Hovercraft FAQ

Question: What are the differences between the skirt designs?

The following data was taken from the book 'Light Hovercraft Design' by Christopher Fitzgerald and Robert Wilson.

What	Bag	Segment	Jupe
Cost	low	high	low
Labor	low	high	medium
Drag
Smooth Water	same	same	same
Rough Water	high	low	very high
Mud	high	low	low
Grass	high	low	medium high
Ice	same	same	same
Smooth Snow	medium	low	medium
Rough Snow	high	low	medium
Repairability	hard	easy	hard
Life	good	moderate	good
Durability	good	poor	moderate
Stability	good	poor	Excellente
Plow in	same	same	same
Roll ability in turning	slight	excellent	none
Dust and Spray	poor	good	poor
Colors available	limited	unlimited	limited
Ease of Attachment	moderate	easy	moderate hard
Weight of Skirt	low	moderate	poor moderate
Hump Performance	moderate	good	poor moderate
Bulkiness	poor	poor	good
Appearance	moderate	good	moderate
Bounce	poor	good	good
Performance when damaged	moderate	good	poor
Potential for Development	good	good	good
Over water rapid take off ability from long time floating mode	poor	good	excellent
Obstance capability	poor	good	poor
Complexity	low	high	moderate