Dear All land-yachties
Happy Christmas to you all.
My son and I just finished a welding course and decided (as our 1st project) to build a land-yacht of sorts! We were motivated by the remarkable projects shown on this site. Attempting this project makes us appreciate the magnificent craft that you seasoned campaigners show us on this web-site!
We took our craft out for its first spin - on a wide beach near Wilsons Prom in southern Victoria. The breeze was very light, and although we managed to limp along, we didn't break any speed records! We attach four photos: one of the landyacht sailing, two of the mast set-up (and detaild of the twisted plate), and a third of the wheels and bearings. We would very much appreciate some advice about:
a) the general 'set-up' of the yacht - e.g. whether the mast is too far forward, how we have the wind-surfer sail set-up.
b) how we should make the mast step. Note the bent plate at the base of the mast support - and this was from a light wind. Note that we are using a narrow one-metre mast pole stepping up to wider aluminium wind-surfer mast extension, then all slipping into a wider base-tube. I can't see any pictures on the web site of how you all manage to support the huge forces at the base of the mast.
c) The bearings of the wheel-barrow wheels that we are using, all ceased-up with the fine sand, and stopped all together! How should we deal with that!
Any advice would be warmly received
Ian R.
Welcome Ian, for a first attempt thats a great effort. With a bit of tweaking you'll be up and sailing in no time. Here's a couple of pics of my step on my Pacific Magic. You'll note we use round tube as it handles the twisting forces better.
On your set up it might be better to use a brace that goes from near the rear wheels to a couple of feet up the mast, although that will require a hole in your sail. You'll get the idea in this thread: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39276&whichpage=1&replies=102&PageSize=30&mxPages=4
AS for the bearings we use good quality bearings and put rubber caps over the outside of the wheel and what looks like a jar lid over the inside bearing and them we just clean and lube them alot! 
I'll let the designers on here answer the rest of your questions.
Dear Hills
Many thanks for the speedy advice! In relation to the mast braces, do they help much with the lateral force on the mast (which seems to be the main problem as force along the axis of the vessel is OK)?
When you say that you use good bearings, does that mean that you replace the ones that come with the commercial wheels? I am wondering how to do that, as you can see from the photo that the bearings bolt onto these wheels on a plate.
Hi Ian
You have certainly put some great work into building your yacht, it looks super and will provide you and yours with lots of fun. The bearings shown in the photo look like they fit a 25mm dia. shaft/axle. If you get a peice of round steel bar (aluminium is best) about 10 or 12 mm diameter x 150 or 200mm long, you can knock the bearings out of the wheel hub. When they come out, you will find that they seat in a steel "cup" shaped holder. The bearing can then be removed from the cup and replaced as needed. The bearings you have shown will be rather sloppy 'cos they are quite cheap and the clearances allow the sand and grit to freely enter into the bearing itself. A high quality new bearing would cost about $6.00 more or less, it depends on where you buy them. You could try using bearings that are "sealed" on one side and lubricate them with a light grease or buy bearings sealed both sides. On the inner and outer sides of the wheel, most of the fellas "seal" the bearings with a plastic lid from a jar. You could also fit a thick felt washer at the edge of the bearings and then the plastic lid. Regardless of what you do, keeping the sand out will almost always be a pain in the neck. With a high quality bearing, it will take far less sand to enter in to jamb the bearing so its a catch 22 all round. If you keep looking over this site, you will find a post later on where I will address this problem by making a specialized axle/bearing assembly. The only requirement is to have a lathe or a cobber who has one himself.
It's great to see you on site, looking forward to hearing more from you. Dont hesitate to ask (ANY) questions, we all ask them of everybody who comes here.
Kody
Hi Ian R,
Great first up effort there. My first observation of your yacht suggests to me that you should take those wheels off it and put them back on whatever you took them off.
Their rolling diameter is way too small and therefore rolling resistance too high, and therefore less speed and creates higher stress at your mast step.
Looking around the forum you will notice many people are using red plastic wheels. In most cases these are Fallshaw 8" dia x 4" wide wheels which have proven to be excellent performers on all but the extremely high performance yachts.
Fallshaw's main outlet is somewhere in Melbourne. I am being supplied with them here in Bundaberg for $44 complete with tyre, tube and bearings similar to those in your wheels. Precision sealed bearings are preferred and can be bought quite inexpensively at BSC.
Similar looking wheels are available at Bunnings but I wouldn't touch them unless they are Fallshaws. When you spin them they are not very concentric.
Hope this is of help. Cheers Cisco
The boys got it right. bin the wheels. the way they are designed they are not suitable to carry any kind of side load. add the manufacturing quality and they are not even fit to go on a trolley.
. save the tyres for replacements.
we have used this size wheel on Hummingbird, a tiny toddlers yacht, because the slow the yacht down to a speed that young children can react too.
If you are going to go out and buy good quality wheels I would suggestyou go up to 4.00x8.
Keep in mind that the good wheels cost the same as the unusable rubbish.
Te sail and mast set up youve started with is a great start, but ( here we go
) since youve learnt to weld, Have a go at scrounging the materials for a Lefroy Mini and give it a go. the design is aimed at beginners like yourselves, and the yacht you will end up with will be a cracker.
dont be put off by some of the fancy seats that some of the builders have come up with , you could use a plank of wood if thats all you could manage.
I just realized , weve found a new beach
looks divine, spill the beans , fellas give us a name
Gentlemen
Thanks for all of the excellent advice. After Christmas I will get new Fallshaw wheels, new bearings, and perhaps some mast stays!
But I am a bit confused on wheels. Everybody recommends the 8" by 4" plastic Fallshaws, but these seem to be the same diameter wheels as the ones we already have (about 200mm) - or does the 8" refer to the inside diameter? On the Fallshaw wheel website you can get many sizes of the red plastic wheel - would 275mm or even 300mm diameter be even better?
BY the way, the beach that we are sailing on in the photo above is a long, isolated beach between Venus Bay and Cape Liptrap, in Gippsland, Victoria. There are 5 - 7 km stretches of good sand, and fierce winds. Only problem is that the only way in is to carry the yacht in in pieces! No roads.
The 8" refers to rim diameter and 4" is rim width (the same as a car) ,the tyre diameter is approx 400mm or 16".The advantages of the fallshaw is it's a reasonably strong rim that will take the side loads that are generated. The standard bearings aren't much good this is why people are suggesting a precision bearing (the stub axle can be slightly shorter with the precision bearing). Hope this helps
Ian D
Hi IanR,
Just a little correction to what I said about bearings for the Fallshaw wheels. I just bought three of the wheels on Xmas Eve and immediately went to BSC to buy precision bearings.
The wheels come with 2"x1"x1/2" deep groove bearings. These are quite cheap at around $5 each. The best price I could get on the same size precision sealed bearings was around $18 each. There is a little bit of debate on whether a yacht will perform better with tight or loose bearings. Not resolved yet.
A further comment on the construction of your yacht. If you take off the bicyle steering head and frame tube and turn it upside down, reattach, and of course put the forks in the other way, your steering geometry will be approaching the layover steering as used on most yachts these days.
I seriously doubt you will get a Fallshaw wheel into those front forks though. What I have seen at our local bicycle shop is a black plastic spoked wheel fitted with precision bearings which is sold as golf buggy (hand pull variety) wheel for $35. It takes a 12"x2 1/2" tyre and tube which will cost another $12-$15.
This is the same size wheel and tyre as fitted to the front of the blokarts. An alternative to the Fallshaw wheels for the rear of your yacht are the older style blokart wheels. These are 6" rims with 4" or 5" wide tyres. Enmach Industries here in Bundaberg import them from NZ and fit them to their plastic trailers for ride on mowers. I have been buying the wheels from them for around $55 each with tyres. The wheels will take 6202 precision bearings on just under 15mm axles with 14mm thread for retainer nut. The bearings are clamped onto a spacer sleeve between them in the hub. The bearings are 35mm O.D.x 15mm I.D.x11mm W. These bearings are very common and I have been buying Taiwanese made ones for less than $5 each.
Now we've REALLY got you confused. Cheers Cisco.
P.S. Second edit correction on axle and bearing sizes for the blokart rear wheels as above.
Hi Ian R
For more info on bearings and seals , scroll down to the next page (page2) and again scroll down to the bottom threads. Look for 2 headings, "Technical tips, Bearings" and "Technical tips...Seals". These two threads will answer all your questions about bearings and seals. They are both excelent to read thru and very easy to understand.
May you and yours have a wonderful new year.
Kody
