We got an early start on the back thruster today.  Everything was soaked from the rain sunday, even thought we put a tarp over it.  We dragged the stuff out for the thruster.  We also moved the hovercraft back to the grass.  Soon, we finished the first mount and, since it did not work too well, we decided to improve it.  At the same time, we took apart the leafblower and cleaned it out.  We then finished the improved mount, but the square end of the shaft stripped when we put it in the motor and spun it.  We dismantled the mount and decided to make a new shaft out of steel.  It took a long time for the shaft to be ground down to a square.  To attach the shaft to the engine, we decided to weld it (view 2).  In the end, our welds did not hold, so we set the failed thruster down next to the craft and took the final picture of it.  Then, Dave Wong (george's neighbor) decided to burn stuff (and more stuff).  We ended the day with a flaming arrow over the lake. 

We made the most progress today.  We started with the goal of making a skirt and a thruster for the back of the hovercraft.  We first attached a new skirt, but it worked a bit too well.  We tried putting a log on the back to balance it, and it ended up holding George.  Air eventually escaped, and we ended up making a final skirt and a new air flow system.  It floated on it's own in water, and soon held us (view 2) (view 3) (view 4) (view 5).  We took it back onto land, set it down, and removed the engine.  It laid there for a while (and in other places) while we worked on the thruster.  We had a gasoline spill and decided to burn it off, which wasn't so smart.  Then we tried to get a small engine to work. It eventually worked well, and we began wondering how to mount it.  We decided to take apart an old electric fan, put a half inch shaft into it, and attach it to the square output shaft of the motor.  We tried to figure out how to mount it, but progress came slowly.  The square end of the shaft that would attach to the engine broke, and we were soon distracted by a bow and arrow.  We set the arrow on fire and launched it into the lake, where it floated for a while.  Soon, however, we were hit with a huge storm.  The field flooded (view 2) (view 3) (view 4) (view 5) (view 6) (view 7) (view 8).  For a comparison, here is part of the field before and after.  Again, a tree before and after.  Lastly, a bridge normally and submerged.  The rest of the space on the camera was used up by this video of the flooded field.

The entire day today was devoted to a hovercraft. First, Ray's dad let us take his gasoline leaf blower. We worked at George's house, and he tried to fix the engine while Ray cut out the wood for the hovercraft. After the engine wouldn't start, we took a trip to Sears Hardware, where we got some degreaser and a new spark plug. We cleaned the engine more and put in he new spark plug. It worked! Eventually, the engine would start on the first pull. We made the hole for the PVC pipe, made the seat, mounted the engine, and attached the skirt. It didn't work very well; the skirt was poorly built and would rip off the tape attaching it. Plus, the design was poor, so only the back end of the hovercraft would lift off the ground. When we sat on it, there was too much pressure for our skirt to stay secured to the duct tape, so a hole would form. We came up with a new skirt design and we will try that tomorrow. Pictures are below, including ones from when we took swimming breaks

Trying to fix engine, base traced and ready to be cut, trying to fix engine 2, base after it was cut, George skimming water, George landing in water, George jumping for rope, me jumping for rope, George in mid-flip, skirt getting attached to hovercraft base, PVC hole cut and pondering engine mount, mount and PVC in with epoxy and screws, seat about to be installed and engine mounted and tubes connected, skirt being completely attached and holes visible, hovercraft complete for the first time, hovercraft hovering for the first time, hovercraft hovering front view with George adjusting the back

Today, the idea of a Hovercraft was created.  George and Ray spent most of the afternoon designing the hovercraft.  The plan calls for a base 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, and be .25 inches thick.  It will ride on a skirt fabricated from a shower curtain, and the airflow will be produced by a gasoline powered leaf blower.  Ray's dad hopefully will let us pay him $100 to take his (highly used) leaf blower.  We had originally planned to use PVC piping to distribute the air evenly in our earlier designs today, but later decided that it was too heavy and not important enough to use.  We decided on using a shower curtain as a skirt (for the hovercraft). George and Ray already went to home depot so that George could buy the wood, shower curtain and PVC (we revised the plans just a little while ago).  Tomorrow we plan to have a prototype at the least, and maybe the actual board and engine mounted if all goes well.  Simon and Vadim are on vacation, but will probably help us when they get home.