The Quest for a Homemade Hovercraft
Listen to this episode and the rest of Decoder Ring at Slate.com.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with a mysterious advertisement that ran for decades in the scouting magazine Boys’ Life. Under the enticing headline “You Can Float on Air,” the ad assured me—and generations of scouts—that a personal hovercraft could be ours for just a few bucks.
In this episode, the adult version of me journeys halfway across the country to wield power tools, summon my latent scouting skills, and conscript my father into a quest three decades in the making.
Will I float on air? Scout’s honor: You’ll just have to listen.
August 2, 2023.