Hi Tassie,
I saw the News Article on Sunday, tis a pity to be beaten in such a manner after all the effort you lads put in. But as a Very Dear Lad from our History was once reputed to have said "Such is Life".
I just had a thought about your double inline Land Yacht.. From the pic'.. Send the boys out to round up the neighborhood Dogs 
you may build a Fine Itidarod Team [}:)]
Ron
PS; Better Luck next time.
Thanks for that cisco 
We had some people interested in our 2-person landyacht on race day.
They seemed really confused 
for what it was, so we explained it to them.
I think when we explained it to them they still was a bit confused...oh well
We are going to shorten the front end by about a meter. We have considered running the steering head arrangement through the fore mast step as part of the set up. This is so we can get the fore mast as far forward as possible. An added "benefit" of this arrangement will be that it will allow us to position a second detachable hand steering mechanism for front seat operation. The rear steering mechanism can remain to be used in tandem...or removed.
We've included a diagram.....some feedback on the proposal would be appreciated.
like it. Have a close look at a blokart set up for the front hand steering ,as it would be well applicable to what you are doing. perhaps contact Blokart before just copying it though
otherwise I would suggest go for it
Hi
We are planning to compete in the RACV Energy Breakthrough with the HPV's in Maryborough in Vic. in November. It also has a catagory for "Innovations in Technology....Crafty Design"...aka Madhatten Project. It straps to the outside of trailer...so we intend to take it along as well as the HPV's.
What we would REALLY like to do is find somewhere to go for a sail!..Does anybody know of any places between Melbourne and Maryborogh that would be suitable for land yachting in late Nov.?
We intend to camp....so somewhere with basic camping facilities would be an added bonus.
If any land yacht lurkers out there are also going to Maryborough it would be really good to catch up.
all hills and trees round there fellas, lived there for 4 years and only ever sailed on the dunolly oval. this is a job for lachy
Bummer
Just had a look on G. Earth....the Maryborough trotting track looked flat(ish)...rest of the area looks a bit sad for sailing.
Guess we could make up a cardboard nag and try to get away with that.
Scanning around found a lake called Lake Beeac......national park wetland (hummmm
) Seemed to be dry and salty in the pic......bet it's full of water now though. I guess you are not allowed on it anway.
Hey Nic, guy's, check this out!!!!!!!
It was on a kite forum I haunt.
Human powered helicopter.
Tomorrow (Weds 5/11/11), University of Maryland will attempt to set a record for human powered helicopter flight. If they can sustain a 60 sec hover at a min altitude of 3 meters, up for grabs is the Sikorsky Challenge prize of $250,000. Also notable is the aircraft will be powered by a female pilot. I suspect she will be a competitive cyclist (most likely a track racer given the high intensity, short interval required).
A promo video is shown below. Amazing how huge this structure is yet only weighs about 200 lbs (including pilot!). Current record is just under 20 secs set by a Japanese team back in 1994. If UMD wins this challenge, it will be an amazing feat of engineering and athleticism. Should be exciting and good luck to them!
Hey Danny
That is absolutly stunning! You know how hard it is to fly a chopper....let alone get it airbourne with pedal power.
About 20 years ago a pedal powered aeroplane was built and flown by a college in NW Tassie. Their pilot was also a young and extremely fit female. Must be something about power to weight ratios.....and determination.
My brother got into flying Benson gyrocopters, firstly being towed behind a car on Bakers beach then with a VW engine.......He started building one of his own but gave up after crashing inverted into a dune on his friend's machine...totalled it
I'm still using bits of it to build HPV's and land yachts.
We then got into hang gliding...Watch out for an episode of "The Collectors" soon to be aired on ABC. I have given my old Albatross to a friend who has heaps of gliders.......his favorite being the Albatross.....It's set up in the studio as a backdrop to the interview.
Those were the days.....we taught ourselves to fly.....now its all controlled and you have to be licensed......BUMMER
Don't know how we survived our youth!!!!
How we survived our youth??? Bugger off, I'm still livin' it!!!!
I have about 10 hours stick time on a 2 seat Benson gryo glider (behind a HQ holden ute with a 200kg bale of wool in the back to hold it down). Robbie, my mate, finally totalled it whilst tethered to a fence strainer post, on a gale force day. It tipped over while landing. Only his ego hurt but he didn't have enough money to rebuild it in the 1980's. It's probably the reason I'm still here.
I will watch out for the Collectors. I love all the weird gear that turns up on the show.
I love kites and I'm keen to give paragliding a go. We have fantastic coastal slopes here. There is a paragliding school, in Albany 500kms to our west.
Hope you are getting more wind than us, as the last 2 weeks has been calm here.
Keep those students building Nic.
I'm with you on that guys,
i have managed to push up Cow turds with my face[}:)][}:)].
Worse was the Attempt to do a nose dive off Temata Peak in NZ 1,900' above the plains below and 2,000' above sea level. Like you I managed to survive that and I ain't stopping to grow up for no one.
The expression is "Ain't never growed up and don't never intend too"
Ron
Hey guys!!!
I've got a good story of survival to relate.....perhaps we should start a thread on seat of your pants flying
We had a paddock at the farm at Central Castra which was gently undulating for about 500 meters. This was our main "training" spot....facing north and if conditions were good, "blessed" with a slight sea breeze..(there's the link!)
It was one of our hay paddocks and this had been harvested in December....by late Janurary it was dry and the stubble was about 5 or 6 inches off the ground.
Remember "stubbie" shorts?...all the rage in the 70's. You know Warrick Capper, we all wanted to look like him. These were my main bit of protective equipment.....didn't wear helmets....something to do with not being able to gauge the strength and direction of the wind and our airspeed/ stall indicator aka a bit of wool tied to the front stay was deemed unreliable, so we had to be able to hear the wind speed.
It was hot....21 degrees is hot for the NW of Tassie. I did a pre flight final, made sure the bits of fencing wire holding the A frame were not too bent following my brother's "landing" in a rock pile and lined the Albatross up and ran like buggery into the 10 knot breeze.
As I took off the breeze died to a couple of knts. so I only gained about 5 meters of altitude...which seemed kinda fun anyway..so I started skimming the ground following the contours of the hill. This was going so well that I decided to poke my legs forward and with them sticking out in front was having a great time. TILL THE BREEZE DIED ALL TOGETHER. Not enough airspeed to fly, legs forward, could not get them back to run,(would have snapped them off..I thought)......started skimming the stubble....just airbourne, just skimming on my bum for about 300 meters with the top of every undulation being a little more than just a skim.
My protective gear AKA stubbie shorts,not being designed with stubble in mind, were forced up my bum crack. My landing gear....my bum cheeks were able to take the full force of the skimming. This allowed the Albatross to land with no damage. I sustained two neatly symmetrical red raw cheeks and was unable to sit down for a month. Was the butt of jokes for ages after that.
I seemed to remember I had a pair of blunnies on as well......back in the days when they were made in Ozland and I would own some
I know I'm still 17...and I'm going to stay that way for ever
I'm excited, so are Campania High School for the kind donation of the 6.0 sails donated by Kazza..... thank you so much
These sails will be really good for the MAD-HATTEN Project. Since these are big sails, I think , they will be used at the rear side of the landyacht because it will be more effective than having a small sail! The foot of the sail is lower but that shouldn't present a problem as we can raise the mast..... if that doesn't work, Tassiefubar will be on his Mum's old Bernia sewing machine
With so many different size and shape sails and masts and booms, there are sooo many different combinations to experiment with.... which will be loads of fun of will be very interesting to see what work best!
All we need now for the MAD-HATTEN PROJECT is seatbeats to be put on, which I have got at home and a few blocks and pulleys which we are still scouting for. Once these are on, a test ride is all it needs . If I'm to go on it, I'm only going on the rear seat as i don't like the idea of not being in control! [}:)] [}:)] [}:)]
Thanks again Kazza for supporting the school
Hm! Control Freak at such a young age!!
Izac, have a quiet word with the fubs about sail area, I don't know how large an area you should have on that beast But just 'cos it is twice as long don't mean you need twice as much sail. it only has three wheels none the less and two 6mtr sails is 12 mtrs of the stuff, plenty to be able to name the LY the Horizontal Machine or the Inside Out Devil. 12Mtrs should be just about right to turn it inside out along with the Crew. I'd also have a chat with Landyacht on that subject.
Ron
Yeah your probably about the sail area Nikrum. Since the "Horizontal Machine" has got two sails on the one landyacht, it doesn't mean we need 2 big (6 mtrs) sails on it. But the crew and myself have decided of mounting a 6 mtre sail at the rear end and a small sail, prob 3.5 - 4.5 mtr at the front. The sail area we will have all up is around 9.5mtrs to 10.5mtrs. Having it this way will increase the movement, far more than having a small sail at the rear and a big sail at the front..... this is our theory anyway and it will be interesting to see what works!
Having two sails, we do not expect to reach faster speeds than a normal 1-person landyacht, but we are hoping that there are other advantages of having two sails..... we just need to test ride the "Horizontal Machine" to see what they are.
OK! Izac,
it is great to see you younguns use a bit of sense to and figure things for yourself. Go ahead and do it but I stress that you may be over doing the area a TAD. That is my opinion and so long as no one gets done an injury it is all good. Learning for oneself is a great and memorable way to learn. No complaints now Blame laid just pure lessons. From an Old Fart that is what life is about learning even at my age. Nothing is bad jst lessons, from Downsides there are always Upsides. Be positive and always see the upside.
Ron
Too true Nikrum.
There will surly be some faults with our Horizontal Machine which is good as we and will know what to do next time and we will learn from our mistakes
I do have a question though..... is it possible to cut a mast into 2 pieces then to be able to mend it back into one
The reason is that i've got a one piece mast (3.5 meters) up in Perth, WA from my last visit up there and I couldn't bring it with me because of the baggage limit (nothing longer than 2.8meters i think) If I could get my uncle up in Perth to cut it into two pieces, then he could send it over as plane baggage with is far cheaper than bringing it over by post. So is that possible
Well Izac, the short answer is that very little is impossible.. However successful rejoining could be a problem. I think you could probably Sleeve it and keep it as a two piece mast. The insert sleeve would be Ali' using the right materials should be very good. I suggest you have a quick Q and A with Paul or Chook to get the correct info..
Ron
PS: Make sure that the cut is nice and square.
yep- it can be done, the joiner can be made of timber and fixed into the lower half, and tapered so its a snug fit into the top half.
I think the fellas have found it to be a good idea to wrap a couple of turns of fiberglass tape around the mast near the joins to reinforce them as it is a weak point that has been known to split from the strain.
I cant remember off hand how long the timber joiner is- Paul (landyacht) posted a thread a while back showing how he made a 2 or 3 piece mast this way.
this is also a good way of making a new mast from a few snapped masts too.
Ideally the cut should be exactly 90 deg OR at approx 45 deg.
Camera tracks (as used in video productions) are cut at 45 deg so they interlock and position nicely together with no bumps. [the idea would work well for a mast]
Hi guys
Ron, you have suggested using alloy to join the masts. I guess this would have to be some sort of high tensile....if there is such a thing? Don't know much about alloy, except to say that there is a place called Capral in Hobart who specialise in the stuff. What should we ask for?
One of our masts is made up of bits we got from tip shops. The bottom half is a mast section from a Laser and the top is a spinnaker pole jammed into the Laser section......We cannot get them apart anymore and they have taken on a significant amount of pre-bend. Thought they would only last for a couple of sails.......but they just keep on keeping on.......have crashed heaps. I think they may even almost outlast the fiberglass ones. The Laser section appears to be a higher grade alloy than the spinnaker section.....guess this is possible.
Cheers Nick
Hi fellas- if you go to page 8 of the construction section, there is a thread about "Bill Finches 3 piece mast"
same principal works for a 2 piece mast.
you can cut a regular fiberglass mast down- or use the remains of some old snapped masts to make an easily transported model.
just remember to reinforce the joins with a bit of fiberglass!
I'm all ears, as I would like to alter some to knock down masts as well!!!!!
I looked at Pauls info but have not tried it yet.
I've started building an offset centre for the tail stock on my lathe (to turn tapers) but other jobs have overtaken it.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Construction/Build-a-Landyacht-Lake-Lefroy-Mini-Yacht/?page=2
down the bottom of the page.
The 45 degree cut is interesting, I would have thought it would load the opening and cause it to tear. Or does it just locate the 2 pieces as you say and smooth the seam, with the joiner load further up inside the mast pieces?
Tassiefubar,
If you have some odds and sodds of Carbon Fiber etc they should be good as Sleeving material, look at a purchased mast. They use woven cloth CF to make their Sleeves.. From my experience I would suggest that a length of CF would be just fine.. Ali.. T6 would do the trick as well.. Young Izac in his wisdom sggested that you guys are willing to make mistakes and learn.. Way to go Izac.. That is the best way to fix a lesson.. Have a go and "Use the Force Izac, Use the Force"
Ron
Hey
Thanks guys ...looks like "The force is with us!"
Got some mast section....from tipshop....has been run over and squashed. Might try rolling/squashing it a bit more and use it as a sleeve????
Cheers Nick
converting to a 2 or ever better a 3 piece mast is easy, dont even need a lathe, I did the last lot with a handplane and rasp.
have a read of the end of page 2 on "build a landyacht-lake lefroy mini"
in the construction section of the landyacht forums
on an amazing website called "seabreeze'
Tassiefubar,
If you want some good advice, throw that crushed CF to Buggery and Gone.. It is dangerous stuff to handle and just as dangerous to breath the ground fibers.. Don't teach the kids to play with ** like that.. The splinters are fine and go under the skin really easy.. When Sanding or cutting the stuff always wear a mask and preferably do the work out in the open so the breeze can carry the dust away from you.... If worst comes to worst you have a Wood Shop at School, no doubt.. Turn up some solid Oregon Pine Dowl to suit the job and as said before wrap a couple of turns of Glass Tape about the ends and Resin them.. Take a close look at modern fishing rods, especially Fly Rods, They are only Wraped with cotton and resin-ed and when a Big Fish loads them up that joint doesn't break..
You could bind the ends with 100lb Braided Nylon and it would work just as well.. But don't Teach the KidZ to play with busted CF.. Not No How!
Ron
