heights more than twice the height you want your skirt, just go ahead and buy enough so you can cut it up and sew different pieces of the skirt together. This is what we did, since we bought a 9-by-5 foot piece of material, and cut it up into three skirt segments that were each 15 inches tall and 9 feet long. We then sewed these pieces together, and double stitched them just to be sure. So you have a long material that is about 15 inches wide. If you just put this on the hovercraft the skirt would just flap out, so you need something to hold it. A rope is then attatched to the bottom and pulled tight. Make sure to use a strong rope that is braided rather than wound, so that if one part breaks it doesn't all fall apart. (We used a thick nylon rope for Home Depot) We folded an inch of the skirt over the rope and sewed it to itself to make a pocket. some people fold the skirt over the rope then Duct Tape it. But make sure that you make it with the rope already in it, and knot it so it doesn't slip out. The top edge of the material is mounted to the edge of your hovercraft, and the bottom end should have a rope strung through it (take the material, put the rope on it, fold it over the rope, and sew the material on itself to create a slot for the rope to be in) to keep it tight. This keeps the bottom of the skirt from flapping outwards, so it will inflate. Cut the skirt so that you have an inch overlapping and sew it by hand. tie the rope, pull it tight and burn the ends to prevent fraying. If your hovercraft doesn't inflate, try pulling your rope tighter. Before you finally cut the rope and seal the knot, try to make sure you haven't pulled your rope too tight, not allowing enough slack. Any part of the rope (like the knot) that's going to drag across the ground should get covered in something to protect it, like duct tape. FOR EXTRA PROTECTION: Cover the part of the skirt that drags on the ground (the section that the rope is strung through) in duct tape or some other strong material so the sewing doesn't come undone and the rope doesn't come out.