For our hovercrafts we went through some struggles, like when we were making the skirt, it would lift, but it wouldn’t slide forward. So, we tried different methods to make it glide. We tried three things to make it glide. First, we tried to tape right behind the first fan to constrict the air but, that didn’t work because it didn’t have an air pocket. So, then we started with a small air pocket but, it still had too much friction, so we made it, so the skirt only has about an inch all around. Another struggle we had, was trying to place our second fan. We originally had it lower down behind the cabin but ended up making it taller. Since our original design for the second fan failed, we had to think and build another support. But with having another fan we had to also have another battery somewhere next to it. Sometimes the battery would shift and transfer the weight over and make the hovercraft go in circles or head toward a wall and crash into it. We tried to make rudders for the back, so it would go straight. But that is the point where we figured out that the battery was making it go to the left. So, we scrapped the whole rudder idea and decided to tape down the battery in the center.
While doing this project we learned that there is a certain way that the hovercraft has to be designed because if the skirt is too big and covered most of the bottom then there was too much friction but, if there wasn’t enough of a skirt then it would have too big of an air pocket and be too close to the ground. We also learned about how the weight must be balanced so the machine doesn’t just lean one direction or start going in circles. Once we saw other groups start testing their own hovercraft, we also realized that a bigger the hovercraft can handle more weight and be more balanced. We found this project difficult at some points but, overall a fun and educational.