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St Joseph's College Hovercraft News |
 St Joseph's College Engineering Club is building a full size hovercraft for use by pupils.
In order for pupils to use it, the plans for the craft have to be Health and Safety approved and has to be built with great attention to detail. We are building the Eagle 1 student approved hovercraft and it is nearing completion. Because it is an approved design pupils can use the craft at the Hovercraft Club of Great Britain; events take place across Europe every summer. The meetings are held in the grounds of stately homes, on the beaches of Belgium and there is the annual international meet in France at the end of August each year.
The engine for the craft was going to be a 250cc motorcycle engine, which was sourced by the pupils. This was stripped, cleaned, re-bored and reassembled; the students learned a great deal from the process. The engine is 25 years old and is very unreliable making it the weak link in an otherwise superb project. Taking advice from the Hovercraft Club of Great Britain, it has become very clear that motorcycle engines break down a lot during club meetings, so much so that schools have been known to spend the whole of a weekend at a meeting trying to get their engine to work.
To this end, the club strongly recommends that a Rotax engine is used. Rotax engines are used in microlights and small aircraft and are extremely well built and very reliable. Although initially expensive, the Rotax engine will give years of trouble free use and the pupils will enjoy the club weekends rather than being unable to take part through engine problems. To this end the recommended engine is the Rotax 447UL at £1450 pounds.
Therefore, fund raising will be the next step in making a Rotax engine powered school hovercraft a reality!
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A co-educational independent day school for 2-18 year olds with boarding facilities. Reg No: 3142500, Company No: 1051688 Charity No:1051688 |
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