Alright, so I've finally got to building the yacht- what with school and all, and the wonderful surprise of a deadline coming up soon, I got the materials and started to build the yacht. I did this with a friend of my father's who welds; it's not finished, and I still have a few things to solve.
What I have so far is the main frame, with supports, mast step, and basic front fork tube- but I don't have the front fork itself yet. The first attempt at making it was failed; I decided to cut a 90-degree angle out a side of the steel tube and bend it in, making a right angle that corresponded to the size of the fork, but then realized that I would have to drill a hole into an angle of the tube, and don't have a drill bit that big. Anyways, I drilled the hole for the axle too big, and will have to make it again. Still, I'm going to try to slide and attach this failed front fork onto the upper part of the steering shaft, so that I can stick a steering bar onto it.
The mast step is made of two pieces of round plumbing attached with a connector; if needed, I can attach another with the same kind of connector. However, the mast step tube is the exact same width as my mast (which I haven't shown; it came too short and I had to reorder it) so I'm going to have to sand it down a bit.
The sail is a 4.5 sqm Gaastra Manic. I don't have a wishbone or any kind of boom, but am considering trying to make one because when I slide the mast into the sail, the battens get caught on one side of the mast. i might just try and cut the battens shorter.
I hope my pictures explain all this better than my words; if any suggestions, warning advice or etc, please tell me!
Oh, and I forgot. the mast I have, or rather am waiting for to arrive, is a 460 cm 2 piece epoxy slalom mast.
Looking great, well done!
thanks! the sail does have a small pulley at the bottom, i'm guessing that's what it's for. Is there some thread about downhaul systems on Seabreeze that might help with this?
youngster..[thats translates to tadpole in aussie] your doing ok 
first time is always the hardest 
when you finish it and test you
like [all of us] will find out where you can improve it and you probably
will build a second one and cut up the first , so no see's it again.
by that time you will be hooked and a professional builder. so
best of luck....enjoy 
I think you may have unintentionally created a weak spot by cutting a hole in the spine to accept the mast step. We usually cut and shape the mast step base to fit over the spine and further reinforce it by adding a strap under the spine and partway up both sides of the step.
as the sail is a fairly small one that isnt too full it may well not recutting.
I would suggest trying to locate a suitable wishbone boom before deciding to cut the sail. if there are old sails in your part of the woods there will be booms
test pilot 1, thanks for the tip. I didn't cut the mast step as i've seen you guys tend to; since this was my first time working with/cutting/welding metal, we decided i'd just make some straight cuts in the spine. What is this reinforcing strip made of?
And I'd rather not recut the sail, as I don't know too much about sail cutting or windsurf sails in general. I'll probably get a wishbone or make some kind of boom.
Hi, thats a fantastic effort.
Your going to have a ball with that. Well done and stick with it you wont be disapointed building a mini.
The "mast strap details", are covered in this post half way down the page.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Construction/Aft-mast-guys-vs-LeFroy-mini-unstayed/?page=1
Chook
Welcome to the forum Youngster! You're doing a great job, I wish I started at your age! As Chook says, you're going to have a ball with that!!
As you'll see from Chook's Esperance Farm training centre and the Mad-hatten project team in Tas, we have quite a few young sailors on here who will be the champions of tomorrow. You're in fine company!
Well, I don't know how old you are youngster?? But if you haven't already found GIRLS then one day you will and they will put a Cat amongst the Pigeons for you.. Anyway if you do and they do then do not forget this Sport as it can be fun way into your dotage..
Make Hay While the Sun Shines and enjoy the Sport, you never know you may find a Chick that will enjoy it as much as you do..
Ron
hey youngster, i am in northenn ca , do u live close?
one suggestion... would your main tube be the proper dimension for the mast base,???
mine was.. suggest a trial fit and if you have any of that tube left , substitute it for the heavy plumbing pipe.hopefully the mast will slip right in.... also want to say great job otherwise..also for a boom, a cheap two sidded one could be made from 2 strips of wood possibly... good luck
harleyd, im in atl, so not too close but not too far i guess. yeah the main tube I used was pretty much the right size for the mast step, but i didn't have enough for a mast tube as well, just enough for the main bit.
lol nikrum ill take the advice, thanks. as for the boom harleyd im thinking of using aluminum tube, i already have some.
no thanks, i already have the hole cut in the main tube with the pipe welded in there
finished it! sorry havent been any posts lately. i painted it red, we had a few cans of rustoleum. ended up having to build a seat platform out of wood as otherwise the seat was too far back, and it was too flat. sailed it, it works, though i didnt get much speed up because the wind kept turning and dropping, it came in random gusts. still, great fun! now i get to finish up the 4000 word report
Hey Dude! You've done well and it looks good now get out there at every opportunity and sail sail sail..
Ron
Great job, fantastic to see it all put together
If you want to get a bit more performance out of it, then try shortening the headstrap a bit, it should have a metal buckle thing at the top of the sail to allow you to shorten it a bit more.
