This Alberta teacher spent 1,800 hours over a year building a homemade hovercraft from scratch Achi-News

A small-town Alberta teacher hopes his hard work and dedication to building a hovercraft from scratch will inspire his students that they can do anything if they put their mind to it.

“The sky’s the limit on anything you want to do in life and if you put enough energy into it, it’s going to pay off for you,” said Robert Tymofichuk.

Tymofichuk has been a teacher for 35 years. He teaches math, science and shopping at New Myrnam School in Myrnam, Alta., a village of about 300 people east of Edmonton.

A self-proclaimed tinkerer, Tymofichuk became interested in home gadgets as a young child; in those days, there wasn’t much to watch on television, he said.

One year, late in the autumn, he saw a hovercraft take off from the lake and from that moment, he was inspired.

“There was a skim of ice right on the edge of the lake. The person started it and basically it took off the land and they zipped across that ice, into the water and there was barely a wave. I was hooked at that point,” Tymofichuk said in a recent interview with Global News.

“It was one of those things where you wanted a hovercraft but you don’t exactly go to the local power sports dealer and say, ‘I’d like to buy a hovercraft.'”

When Tymofichuk was younger he worked with his father to build a hovercraft, but after five years of work, the machine did not start. Recently, he tried again, and spent around 1,800 hours over the course of a year building a homemade hovercraft.

“Every waking moment outside of school was spent on that craft. There would be nights, weekends,” he said, adding that his wife helped him with some elements of the craft along the way.

“It got to a point where, as you see the craft come together, it drove me harder to go at it.”

Trend Now

• Northern lights will shine in parts of Canada this weekend. This is where

• The House of Commons debates to stop allegations of Liberal ‘corruption’

Piece by piece, bit by bit, Tymofichuk painstakingly made each element of the craft, taking parts from many car salvage and local mechanic shops.

The cab of the hovercraft came from a 1997 Jeep Cherokee. The steering control started out as papier mâché that was molded into Tymofichuk’s hands. It was then covered with fiberglass and filled with foam. The hovercraft can travel from solid ground to ice, to snow and water.

“Every part that went into it was built uniquely because you don’t go into the hardware store and say, ‘I’d like this and I’d like that,'” Tymofichuk said.

“It was built piece by piece and anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.”

Tymofichuk hopes his students will be inspired by his dedication.

“If they have a dream, it’s just a matter of work in the middle to make it happen. That’s the bottom line.”

& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.