It's been a while, so thanks Lachlan.
Well, with a bit of timetable shuffling I'm back.
As I only work with year 10 students mainly, Adam my manager has sorted it so I can fit some time in to get these yachts moving again.
These "land yacht" students have of course moved on to year 11 and are now doing Cert 2 in Agriculture.
Treva and Brok have moved onto automotive streams this year and we wish them every success.
We welcome Josh on board.
Big Mick, did some extra work on his yacht. It's been cranking up the kilometres on Pink Lake here in Esperance with every good wind.
He has been sailing now for most of the summer school holidays. He loves the comfort of the fibreglass seat while sailing and was sprung by his Dad taking a nap in it, in his shed at home.
I must remember to get a photo of it sailing.
It was mainly welding today which tends to equate to lots of grinding afterwards.
Because some time has elapsed there was lots of rust removal as well with the wire wheel on the 125mm grinder.
Molly and Wade got the mast straps fitted to their chassis.
So stay tuned!!!!
Construction is on hold at the moment as these guys are out on work place learning.
We will be back into it next term for certain.
I've timetabled workshop with these students ready for more build time to keep them rocking and rolling.
I am winging my way to sunny Yeppoon QLD, for 18 days kite buggying, from Wednesday onwards. I can't wait.
Just 4 more sleeps
I am sure they would be really enthused doing a pulse jet project.
Would you dare
Hehehe or combine the two:- a pulse jet as alternative to power the yachts[}:)][}:)]
Come October at Lefroy your on Wayne, I'll bring it up.
I need someone to hold a sparkler for the ignition!!!
Your the man.[}:)]
No Stephen I'm over replacing valve plates, after each engine run. 
I'm impressed with the valveless ease of construction and more noise is better, eh??
Having said that, it would be much quicker to construct a LLmini, than build another jet.......................Also I would be singing like an alto, if the wife got wind of another pulse jet project.
Short answer............. sorry mate.
Singing like an alto? Ya dont use them anyway ......Do you? cos your'e married[}:)]
Not a lot of difference to show for our workshop session today, so no photos.
We got 3 front ends fitted, the RHS for the sliding adjustable steering column drilled and finally the pedal bars attached to these.
Two (now completed chassis) have been painted with cold galv and are now ready to fit the fiberglass seats.
Slowly wearing it down and thanks to the stirling efforts of "sn" we have enough masts, sails and booms, to get them all up and running.
Ta Stephen, we all appreciate the extra lengths you have gone to in gathering and packaging gear ready to transport it to Esperance. (For collection at odd hours and short notice too.)
Without you this project could not be completed.
Take a huge bow mate.
Also the windsurfing guys that have donated sails and masts, Thank you.
We are narrowing it down and will keep you posted as we plod along.
Another successful session today.
Lots of fiddly bits now that most of the steel work has been completed.
Started fitting the seats to the chassis, mounting hand brakes, steering bushes, axles fitted and getting the rust off the 20mm shafting to fit the wheels and steering shafts.
There is plenty of excitement in the camp now that they can finally roll around in them.
Best they not sail tomorrow, as the College looks like being shut due to the gale force winds that are forecast for the area.
The seats are being mounted and then will be removed for cleaning up and paint.
Very hard to slow the students down to make sure they do an accurate job.
It took a while to punch out the rubber seat mounting washers (64 of them from 3mm insertion rubber) and the nylon friction washers cut from rural poly pipe for the hand brake levers.
Progress so far.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel now and its full steam ahead.
You reckon we are all loving this? You betcha!!!!
awww jeez!
Looking at the last pic. I think I better give the windsurfing crew a prod with a stick again, and get them out on the water during this storm!
There has not been a sail or mast at Balcatta for ages.
we need the windsurfing crew out on the water breaking stuff a bit more often!
stephen
and the forecast wind
and the forecast wind
Yeh you did Stephen.
I know exactly where it is, complete with its blue mast.
I'll smuggle it into my school bag in the morning if it's not raining, along with the boom off little "Pannikin"[}:)]
7.50pm
Gee Landyacht we overlapped posts there.
Pink Lake is too wet till the end of November if the winter rainfall doesn't go overboard. Even then it won't tolerate much of a shower as it's topped with gypsum.
Next March is our biannual "Festival of the wind" Yeh that's right the crazy show that got me into this fantastic sport.
Congratulations, today i saw young people working in the project with wincard.
I'm surprised.
Congratulation again!!!!!!!!!
A bit of water has gone under the bridge since the last instalment.
It was good to get back to these. I filled in for an absent staff member today, so we got some quality time on the yachts again.
It's a tough gig, I know!!!! Here I'm holding the last 2 seats to be fitted
We got the aluminium internal mast strengtheners made up (with the "fingers" cut into the top) for the bases of all the masts. Molly was practicing her self-defence with them, while Stephen attaches the rear block to his seat.
All the booms are ready to fit/tie the 2 rear blocks to and they are completed. (except one).
Wade tries the seat for comfort with the mast strengtherer in place.
We have 2 more seats to bolt on. (They have been fitted and removed to do the final sanding).
We still need to fit the seatbelts and then it's onto the sails I've been stitching up.
The pressure is on to have them ready to display at our local Ag show in the middle of October.
WTF?? Are you producing for the Esperance Market?? Your intent to have every one transported by Wind Power??
How was the POMY Land trip Chook??
Ron
Well we have been busy getting ready to display sheep and cattle at the Perth Royal Show.
So I did a bit extra on the yachts on Tuesday and finally got them rigged for a team photo.
It was the last day for our year 12 students this year.
So without further to-do here you go the finished articles.
There is one missing as it's on a trailer ready for Lake Lefroy this weekend. Grand total is 8.
No there is only 2 that have been sailed as we have been flat out and there would be a riot if only some got a go.
We now can't wait for the lake to dry here.
Thankyou everyone for your support along the way.
Particularly Stephen "sn" and Paul "Landyacht and also the windsurfing guys, who helped us out with gear along the way.
It was all very much appreciated.
Great job Chook, you should be very proud of yourself and your guys.I think you should now load them all on a trailer and get it to Lefroy. See you on the weekend.
Cheers
Vic
Cracking effort from everyone, and a big pat on the back for yourself for giving the guys (and gal) something worth doing and different to do. Must be a lot of karma points for that lot
Cheers Col
Well done Chook and your great pit crew , superb work. I so looked forward to seeing the updates on these builds .
Now that this episode is over I will eagerly await the next !
Oh, do get some video / photos for us to see of the team sailing the new builds.
Congrats all.
Alan
You all did well...you mob and you team photo says.....
"You look as full of knowledge as a 40 hectare colledge "
Gee, we were hoping to have a day out at our local lake this coming week and get the yachts cranking.
I's the last week, (chance we will get at school) as we then go off, on an adventure camp for the week after this.
We had another thunderstorm last night and another 19mm of rain fell.
This will keep the lake topped up for a good while now.
You have my commiserations Chook, we had 26mm dumped on us last night added to what we saw being dumped on Lefroy Thusday night, I think we will be swimming for a while
Well the lake is now dry enough so we are into it.
Big Mick and his Dad "Scotty" joined us today and we got some kilometers in with fantastic 18 knt S/Westerly winds. Temp only 22 degrees. (Lovin this cool change after 46c last Tuesday).
My #1 son had his first sail ever and we couldn't get him out of it for 3,1/2 hours. He got to 52.8 kmh and did 37.2kms.
We did see the underside 3 times.[}:)]
Good times.
