South African Mini

Hi

Just a bit of background first. I’m from South Africa and I belong to a very small (5 members) Air Force sailing club where we sail Proton, Bosun and Laser class dinghies. Unfortunately we only get 2 days in a month to get our kicks and after a couple a of slow sessions on the water the idea of land sailing reared its ugly head. After all, we have a couple of miles/kilometers of runways to our disposal, flying permitting of course.

I’ve built, with lots and lots of help from friends, one of the Mini Lefroy’s but had to make some changes. The main deviation from the plan is the size of the square tubing. For some or other reason the 25mm and 30mm square tubing is just about unobtainable locally so I substituted it with 38mm and 32mm square tubing. My seat is made with 20mm ply only because that is what I had on hand. I plan on making a proper seat quite soon. It is probably built like a tank but then again I am quite “muscular” too, so it is maybe a good thing. I have not painted it yet and it still needs a brake but I took it out for the first time today. With the wind blowing between 15 and 20 knots it was more fun than should be allowed but it would have been a lot more fun if I had brakes!

The only damper was that my friend and co-planner left for Switzerland and could not be present at the maiden voyage.

I would like to say a big thank you to landyacht for making the plans available and also thank you to everybody on this forum for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Thanks a lot
Johann

Thanks guys! I know we are very lucky! On the base we have 4 runways, a bunch of taxiways, huge aprons and very friendly ATC’s. When it comes to wind strength we’ve had a very consistent 20 to 25 knots (gusting up to 30 knots) for a couple of weeks now. Temperature wise it has been between 25 and 40 degrees Celsius but like you said the cool air moving in is fantastic. It helps being on the coast! Down the road from where I live there is a development on the beach with lots of roads but no homes yet. It is a bit hairy because of the combination of sharp corners and no brakes.
When it comes to the build I stayed as close to the plans as possible. I don’t have any experience on these things so I did not want to get too creative! The wheels I used are basically the same size as your Fallshaws. We used them on small wagons and I just” repurposed” them, with new bearings of course. The tires are also freely available at our agricultural suppliers. I will get more info on them on Monday as the yacht is kept at work. Besides the change of square tubing size I think the biggest deviation from the plans is the steering. I used the “neck” and fork from an old mountain bike. The fork was shortened and I turned down a solid shaft to fit into the steering tube. I also had nice aluminium foot pedals on the steering bar but I took them off because it reduced my turning radius quite a bit. The bare square tubing steering bar is actually very comfy so I’m going to leave it like that. I’ve added a headrest to the backrest to ease the strain on my neck and I plan to add some padding to the seat. One of my colleagues who is quite a bit heavier than me managed to throw the yacht over and tested the repurposed DC 3 lap strap. It passed with flying colours!
Johann

G'day from me too. another individual interpretation of the LLmini well done!
That last photo, is it a left handed salute or speed has overcome the
hat band your site would be a great place to run the nationals
catch you round the forum.......

Thanks again.

I’ll try to get some video and better photos next time. On the subject of leg restraints I’ve got some experience. I’m an ejection seat maintenance supervisor and they play an important role on our seats, so I’m planning to re-use an old set on my yacht. Briefing new “skippers” on the importance of not using their feet as brakes is getting old as they invariably never listen! The brake is another story as I’ve welded the brake brackets onto the right hand axle but I have not made the lever yet. I do most of my sailing at work so I don’t have any need for it because there is just so much space. (I’m not bragging, just stating facts)

Great clip Stephen! Is it my imagination or did you have to shout for water at around 1.03?

Johann

A mate of mine is building one so we should have some type of race going on soon! I would like to build one or two more because there is a lot of interest being shown but unfortunately work seems to be getting in the way. When I do get a gap I would rather spend it getting some ‘landmiles’. When it comes to sails I’ve been very lucky as I was given 3 sails and 2 masts, one of them a 2 piece carbon job. The sail I’m using is a 5.5m one that I just cut the foot off. The luff I left as is because it was the least curvy one of the lot and it has performed perfectly. Unfortunately our disposal process for time-ex stuff does not allow me to ‘roll my own’ so to speak.

Getting back to the brake topic, my wife is still horrified that I don’t have any so she has bought me one of those moto-cross vests with all the padding. I haven’t used it yet just my helmet and normal sailing gloves which I feel is sufficient. What is considered normal ‘safety kit’?

Thanks
Johann

I checked out the wheels today and they are 4.00x8 so the split rims are sized for that. The tires are marked ‘Kings Tires’ if that is any help. Unfortunately I don’t have any details on the manufacturer of the rims as there are no markings on it. The axles are 20mm solid shafts as per the plans and the bearings are roundabout 55 to 60mm.

I found out today that my mates’ yacht is basically finished. It just needs one or two finishing touches and then its game on! I wanted to go sailing today as we had a nice 15 to 20 knot SSW blowing but work really interfered with my plans.

I’ve been playing around with names for my yacht as it probably needs one now that it is actually moving but nothing really speaks to me. The only one that I really like is Spirit of Stupidity and I was wondering what the protocol is in maybe adding a 2 behind it and using it, keeping in mind that I’m on a different continent. If that doesn’t work I’m left with Johannes Windvogel (John Windbird – direct translation form a Dutch name) and Sika Moya ( Cut the Wind – in Zulu).

Johann

cut the wind has entirely different implications in Australian
i think the name just stuck in whatever language

I think there is a Canadian mini on these threads similar to yours that has been dubbed Holey Moley

Geroff HIKO! Look at it it's full of holes like a Swiss Cheese.............No? Perhaps that'd be a good name. Dang! it looks like the natives are still restless and have big guns?? A name with a sense of humour would be good..


Epipheny ! "Who Cut The Cheese??'
Ron
PS; Another Angiogram on Wednesday.. Bugger.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I can't tighten the battens too much at this stage. The batten pockets are worn through in the front and I need to get some sail tape to fix it. The “low speed pass” was just for the camera.

Sailing in front of this hangar is actually quite interesting as the wind direction and wind speed varies due to the turbulence. You have to adjust to it the whole time so we are normally all over the place!

Cheers
Johann

Jayfang
You'll need more than Sail Tape for the Batten Pockets if they are worn at the Mast End.. Try stealing the Webbing Shoulder Straps from your luggage..
Another thing to make the course more interesting is to mark a Large Cross on the sailing surface and sail your figure 8 by running your front wheel along it's length.
Ron

I've got some of those! Thanks bazl.

Great stuff H^^^^^ keep spreading the virus, the world will be a better place

we just loooove seeing footage of LLM's sailing somewhere new!!!! thanks so much