Struggling in a 8mph wind, but moving. A lot of lessons learned as well.
1) Never mount your blocks off the seat floor as your leg/thigh can only take a certain amount of squashing. Blocks now lifted 100mm onto a DIY rail.
2) Looking at the sky is very aerodynamic - but your neck kills after a while craning forward to see where you are going. Foam and gaffer tape MK1 headrest sorted for next time. Why on earth would anyone attempt anything of a sporting nature without gaffer tape applied????
3) There is a reason Europeans run without the rowlock on the end of the boom. Mine has now gone.
4) When I lengthened the mast to raise the boom, i didn't buy a longer sheet, 200mm x 5 = me holding onto the last few mm. A meter short of a full sheet
5) My wonderful mast crane had been shorted and beefed up to stop bending, however I hadn't allowed for it so it was holding the sail too close to the mast and screwing the shape up.
Hopefully with this lot sorted next weekend should be a lot nearer to being right.
Cheers Col
Beeeuuudefull! It certainly looks the part Col.. The best and safest way to learn is in lighter winds.. Believe me you don't want heavy gusts when learning to handle those things. You want to get onto Landyacht and see if he thinks it is worthy of a grinning Box Headed [}:)]
Pig, (That should get a rise out of him)
Love those Wheels I near to went for them myself..
"Tight Canvas",
Ron
Looks good Col, I bet it was fun :-)
If you're in a tinkering mood I'd be changing the way the downhaul / sheeting works -- from the looks of things that sail needs bucketloads more downhaul. The battens in the top third of the sail are poking forward of the mast, they need to be streaming out behind it; this is usually caused by not enough mast bend, ie. not enough downhaul.
Most landyachts have a system where the downhaul and sheeting are combined, but the downhaul has around twice the mechanical advantage of the sheeting.
Good luck with it, next step is to find some other landyachts and have a race!
Great looking restoration there! Looks like you will be having a bucket load of fun with it 
colk
Your yacht looks great
I made the same mistake with my head rest. not much good if you can not see.
The club88's have there block set low but use a cover over it so that can not grab the legs in the rope.
You mentioned that there is a reason Europeans run without the rowlock on the end of the boom. What was the reason, I have tried it and could not see the reason why(maybe it is not suited to a course that we constantly change directions . I know the kiwi's don't use one either. I would like to try it again, maybe a bit of discussion on the pro's and con would help.
Cheers
aus230
Col,
Short of rebuilding the seat I used a 3ply x 2 Form curved with a Block under the neck/Head then when my pad fitted over that it raised my head for good views.. You could have a Hard Foam wedge cut to suit you and raise your head and shoulders with that. 125mm to 0 by about 350 to 400mm, this again could be narrow under your head and out to shoulder width at the thinnest edge. Killing a Cat can be done many ways besides "Sucking it Brains out through its Crapper with a Straw".
Ron
No wonder your always the popular one here!
Lachy that was not the original version.. I tamed it down to be polite? Certainly leaves an awful picture in ones mind
Col,
Howsbout you Set her up in the yard and Sheet the sail in real tight, photograph her and post the pictures for us..
Ron
oops we went over the discussion on a floating boom in a previous post.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/General/Sail-design/
Thanks guys for all the comments. We'll see on Saturday whether I've got it right (bit nearer anyway). You can't really see on that photo but the outhaul has had to be set to really bag the sail out to get my lardy butt moving and that's also just after I've tacked. Excuses over though, half the problem is my inexperience in reading the sail but then if it had worked first time out I wouldn't have learned anything
AUS230 - it was comfy enough when I fell asleep in it last Autumn...just forgot to really try it again with the pedals in. I lasted 10mins, sailing one handed with the other holding my head up
Ron - those wheels are off a BMX and Honda Sky moped. 2.25"x16" and a nice pair of Michelins already on so cheaper than the 'barrow' wheels.
Think the reasons for the rowlock going are covered in the other post. Looks like I'm going to be the only Class 5 sailing regularly at the club as they're all practicing like mad in the mini's!
Total cost as it stands there £350 ($520 AUS)...I've also managed to build a trailer and buy a tow car for less than the price of a new Blokart chassis[}:)]
Cheers Col
Lots of potential there Col. Yes the crane could be a little longer to stop the head bunching up like that but your main problem is your sheeting system is all to hell. Above is how I have done it. Looks like you already have a good ratchet pulley. What you need now is two triple pulleys. The tail end of the rope at the front I tie down to the floor of the yacht to give me an extra purchase. Notice how one of the loops crossed over; that is to stop the pulleys twisting. Also position them on the boom about half way along the foot of the sail, about where you had the front one. In strong winds a bit further forward, and in light winds a bit further back.
looking great col, as clemco said try to have the sheet pulling straight up an down.
welcome back kiwi307
havent seen any class 5 downhauls since 1991
Changed a bit since the last time out. Now in the MK3 version (do you ever get to a point where the tinkering stops?) which is sporting a longer mast, a rail to lift the blocks, a headrest (temp till the final shape/size is reached), rowlock gone, mast rake adjuster re-jigged to allow more rake.
Next on the list is swap the rear tyres for lighter skinny moped ones, beef up the headstock, swap a wheel bearing that clicks, lose 2 stone, work out how to stop the sail wrapping round the mast in the middle at low wind speeds, build a body for this one that sits round the tubes and probably have a rest
That's about fully hauled down in the photo.
Cheers Col
Col- we have some rather disturbing news for you, losing 2 stone, and having a rest dont really go together that well...
Looks great Col. If those rear wheels ar 17" you could put "Standart" slicks on em.
Hey! Col,
Just a little more disturbing news for you, Don't take any notice to sn. Losing 2 stones whilst resting is the way to go, less traumatic on you and I have a very sharp blade designed for cutting Calves[}:)]. Velly velly quick and velly velly cheap!
Ron
Either that or go to 6.5-7m2 sail for light winds.
