G'day all.
Just found this forum, there must be a forum on just about everything.
I am a 64 year old adventurer thats done a lot of traveling around Aus, I have done the full round trip in:
1, an Ultralight plane,
2, a Kenworth with a 40' frig pan converted to a mobile home.
3 crossed the Simpson in a 2nd ww Ford Jeep with trailer (west to east)
4 a dirt bike and a Harley
5 a forty foot Ketch
Now it's time to do it with a four wheeled land sailer, if there is anyone interested in a project like this I would like to hear from you.
As far as I can work out it would need to have a high ground clearance, around 700, I would also like a small engine like a Honda for crawling around scrub at about 5 kph it would need to carry 40 liters of water and the same in fuel a good size tucker box and tools also spares, tent, and a gas bottle.
Sound a bit hair brained for you yet? I've only started.
Soler panels, a strap on powered air chute (for those little look about's)
So I've done all the recon missions on my own because no one I knew had the guts or the gonads to come with me, but some company on these trips would have been great to share with others, I made it every time and had a good time ever time.
So if you have any ideas on how to build a turnout like this to cross the Simpson with me (mid spring if a fantastic time)
Please reply, that is if your up to the challenge, I will understand if your not as I accept the fact that those under 60 just don't have a sense of adventure.
A mate of mine was about to leave on a trip to the Gulf country a couple of years ago, he waited a bit too long, after surviving the war in Poland in 1944 getting away from the Nazis and making it to Australia worked hard all his life and had a massive heart attack the night he was going to leave.
Get the picture?
Reply to Jim (ThndaUp)
You can also have a look at my You Tube channel, ThundaDownUnder

Good on ya Warrren.
I would love to be there with you and ride the wind sounds like the sort of thing that gets the blood moving.

Go for it brother. More power to you.

G'day Beachball 57.

Thanks for your reply, can you give me more details on how to contact Joe please?

I'm always interested it talking with like minded people, I didn't give much consideration to land sailing until recently when I was thinking of doing another crossing of the Simpson, all previous trips were very expensive, this is because I took a lot of gear, therefore the need to haul it all with bigger machinery, bigger machinery means more dollars more maintenance more headaches and believe it or not more risk.
So i'm hoping to find someone or a group that would like to do the trip ( it would be a first, and set records,if that's what your into) and come up with design ideas for a super light (but robust) buggy with high clearance and airless tyers.

The sailing wold only be a part of it, what I want to attempt is a crossing using the least amount of fuel as possible across the most remote area as these have the most rewarding sights you cold imagine, things that most people will never see.
Regards. Jim Thunda.

edit . nominate a start point and a finish point longitude + latitude go to google Earth and track across
ask the question what is so different from the surround area. what sort of backup do you need.the last bloke that did anything out of the ordinary was a friend of mine to whom i sold a 6x6 articulated vehicle which he used as a scout for a 6x6 nebian in an expidition to follow the original Madigan crossing. they were well set up and it was hard hard work for all. best to stick to oil search gride as they have done the hard work, they put in the access as everyone who goes there appreciates.

Taking it to the edge: Land: Simpson Desert - 1929 aerial surveys
??Ted Colson
??Cecil Madigan
??1929 aerial surveys
??1939 crossing
??Setting out
??Queensland border reached
1929 aerial surveys
''Here then was an interesting bit of exploration to be done, to find out what lay behind the forbidding borders of this unknown area, and the aeroplane was the obvious means of solving the problem.''

CT Madigan Crossing the Dead Heart Adelaide, Rigby, 1974 page 1Nine flights were made, and two cameras were used with exposures being made every five minutes. The flights were made over 15 days as follows: (1) Broken Hill to Marree (2) Marree to Birdsville (3) Birdsville to Alice Springs (4) Alice Springs east to Lake Caroline on the Hay River, then south for 50 miles and back to Alice Springs (5) Alice Springs, west over the western MacDonnell Range (6) Alice Springs to Oodnadatta (7) Oodnadatta to Lake Eyre thence to Marree (8) Marree to Lake Eyre South and Lake Eyre North and return to Marree (9) from Marree along the railway line to Douglas Creek, then down Lake Torrens to Quorn.

The first two flights were over territory that was already known from the ground, but provided useful guidelines and experience for those to come. Flight 3 took them into unknown territory, and Madigan was to write 'after two hours flying, our hopes of undiscovered ranges, wooded watercourses from the MacDonnells?chad to be abandoned. The men who had started on camels had been wise to turn back. Their worst fears were confirmed.' He also wrote that the spinifex was 'easily recognized from the air by its hollow rings, outward growing masses from which the centre has decayed and disappeared.' The fourth flight again covered previously untravelled territory and again negative results were found: sand ridges, clay pans and spinifex. The prospects of finding a range of mountains within the 28,000 square miles of unknown land were diminishing. Flight 5 over the MacDonnells was over known territory but useful to Madigan to help greatly to unravel the problems of the geology of the Ranges.

joe is in the forum... however it is too fancyfull to attempt on landyacht style vehicles.
I think it would pay to spend a couple of years learning about camels.
Joe has crossed twice with government survey parties, big dollar setups
and thinks it foolish to try for another route, go with what there is, there is still a french walker out there somewhere, wee wee!

Thanks for the response Joe and your concerns, fancy-full, I just love that word it makes me all the more determined, did you read my first post?
As I have stated I've already been there, I have spent almost 50 years in the back country both for work and pleasure, I would like to find someone to help with a design, as I know nothing about land sailing, although I spent five years single handed on a fifty foot ketch it won?t be the same, there must be considerable stresses on a land vehicle.
I also mentioned most of the mobility will be motorized, I know more than most about the expenses of trips out there, I?ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on them, as far as camels go no thanks, their contemptible bad mannered and ugly but horses I have had something to do with from polocrosse, mustering and droving.
But I don?t intend to do the trip on horseback.
I will have back up in the form of a mate with a plane he also knows the back country as well if not better than most but he won?t be going as he has a family and commitments as a chief flying instructor.
So if you or anyone can come up with ideas, positive advise for designs etc I would be grateful, otherwise I?ll just have to work it out myself and that can expensive and dangerous.
As we all know,
if you want to do something and don?t know much about it,
Learn from those that do, that?s why I?m here.

I have been thinking a bit about what type of landyacht would be best suited for something like this,

The biggest problem I can see is the amount of weight you intend to carry, as the more weight you want to carry = more weight!

Weight is the biggest enemy to landyachts, and the stresses to a chassis and mast would be considerable when travelling over virgin ground or old tracks.

A well thought out oversized kite buggy might handle the terrain better, but you will be limited to what you can carry.

A series of well placed supply dumps would be handy to minimise the amount you need to carry.

lots more homework needed.

stephen

sounds good on "paper" but i don't think it'll work in practise,,,it's all well and good to say just go out there and do it, but like Joe said it's a different world these days,,,,

Well, after getting a few personal messages more or less saying the same thing I realise I?m wasting my time here, thanks for the tip (you know who I?m talking about)

I made myself a promise a long time ago ?stick to yourself and do your own thing? because you can?t rely on many for anything.

The world is full of knockers, the ones who always follow and never lead, they walk in the tracks of others, never doing something new, always had to have someone to hold their hand, never being the first to even try something different.

You talk about paperwork, permits, and the rest of that crap, this is my country..... there is no way I?m going to let any shirt lifting bureaucrat tell me what I can or can?t do when it comes to travelling over my back yard, when my mob have called it home for a good few thousand years longer than most.

I just asked for ideas from experienced people.
I guess nobody has any or ever will have, so I?ll go it alone as usual.

Well Joe.... I don't give a rats arse if you take exception to my so called rave as far as advice I don?t recall getting any from you, just a lot of stuff you Googled, and knowledge??

Firstly you reply as a third person , then you come back and tell me you have a four wheeled outfit but don?t come up with any help it that regard in you first post, you just come up with a lot of tripe, thanks for nothing.

Talk about bloody ego, ever heard of diplomacy cully?

I'm still getting private messages in support of this plan, with positive feedback and also telling me not to expect any help on new ideas from this forum, especially from you I notice you put your two bobs worth in just about every topic, you must spend a lot of time on the computer, do you see yourself as the guru of Sea Breeze or the god father of the forum? Or just got nothing better to do?

You say you have a disability well so do I after a mining mishap, but that doesn't stop me from helping others, that's what I do every day, your main disability is the way you think.

I've come across some anal retentive blokes in the past, they usual end up being lonely old has been?s (but... I guess it's better to be a has been than a never was, like some. )

As far as being humble I am, (more than some) you may have humble mixed up with pride in personnel achievements.

If you can't be positive and help people with some positive feedback (especially to new chums ) crawl back up your own bum as it sounds like your half way there already.

And get yourself a decent spelling checker, click on review on your Microsoft Word header and look to the left you will see ABC with a tick below it.

I also wish you well too gibberish.

Here are two of the last private messages I have received, names withheld

Thunder ignore those that try to dissuade you from doing something new and inventive, forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission, just don't ask the question, then the answer is never no, just get ready with the bull**** to dig yourself out of a hole, as for your yacht I would definitely look into suspension, just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done.
Good luck with your venture.

Hi. Trust me when I tell you on this site you?re only going to get the **** kicked out of any ideas like you have, there are many negative people on this forum.

Sorry joe is realy sick of this post, for some reason i cannot post anything in the new format

however all my doings are already here in the forums for all to see, which is why i use the forum

to promote disscussion and as most realise [even me] I am not allways right and have my share of harsh judgments from within

the forum. Which is OK by me, thundas ambitions are great but not for a landyacht [wind powered] more for a john deer 6X4

D]I think he may have moved on, and is going to go it alone like he said

Haven't gone just yet as I keep getting private messages and they seem to show up on the computer, to save a lot of typing here is a note I sent in reply to a private message inquiry.


I have been doing some research on different airless wheels and suspension systems on something like the moon buggy, I would like to go for a 3 foot wheel diameter (cambered), I guess it's going to be trial and error until I get it right.

Maybe a swinging radial seat for extra stability with a setup to camber the front wheels like a grader when the seat is swung to port or starboard, something like a hang glider.

The idea I have at the moment is a small petrol motor with a chain drive for the rear axle, also a lithium iron battery bank and PV panels. for a roof, I'm not expecting a go fast racer just something to plod along at 10 klm/hr, the sail, (I'm thinking a gaff rig) is only for assistance when conditions and direction is favorable.

I'ts akin to a mechanized horse and cart, it can still break down of course but it wont go lame or need a lot of tucker or water (I keep that for myself) and gets along at a pace that a horse would find it hard to keep up with for an extended periods.

I have a thousand acre undulating sandy property with some low scrub (gorse) to give it a good workout and also have a private beach to get a feel for it's awesome top end speed whatever it will be.

So the main idea is for a plodder with reliability and endurance, using the sun and wind for power, even if I've got to get off and push the mongrel once in a while, a bloke could even harness up a couple of dingo's for a bit of extra grunt.

given your speed expectations, you could scrap the cambered wheels,as they would give no advantage,and increase your rolling resistance.
the grader style leaning front wheel would serve no purpose, make the yacht heavier ,and more complicated.
so far you seem to need something with tall wheels that can roll over soft ground. so your going to need something that runs on low pressure, that has a really light tyre, and is reallytough.
maybe look at building some light custom rims for some 26x4.8 fat tyres .( google fat bikes) .
I dont know where your gonna get some light weight 36" wheels

I would go for very large diameter wheels. I mean more like 5' or 6'. A bit like the old horse drawn buggies. Not sure if there is a tire that size??.. but maybe a solid kind of O ring would do the job if you could keep it on.
Go for it ThundaUp. Sounds like a good project to me. You will get plenty of good advice on this forum. Some just need time to think about your idea.

Hard to go only with a sail, this attempt in the US was not so successful



About 15 years ago an Italian team built a yacht to cross Mauritania desert to bring some boxes to preserve ancient and precious manuscripts in Chinguetti. One of the main trouble in towns was crossing electric and telephone lines but maybe with a gaff sail you'll stay a bit lower.






Some time ago I was talking to an engineer I met by chance at a sustainable mobility event. This lad (he designed the green runner http://www.green-runner.it/, a lighter version of the Segway) did some sums and told me that yes, an electrosailing hybrid is achievable running at a good average speed, more likely the best way is a brushless motor (the same of electric bikes, I guess in English is called torque-motor) inside the front wheel (in a 3 wheeler). Sailing however will be essential to recharge batteries.

Ciao - Enrico

NOTHING lS IMPOSSIBlE
An 80 year old bloke just climbed Mount Everest.
And broke a record but it wont last long.
This is how we got passed stone tools, because some people push the boundrys back
KEEP PUSHING EVERYONE.