Don, your comment was actually VERY important!

Thank you so much for reminding me... I had completely forgotten to do any "tub tests" with the hovercraft in earlier stages of the build and now I reealized that I had to test it NOW for me to be able to adjust anything. I filled the tub and plopped her in, without the skirt inflated she settled with about an inch to spare (that is a 3/4" draft). then I fired up the lift fans with a flick of the rudders (which still don't exist) and to my great relief she rose and settled as if she was on land! going forward, she does seem to push a fairly large bow wake, but I did not have enough room to get her out on plane (Hovercraft get on plane when they overcome the depression that the air cussion makes in the surface of the water). This is also known as "getting over the hump". I took her out of the tub after about five minutes of hovering and checked for leaks. The bottom of the skirt seemed to have absorbed a bit of water, but this was not critical. There also seems to be a minute leak in one of my fan ducts, but I may just jeave that alone - it would be critical only if the craft lost power and floated around for about two hours... I will make damn sure that such a situation never becomes reality

one step closer to completion... another test out of the way! What a great feeling!