Aus 230 is in the middle of a rebuild.

Cut the frame and moved the mast post back 50mm so that the center of the post is 1350mm from center of back axle.

I picked up a push bike frame at the tip for a dollar and decided to incorporate into suspension hopping that it will eliminate sail shake.
The parts have been tacked together and appear to work well and it is able to be stiffer or softer by adjusting the spring tension. May be others that are / have used suspension can share there results/problems.
Cheers
aus230

after much thought have decided to build a new craft that can take advantage of the best winds available in my area, have access to a grass airstrip and plenty of farm ground with bean stubble, and a frozen lake with 6" snow (not very good for ice yachting). all within a minute from door. tired of driving ($$) to asphalt venues in area, poor quality winds because of shadowing. will be in the open and hopefully have some kick a@% wind. have ordered some 10" aluminum atv rims, atv front sand tires (ams whipsnake) and hubs with 3/4" tapered roller bearings. if info i found on net is accurate should beat bigfoot tire weight, plus larger rolling diameter. want machine to measure close to lefroy specs, maybe plus 10%. wheel diameter 22x8. 6 sq meter sail.
wondering what difficulties will i encounter using this large of a wheel for steering? hoping to use 30 degree layover setup. any experience out there?

Greetings, I'm new here, so if this has already been discussed, please send me in the right direction. I have built a class 5 from scratch (off Mike Hampton's old plans-mostly) and owned two "production" boats, a US Fed 5 and my current boat a New Zealand Rocket. I would really like to design and build another, but would rather not just exactly copy something that exists.
All the really fast boats seem to be of the frame-over-seat variety, whether they race on the beach or dry lakes, but the way the front suspension/strut connects to the 'Y' part of the frame and to the seat seems to vary a lot. The "why" of those differences intrigues me.
Blake
US319

Just found these photos in the photo's section from Hiko. Great looking landyacht!!

His comments were:

"The class 5 that I built 4 years ago Stainless steel frame
26inch glass wheels design by Auckland land yacht club \"Rocket5\"
with a few of my own modifications [front suspension]
Graeme Faulkner NZ717"