Well, never mind about all of that, I think I may have found a solution:
Since the fans will not suffice, I will rip them out and have a prop do the lifting for me. I have two motors and ESCs, so I can have one for the lift fan, and the other for forward thrust. This seems to be how the smaller hovercraft are being made right now, so I figure it wouldn't hurt to give it a try... will post updates soon as I have all day to work on it today. If I am lucky, I will be able to get a hovering video by tomorrow! If not, well.... then we can have an airboat that looks like a hovercraft