CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) The Governor tipped back his top hat, squinted through his monocle and grinned as he guided his hovercraft through the showering confetti.
The Governor in this case was Austin Peay State University’s Bryan Gaither, and he was taking his homemade hovercraft on a July 30 victory lap through the Foy Fitness and Recreation Center. This hovercraft was the third he built in July, each craft receiving upgrades over the last.
Each hovercraft took four to six hours to build, using plywood, a leaf blower, fire extinguishers, a bench and simple instructions downloaded from the internet. But the third hovercraft, or Mark III, had better steering with the help of variable-valve thrusting and more power with bigger fire extinguishers.
Gaither’s hovercraft journey started a couple of weeks earlier on a slow afternoon when he captured a video of the first hovercraft’s maiden flight and sent it to some friends: “So I got bored and built a hovercraft.”
Gaither showed off the craft to the Junior Govs Summer Camps at the Foy Center basketball courts. He donned an Iron Man mask and pirate’s jacket and hissed across the gym floor. The second hovercraft flew for nearly 40 seconds.
Gaither made his hovercrafts using Science Bob’s instructions found on the website. Gaither deviated from the instructions and made some of his own modifications.