Hi all, great forum, hope you don't mind a French speaking Canuck joining...
I've been lurking for a wile learning the basic of building a yacht.
But since my yacht need to solid as heck I can't built/copy a wheel land yacht.
Snow is uneven... my yacht will sustain a lot of stress and abuse.
My total cost so far is about 150$ including a used sailboard and sail (3).
Please have a look, any feedback is welcome.
Cheers, Ben
www.benplace.com
Just what we need ! Another Anal Retentive Northerner
Shoot! Don't take any notice to me Ben , I insult everyone
. It's me Job
Seriously you would know you aren't the only Canuk aboard this Boat.. I don't know where you are from Red Dear Alberta but Brian could use a coupla new patients No! He has built a couple of machines and played in the Snow so it may be worth your while to chat with him. Look through the pages for SabyDent.
Your frame looks pretty substantial from here, though from my experience over here you may need to raise it a tad to get clearance from Snow Bumps (Whatever you call them). Oh! I'd be making sure I had a nice thick cushion under you as well.. Frozen Hemorrhoids ain't a nice thought..
Yeah! Bye the way. Welcome to the forum and there is no such thing as a stupid question . Just a lack of knowledge. From a Biblical Point.. "Seek and ye shall be told".
Ron
wow!!!! Im looking forward to seeing some pics with snow. Im assuming the shopping trolley wheel will be replaced when a free snow board appears on the door step
Ok, thanks for the feedback (no I'm no sensitive Canuck... he he he), I have raised the back a bit...to 7in and finished the whole ship yesterday.
Fact & Concerns:
-Weight without sale: about 40 pound. (1/32 - 1/16 tubing with some 1/8)
-Main sale 5 square meter. (I have a 4 and a 6.4)
-Rigging solve, It will work like a jib on a sail boat.
-I wonder if I will need push-start. (wet snow), if so I found a way to lock steering
-sharp edge for each snowboard... not sure.
-The front snowboard will be spring loaded to keep the front up.
-Angle to rear snowboard (flat no choice but left to right...)
About 35 hours to built the whole thing. 2 roll of mig welding flux (the hard part)
Other facts:
I can't use ski, they will sink to much. Same goes for snowmobile ski, nice shape but they will carve the snow to much. The fun thing with the snowboard may be some fun drifting/driving.
Snow condition (in my case).
-I live in farm land and my neighbour is my very good friend so my playground will be in front of my house. Many km of open field with VERY strong winter wind. Snow condition can be anything and can vary from day to day. From 1 feet to... whatever in height. High wind can create and modify my playground heavily, at some point it may even look like a frozen ocean WITH frozen wave. That condition can and will be dangerous. Wt snow is a killer and the snowboard (even waxed heavily) won't budge without a push start.
My second playground is behind my house... a frozen river.
This is my playground:
I love it !
I hope I'm wrong about this, but I wonder if You might need an aluminum or some other type of fin/skag/steering doodad down the center of the front ski. It looks like the steering pivot is vertical, so the metal ski edges won't dig in for grip, making it hard to turn the beast. It looks perfect for when You replace them with skates for the frozen river, tho
Well done, welcome to the forum...
I willbe interested to see how this works. Last winter I put skis on my LLFmini and did not have much luck. I used two kids snow skis on the back and a plastic snowmobile ski skin on the front. One of the skis broke immediately. I was using a cut 5.2m sail and found that I could not get going. The wind was about 20kmh.
I like the rig you have for the windsurfing sail, this will easily allow you to change sail sizes. I think using the snowboards is a good idea. I agree with Desertyank that you will need some form of keel on the front ski. I am concerned about the amount of lateral forces you will have on that ski while turning and that the outside edge may catch. If you have problems you may have to go with some form of layover steering that would allow the ski to tip letting the ski carve slightly while lifting the outer edge.
I will follow this closely as I still want to get out on the snow and I may have to copy smome of your ideas. I have a 10 mile by 3 mile lake in my front yard and it is pretty much useless from December to April.
Welcome to the forum.
Brian
Ok, I have built a second yacht... (it's all your fault), the blue one being a bit heavy at 79 pound (probably good for strong wind) I decided to built one at least under 50, well, I'm at 48 right now.
this one is quite different, I will be using 4 snowboard, 1 cut at 2/3 (the one I will be sitting on), the other 1/3 will be the steering (all with metal knife edge - see last picture.). On each side I will have another one cut in half. The side one are raised about 2 inches from the ground each side.
If you carefully look at picture #1 you will see that this yacht was built out of an old carport... an old bicycle, some odd engine parts lie a T-belt tensionner (for steering), some old quad peg... ha ha ha. Cost is under 100$
Please have a look.
I'm now building an aluminum one... I t will be under 30 pound, a very simple and light one.... more to come. I just bought 2 more smaller sail... crazy winter ahead.
Cheers, Ben
Lookin' Good Ben..
Not budge in 20/25Kph?? I don't even find that good for me and the Razor.. 30/35 bottom before I think of sailing.. Larger Sail will help..
Ron
Wow they are 2 super machines.
There is going to be a lot of fun to be had with those.
I like the interesting way the mast is suported so that a traditional boom may be used. Very clever.
The only country bloke in Canada wishing it would snow!!!!!
That looks really good, I will be most interested in how these perform. I suspect you will need to add some mechanical advantage to your main sheet set up with some more blocks.
Brian
. You here about kids out west that have never seen rain in their tender 10 or 12 years that panic when that wet stuff falls from the sky.
Hi again, did a lot of mod the blue yacht, removed 30 pounds, the whole front nose was way to heavy. Removed some in the back also. Now at 48 pound with wheel.
Added wheel to both yacht, I will find a empty field somewhere and try them both until snow come.
Fall is coming slowly, another 2 month before any possible snow, I can't wait that long :-)
My local welder guy just told me that there is another local guy who as land yacht, he just call me yesterday, we will meet this weekend. Pretty cool.
