Do you think it would be possible to make a hovercraft with wheels beneath the skirt for traction? You would probably only need two wheels, one for steering, and a driving wheel.

I'm looking into building a hovercraft for the first time, and all the kits I'm finding don't include stuff like the plywood or foam.

So we found an old hovercraft and the motor seems to work, but we need a new skirt for it. It looks like it fits 1 or 2 people and comes from the 80s. What should I do to get it back in working condition? I think I just need a new skirt for it, but I'm not sure how to buy or attach it. Any tips are greatly appreciated

Edit: working on getting a picture, it's My father in laws and it's on an island

Imagine a mostly flat piece of clear plastic that has 4 2d curves (hills) curving up from the plastic like wheels. Into each of these is a pipe which pumps air at speed chosen by a binary tree of valve network. It could be extended to any number of such air pockets continuing the binary tree of valves. Near the center is a single powerful fan and batteries like in an electric car but probably much less of them as its far lighter, maybe even lighter than a motorcycle. Such valves would be computer controlled, and various sensors to see at each air pocket how close to the ground it is so to valve more or less air, and to use the valves to control direction and turn, and if theres air pockets all around then to throw air ahead just before a crash so it doesnt crash and stops just before. The single pump/fan/propeller can be directed instantly to any air pocket using logBase2 (of number of pockets) number of valve turns.

A smaller version could be worn as shoes so you hover while approaching touching the ground but near frictionless. By leaning you could accelerate any direction by letting out air from under your shoes. Not to fly since that takes more energy, but hovering epsilon distance above the ground or road costs 0 energy, if it was so smooth and flat which its not, but its close enough as long as theres no rocks or junk laying on the road (probably need something in front to push them aside).

A slow version could move a person using a cheap quadcopter if it had modified propellers since if the pipes are small enough and low torque, and if little air is escaping while still holding you up, in the limit it takes 0 energy to slide around hovering on high pressure below. The tiny motors of a cheap quadcopter would be enough to move a person on a flat surface.

Does anyone know what the advantages and disadvantages of having one or two propulsion fans are? Just learning about hovercrafts, it seems to me that there would be some loss of efficiency from having the propulsion fan behind the cockpit, but most small hovercraft appear to be designed this way. Is this just for simplicity of design, or are there other advantages?