Probably one of the most informed and knowledgable on the subject in the motorcycle field is Tony Foale, he has written a lot on the subject over the years. His stuff on sidecars is probably the most relevant although an asymetrical,side car set up is not identical to a trike the principles are the same. I'm sure he has some stuff on line.
What you have will steer, just not particularly well. As you get above a walking pace and loads on the front tyre increase, especially when turning at any speed, I predict it will become very interesting.

Castor and trail are the same thing, the topic has been covered well in these forums, there are normally 3 other variables (assuming there is no suspension) in a single front steer wheel configuration, these being steering head angle, fork rake ( not always the same) and fork offset from the steering head. The combination of these variables is almost infinite.

run the line of the steering head down to the contact point of the tyre and you will have it right

Hi everyone,

Its been a while since i posted anything. Most of my time lately seems to have been spent on cars but I have been painting. No photos of interest (unless your super interested in pictures of rubbing down). I got the first coat of top coat on the other night so here it is at the moment.

A rub down and the final top coat and Ill be in to final fit out :-)

All the best

Dave

Beautiful work. Now that looks like it deserves the name "yacht".

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the kind comments.

It has three wheels and some stearing!!

Just need to wait for pay day to buy some blocks and some sutable weather conditions and Ill take it out for its maiden crash :-)

All the best

Dave

im rather worried by your mast step. that fine edge is saying "snap me " rather loud. I would personally be putting some kind of sleeve into the body.
if the mast doesnt snap the mast will breakm its way through that thin ply with ease ( I think)

Ive rigged it all up and it seems ok :-)

Just waiting for the somewhat elusive combination of a sutible weather window + lack of jobs.

I'm hoping to get out in it this festive period.

Some of the kids in my close came running over the other night asking if its santas new sleigh.....

Fantastic ,well done, I find it difficult to understand how patient you have been over a long build, now you really do need time to test and tune. Landyachts are great fun but if you are restricted to beach sailing and have to work getting the right combination of time tide and wind can be frustrating. Look forward to the next test, take care!

Did you ever get that yacht sailing? How did it work? It looks quite nice by the way.

Hi Guys,

After a few times of dragging it down to the beach and finding that it was either too windy, not windy enough or the tide was in I got to sale it last week!

Unfortunately I don’t as yet have a sports camera (though one is now on order) so no pictures or videos of it crashing around the beach.

It went well, however I haven't sailed any other sand yachts so I don’t have a benchmark to compare against. It was really fun and I'm now truly bitten by the bug. I didn’t have any trouble with the steering (that i know off) and it flew a wheel pretty much the whole time i was sailing.

It didn’t go to windward very well but that is down to rig tuning. I need to improve my down hall arrangement and lash the sail to the boom better. I’ve got some running repairs to do to the tub but nothing let go and it seemed to hold up to the rigors of the test.

I capsized quite a few times, one time going at a fair speed but nothing fell off me or the yacht :-) Got chased by a couple of dogs as well....

I'll get some photos of the mods I’m making to the rig when they are done. I'm currently embroiled in a fit of decorating that I’m hoping to finish in the not too distant future so I can turn my attentions back to the yacht :-).

All the best

Dave

Made a start on the downhaul arrangment.

Hi All,

I managed to drag my self out of bed early enough to have a bash on the beach before the dog walkers got there.

Mk 2 Down hall has gratly improved the sail shape. When i sheet in the sail looks flatish and taught with no wrinkles. Went to windward much better and this time nothing broke :-)

According to the GPS i managed a top speed of 25 mph in 15 mph winds, the sand was pretty wet, I was covered by the time i finished. Would you lot consider this speed at all competative for a mini? What speeds should I be aiming to acheave? Its probably way to heavy to be very competative.

The stearing arrangment does work, the crate truns resonabley well but it does scrub speed if I try and take it too tight.

All the best

Dave

Tryed out the windsurf sail i had kicking around the garage this morning. It seems to be a touch more forgiving and seemed to head to windward much better, perhaps the shift in center of lift forward has helped. Managed 24mph in 11 mph winds.

Good Tip !

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the tips.

Ive bought some stick on balancing weights so ill give your method a go Geoff. I like the PVC pipe rig :-)

I cant really shift my weight around a huge amout Test Pilot but ill defintaly give it a go. The next set of early morning low tides are comming up next week and the winds are forcast to be a touch stronger :-).

All the best

Dave