Brevard Man Builds Homemade Hovercraft Out of Stolen Shopping Carts and Jet Ski Engine

# Aerospace Innovation on the Space Coast While NASA launches rockets from Cape Canaveral, independent propulsion development is thriving just ten miles down the road in the garage of Brevard County resident Leo 'Turbine' Vance. ## The Construction Vance's craft—dubbed **The Supermarket Skimmer**—consists of: - Four welded metal shopping cart frames providing structural roll cage integrity. - A salvaged 1100cc two-stroke jet ski powerplant. - A heavy-duty vinyl pool cover functioning as the positive-pressure lift skirt. "A shopping cart has the ideal aerodynamic wire-mesh vortex dissipation," Vance explained. "Add 110 horsepower of jet propulsion and a flexible skirt, and you don't need a boat ramp. The whole marsh becomes your runway." ## The Maiden Voyage During initial testing in the Banana River shallows, the craft reached an estimated 45 knots before gliding effortlessly over a mud bank and coming to rest outside Captain Bob's Bait & Tackle. Vance purchased two bags of ice and navigated back without incident. > **Satire Disclosure:** A satirical tribute to Florida Space Coast DIY engineering and garage aeronautics.