QLD Lefroy Mini

Fibreglass on, think I might go some double bias and abit of flow coat

First cut and join.

Getting close

Im presuming you is a"DUDE" so here goes,
DUDE get yo dirtboat finished DUDE an get out to the beach DUDE an show them blokart DUDES what a real dirtboat sails like DUDE.
En Anglais, hw about finishing it real fastand doing some trials against a blokart please
Ps looking great

Ian, I think some of the Blokarters just need to have their other eye opened for them. Do you prefer "dude" or "bloke"?

Cheers Cisco

Well Ian, in a very nice way I am saying your yacht is looking fantastic and will give any blokart a real good run for the money.

What is it's weight so far and how or where do you apply the brake from? (pic?)

Something to think of is having some way of restraining your feet and legs to keep them on board when you get hooting. If your foot bounces off the steering bar at 60-70kmh you could end up with it wrapped around the back of you neck. Ouch.
If you look closely at the photos I posted of the blokart you will see the leg restraining straps each side from the mast step to the side frame. Very good idea and very handy as I often brace my legs against them to stop them bouncing around.

While on the subject of safety, PLEEEASE do not even think of going riding without a seat or body restraining belt. You are not likely to run into a brick wall on the beach so it is not to protect you from that.

It's main purpose is to keep you on board when (not if) you slap the yacht over sideways. When that happens it does so very quickly and suddenly. Early in the piece I rode my blokart without the seat belt on and that happened. I was lucky that I only had to have my arm in a sling for a week to allow my injured shoulder to heal.

When sailing my blokart I position myself forward and low down. The lower C of G is a secondary benefit. The main benefits are that it makes the seat belt a body belt as it then fastens over my lower chest where most of my body mass is, between my fat gut and fat head. It also allows me to have my knees bent. If your legs are straight and knees unsupported, the bumps received travelling at speed in a kart without suspension put a lot of strain on your knees.

As a suggestion, for a static test on your land yacht prior to any sailing, do the following. Fully rig the yacht in your back yard, mount up and strap yourself in. Have somebody else pull the yacht over sideways by the mast till the point of balance is reached and hold it there while you get a feel for that position and the person measures the mast angle above the horizontal with a protractor level.

As a point of reference for you the blokart P of B mast angle above the horizontal is 30 degrees. If your angle is less, good, as it suggests that your yacht would be more stable (or stiffer in sailing terms) than a blokart, the opposite being converse.

When this measurement has been taken, have the person holding the mast let it go so that the yacht falls back onto it's wheels. See how you and the yacht feel about that as you will sometimes experience similar when sailing.

Next, have the yacht pulled over to P of B again and released to fall sideways. If the mast breaks, you needed a stronger mast anyway.

Your first instinct or urge will be to put your arm out to break your fall. If you do that when sailing at speed the only thing you will break will be part of your body. You need to overcome that urge and never put your arm out.

When you are in this position there a few things to look at. Firstly, are you going to crack or break a rib against your side struts or injure your hip on them?? Many blokarters add cushioning to their side struts by way of pool spaghetti floats or refrigeration line insulating foam.

If there is no issue with that and your body belt is well placed, you will notice that you are suspended somewhat uncomfortably, but none the less safely in something like a roll cage. So having slapped the yacht down sideways, avoided injury by keeping arms and legs inside the yacht and decelerated the yacht from 75kmh to 0kmh in about 1.5m, you then need to think about how quickly you can disentangle yourself unaided (as you are now 10klm up the beach), get the thing onto it's feet, pointed into the wind and back into the speed thing again.

The key point here is, how easy or hard is it to release your body belt buckle. Slackening it won't do you much good as it will still be holding most of your weight. The complete blokart seat/body belt arrangement is really good and may be your quickest and easiest option, however whichever way you go you need an easy release buckle.

The last two things to look at while tipped over are the ground contact points of your mast, as this is where you will tear holes in your mast sock on rough surfaces, and your foot steering bar. With your steering configuration I suspect you are going to have problems in that area when (not if) you tip the yacht over.

Hopefully I am not appearing like a smarty pants or know it all here. As your yacht is so similar in size and configuration to a blokart I felt you may benefit from my experiences.

Yeppoon is looking good for this weekend and I'll call in to see Kody. His chassis should be just about completed by now if he has taken a break from feeding the local fishes ("I resemble that!!" says Kody).

Via con Dios Amigos, till we meet again. Cisco.

Great post there amigo. The pedals on my minis are only about 300mm wide . thiskeeps the feet centred and prevents you from doing BIG steering changes when tiny ones will do.
SEATBELT ...... TRIPLE DITTO from me.you have built very low side restraints on your beautiful seat. ( i sspect you will add higher ones for comfort and the nice snug feeling they give) Blowies dontget that safe feeling of having a tight seat and have to compensate by doing a sphincter grip instead.
. dont get scared by all our post , you doing a great job

Hi Ian, like Paul says, the steering pedals on his minis are only 300mm wide.
On the blokart the foot extension bar for taller pilots is only about that width too. Mine gets a good flogging when I tip the yacht over because it digs into the ground. I am sure you will end up fitting a shorter steering bar and maybe some sort of front roll bar to protect your steering set up and feet.

A four point body harness might be overkill. It is important to have a quick release buckle especially if you are sailing near deeper water (eg Bribie Island) because if you overshoot you may need to get out of the yacht in a hurry if you haven't been eating your "Gilly Weed" (apologies to J.K. Rowling).

Personally I would find my best seating position first and then have a single seat belt snugly fitting over my lower chest area. Then build up the seat side restraints as required to keep my bum in the yacht.

The pedal plates Paul has welded to his steering bar on the minis look effective for keeping your feet in place. For extra security you could add stirrup straps to go over each foot.

I don't want to add any more unless you ask for it as you have done a damn fine job so far and are obviously clever enough to figure it out for yourself.

My only other suggestion is that you sail it on beaches only until you have ironed out the bugs and you have learned the yacht. If you put it on bitumen or concrete it will take off on you and when (not if) you come a cropper, blood will flow.

I am due for a trip to Brisbane in the not too distant future with blokart on board so we will definitely get together for a sail then. I'll ask around and find out where the southside hot spots are.

Adios Amigos, Cisco.

Yeah that's why I like 'em. I can't imagine Dunlop Volleys slipping off them too easily.

WHERE"S WALLY First test drive - not a lot of wind at my private test ground [}:)] but enough to get a taste. (son wants to build one)

"Private test site" [}:)] is smooth concrete (top of water reservoir, about 1km from home and all downhill coming back ) more than welcome to come join in. Due to light winds and swirl it was hard to tell how it went but did manage to lift a wheel once. seemed to accelerate well, re-cut sail shaped reasonably, didn't have enough tyre pressure. For over 12knots probably too much sail area and at this stage slight wheel alignment touch ups needed (was already aware of this) will try to get some photos whilst sailed in anger . final clean-up and paint job will occur over the coming weeks (low wind days )

Ian

OOOOOh you hussy ,just show us your landyacht

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Jay, does the new yacht conform to any class and I'll have to find out where to sail on the north side.

Same old yacht but new seat design ,modified a mould for a seat out of a drag car ,laid if back a heap ,don't think i'm going to need seat belts the seats a full wrap around job you don't slid anywhere it. got a new set of tyres (bit wider and balder better for the beach) and gave it a tidy up new bearings couple of new ropes ect.Ne seabreezes have just started up again so in the next month or two when the tides are right should get a run down at Brighton .still working on the trailor as well.....

When I get the yacht back together i'll post some pics and take some measurements and add it to the register.


Jay

Dan deciding to build a landyacht

Good advice Dan and i came to the same conclusion need to cut about 300mm off the leech foot. This will also reduce the boom angle and hopefully stop it from twisting off as much. This sail has been a good learning curve but has limited possibilities. Will concentrate efforts towards the 3.5m.