Lewis’ current shop project is a “hover camper” which is a hovercraft that can be converted into a camper so you can have epic adventures. We may have to have a “he said/she said” for this blog because my husband and I have very different opinions on this one. He thinks it is awesome. I do not. I saw an episode of “Top Gear” where they made a “hover van” and I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. This is how I see the future hover camper.
Lewis made a hovercraft before and we had different opinions on that one as well.
Since the hover camper is taking a long time, Lewis wanted to make a mini hovercraft that he could play with right now. It is made out of an inner tube with a custom made fiberglass detachable floor with a hole in it. The hovercraft mini is powered by two leaf blowers. One points downward through the hole in the fiberglass floor to provide lift. The second is used to provide directional thrust. He tried it out on our driveway and it didn’t work as well as he hoped. He just knew that it would work with the right seal. It would be perfect on the water.
So on our family trip to Pine View reservoir, he brought along the hovercraft mini as well as our two little canoes. He couldn’t wait to test out the hovercraft mini… it didn’t work very well on the water either.
Not to be discouraged, Lewis decided to try a new experiment. He would use the two leaf blowers to make a jet powered lightweight canoe. He climbed into the lightweight canoe and turned on both leaf blowers. Sure enough it propelled him out into the lake.
I was reading Harry Potter on the shore and glanced up to see him zooming out onto the lake. “Huh,” I thought, “it’s working.” And returned to reading, glancing up from time to time to see his progress. Suddenly I heard, “Uh, oh,” from my kids who were also watching from the shore. I looked up and saw nothing. No Lewis. No canoe. Nothing but water. Where did he go?
He was riding low in the water in the canoe and an unexpected wave washed over the side of the canoe sinking the canoe and everything in it in an instant. I quickly sent out a rescue party of Sam and Sarah in the other canoe to help him. It took them a while to get to him. Meanwhile Lewis was trying to keep the canoe and the leaf blowers from sinking to the bottom of the lake. He had on a life jacket thankfully, and had a spare life jacket in the bottom of the canoe so he used that to try to keep the leaf blowers from submersing completely. Sam and Sarah rescued the sunken vessel, her passenger, and her soggy cargo bringing them all back to shore.
That didn’t work quite as intended. We were laughing at the hilarity of it all. Man, I wished I had been watching and had a video camera going, rather than reading. I missed a great show. The next question of course is if both leaf blowers were ruined. Lewis tried them, and after many attempts and much sputtering, they worked again. Well, no harm done then.
Just a typical adventure for the Bjork family.
Click here for a link to the Hovercraft “She Said”
Click here for a link to the Hovercraft “He Said”