Welcome to the forum. Nice to see another Canadian. Where are you in the country?

I suggest you start with a lake lefroy mini. It will be exactly what you need, and if you follow the plans, it is pretty straigt forward to build. The build is fun and you can be as creative as you want in making the seat.

Brian

Sounds like you need one of these. Unfortunately the manufacture is not now in business.

fujimo said...

queen charlotte islands, off the coast of bc- miles of long, flat sandy beaches- really keen to get into this!!!

Never thought of going there. How are the winds in Oct.?

This diagram might explain more for you.... It is often thought by water sailors that you need to lean out like a on a dinghy but a with a land yacht the yacht is normally setup so the force generated by the rig gives forward motion rather than a side ways tipping motion, and the faster you go the less tipping motion there is.

I bought my wheels at Princess Auto. I got the ones for 3/4 inch axle. They are about $40 each.

Good Morning Fuji San
Yes a Std Windsurfer Sail will do nicely to begin with A Double Bed Sheet would work too.... My point being that a Windsurfer Sail is designed for power to overcome the Drag of water on the Board. If you are running on Grass, Soft Sand, uneven ground etc. You will need power to get and keep you moving, however if the surface is Tarmac, Hard Sand, Salt or Clay Pan then the same sail will restrict your top speed, therefore the Flatter the sail the less wind resistance and the greater the speed you can attain. Look carefully at the sails used on racing Land yachts and you should notice that their sails are fairly flat though any shape they gain comes from the use of tapered Battens. Those sails do not have a great deal of low down power but gain it with speed as the Apparent Wind pressure builds. Believe me this can be felt as you get into the higher speed bracket.

So start out with the standard Sail (It can be modified later on) and as you gain in experience you should then consider either having a WS Sail converted or having a New Sail purpose built. Me I can't afford the later but the money I have spent on conversion could well have payed for a new sail

Ron
Go for it and you WILL HAVE A LOT OF FUN!!

standard windsurfer masts are what we use, with a few minor modifications,
-the base of the sail needs stiffening to prevent snapping, and usually the mast needs to be a little longer.

-a timber stiffener is fitted up inside the base of the mast for about 1 metre, but long enough so it sticks out the base of the mast for about 200mm or 300mm to gain some extra height.
The stiffener is easy to make if you have access to a wood lathe or plane and belt sander.

-You can add more length to the top of the mast by jamming a vacuum cleaner pipe on the top. (cheap and effective)

Sealed roller bearings are best on most surfaces, if you are getting real seriously into high performance and reducing drag, you can rip out the seals- but the bearings tend to become disposable.

make a habit of regularly cruising past recycling depots and yard sales or similar, and pick up any cheap (or free) masts, sails and booms you can. Even damaged sails and snapped masts are good for supplying parts and materials.

stephen

Fujimo,




This is a re-cut of an 11mtr sail it is about 6mtrs now and quite fast, scares the Bejesus out of me at times and I still haven't cracked the 80kmh mark yet.
I have no experience in Sail Making and followed Landyachts/Pauls plans and guidance with a little fine tuning with my Sail Maker.

If I can do it a bloke like yourself with experience in the Rag Trade , it should be a Doddle.
Ron

Well with a first name like you have ya cant go far wrong!
Us Waynes have gotta stick together.('specially against Nicky Poos)[}:)]

Obviously your'e our token Penal Wayne cos after all Tasmania was the Penal isle

thanks for that- have just ordered three- 11' diam,RED ones too!! - they oughtta be fast.

INOX is the ducks guts, I used to work at a large beach side hotel in Perth W.A.
We had a real problem with corrosion in our air handling systems caused by a combination of moist salty air and dissimmilar metals.
The air dampers and automatic louvres would continually corrode and sieze up.
After much testing and trials of various brands and types of lubricants of the WD40, CRC, and horribly expensive specialty formulations, we settled on INOX as best (most effective- not cheapest),
The next best as a preservative for preventing corrosion was WD40, the fish oil in the stuff gives a good anti-rust coating- but it didnt prevent siezing as it gummed up the works as it dried out, and airborne sand and grit turned it into grinding paste.

Regular flushing (a quick squirt of INOX) worked wonders, blew any recently accumulated grit away and left everything super slick and clean for another month.

stephen.

Well Cisco,
Ther in lies a good reason for me not to use Lanox.. Sheep Fat.
Anything to do with Sheep is not for me.. I reckon if the lot were driven off Sydney Heads I would cheer.. As you can gather I do not like sheep.
Ron

oops!!
being a metric fella sometimes gets the better of me. -well spotted-11"!!!
11' might be a bit tough to get through me post slot!