I have the templates cut out and the side frame jig done. I cut out parts for a boat and made the side frames this week.
So far, it looks great
Would also love to see the jigs/fixtures You are going to use for the assembly(You may already have pictures.......)
Can I borrow Your shop for a year or two?[}:)]
I have no idea what to expect for weight. The nice thing about the mini is the lack of sail size restriction. If you are heavy or light the sail size can be suited to accommodate.
I am really looking forward to following progress on this mini, it is nice to see something a bit different.
Regarding the sail size / weight thing, might it make a difference that minis often seem to race on very short courses (I see that slalom has made an appearance in Ireland)? What is the importance of top end speed vs. acceleration out of turns?
Yes the light pilot has acceleration but the heavy pilot has momentum. If I was building a a mini for the desert I would not worry about weight. In fact I would make sure I had a few places to bolt on a lead brick or three.
I disagree as to the momentum advantage as when wind speed drops the heavier pilot/yacht slows down and the lighter pilot/yacht keeps on going. The greater weight increases friction on bearings and tyres and therefore slows you down more than a lesser weight. This I know from experience(115kg) plus yacht!
If the desert was of soft sand, lighter means yacht does not sink so far and has less rolling resistance which has to be overcome before you can start using apparent wind. This I learnt on the beach at Rada Tilly Argentina racing Promo Class Worlds a couple years ago
I reckon this boat will weigh well over 100 lbs all up when done. For our dry lake beds it will be fine. On the beach not as much. Lead and small sails are your friend when it starts to blow over 20 mph. I plan on packing lead in this boat for those conditions. I got a lot accomplished on the mini this weekend. I had some help from Dave Farmer and my nephew Will. These little boats are so much fun to build. My sister in law came in and asked if we were building a bobsled.
TP1, Us light guys also slow down just as fast if we sail into soft sand. Probably not much chance of that at Smith Creek which is I assume is where US772 is designing this yacht for.
Compare the AC45 cats to the mono-hull AC boats. The cat is built super light but has leverage on the sail by way of its width. Similar to US772's Wingnut boat. The mono-hull boats have stuff all width for leverage so they have to hang a ton of weight under it to hold it upright. The mini landyacht is similar to the mono-hull. Your leverage is barely half a metre on the rig so your only option is to use weight.
By the way I hear the guy that won the Fisly C5 at Rada Tilly was a 100+kg bloke on a heavy Yorker OTT and the super light weight French yachts got hammered in the gusts. How do you figure that?
I guess TP1 we will have to agree to disagree.
The only weight(ballast) you really 'need' is body weight as you can move it around to your advantage and static weights are a disadvantage as they impede you from changing weight balance from front to rear as required for cornering etc.
Yes the French yachts were lighter which is why they filled them with sand at the start of a race and slowly emptied them as they gained speed. The yachts were designed with spaces at each side for the sand and large holes in the base through which they could be emptied
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A way of countering the need for weight leverage is the swing arm I am making which allows the sail to be set off to leeward transfering the push sideways more forward.
It can also be set more windward allowing you to point closer upwind
Based off what we have experienced in the bigger boats a light weight boat doesn't seem to be any advantage on the drylake beds we sail unless its blowing below 12 or so.
Light = good acceleration off the line and to repower in a tack.
Heavier = better righting moment, traction, momentum. For me personally I will push a boat harder if I feel safer in it. My hope is the extra weigh will be off set by a higher top end due to better aerodynamics. I'm not sure how the mini will be run as far as course length at Smith Creek. The longer the course and race time the more the aero will play into it
Momentum will only come into play if the wind suddenly stops. If the wind speed drops then the lighter units will have the advantage
I can't believe no one commented on the pics of the new rig
. LOVE IT !!
Keep posting as you progress, please
Any info on the metal bits yet?
The boat looks great! love it. You may get a shock how tippy these minis are especially at low speed. At high speed it's a bit like riding a bike. If you time it right at the rolling starts you will have no problem getting to the top mark first. I imagine the US will make the most of the desert space and set a relatively big coarse compared to our beaches where we sometimes have to do a complete U turn within a 30 metre width at 80k or end up in the ocean. Unheard of in the desert.
I'm making the boat primarily for Smith Creek and for an iceboat. We usually do timed races. 15 minutes is about the shortest race they ever run. With the manta singles that they race here (comparable to a mini) they go to a closer mark than the bigger boats. I don't see anything less than 1 mile apart on a windward leeward race. I think the race committee would have an easier time counting sail numbers with longer lap times than short lap times.
I've had more than one person say hey that thing looks like a bob sled. Funny how your boat gets named for you sometimes by others.
