need help with first build

OK not much progress despite lots of work.

I've cut and taped the sail, however the sewing part is doing my head in! I've aquired an old singer 287 sewing maching that i'm allowed to do what i want with. HOWEVER I am having trouble getting this (Insert swear word here) thing to sew properly. Apart from tension issues, i am contuing to break needles on thicker sectons. However i increase the needle size it skips stitches. Any ideas?

Also after much consideration, i've decided to cut the mast step off and weld on the piece of pipe i got from iand, so that the mast will sit inside the step, not outide like originally planned. The reasons are that i'm not convinced the mast won't break, also the variation in wall thckness's in masts mean that i will have to modify this if i have to change the mast. (I should know better not to mess with teh original design)

YES you seem to get it with the sail shape, the mast is the key thing to put the draft (or curve) in the sail and take it out to get better speed, the down haul also assists the flattening but it also moves where the draft forms in the curve of the sail, down haul brings it forward which give forward motion rather than tipping force.
There are several versions of down haul systems, the one I have used over the years is....

on the sewing side, the needle not punching through is telling you to have a think just how thick you want some areas.
i have broken dozens of needles on my machine and am coming to know what types of webbing ,monofilms etc not to sew.
try stepping back and trialing some test pieces of your sail cloths to see how many layers you can sew with what is effectively an unsuitable machine. , do you need great chunks of webbing in these light duty sails?
every time your machine stops with a clunk , your timing will slip slightly , till you need to reset it , so you will need to have somebody who knows how instruct you how to do it . I have had to retime my machine 3 times on one sail before
learning to do it gives you a much greater appreciation of what you are doing
for me , it has been one of the highlights of building my own stuff

on the sail recutting side, the last thing you want is a flat sail., you just want to recut the sail to make it flatter than one would normally use for windsurfing.
Aus 230 currently is being troubled by a 4m tushingham that is already too flat for a landyacht.
today i rigged a 3.8 recut from an old rushwind sail that is the fullest sail Ive ever had, and in a light wind it was a ripper, very stable and one of the best sails ive had for a while for keeping on 2 wheels, whilst still being fast.

I dont think you ever know that and if you ever think its fully built then that would be proof enough that it isnt

Our domestic Janome handled thin doublesided sellotape OK

Long time between posts, Finally got the sewing sorted, (sort of) All it took was some decent thread, (biggest break through), timing adjustment, and 4 new swear words, (only two starting with "F"). I now officially know too much about sewing machines, (pretty cool piece of engineering though!)

It's not pretty but not bad for a first attempt. (I managed to lick up a couple of additional sails recently which are probably better, so this is being treated as a learning exercise!) The only thing left is an eyelet at the base, and some battens. I thought I was onto something when I found them at Whitworths for about $7ea. However they are only 1200 long, I need 1500 for the longest.






I am looking a the extension required to get the height right, however can anyone tell me how much vertical movement I should expect on the boom?

Hi Iand,
Really? 400mm sounds a bit big. I was only going to mount the boom about 450-500mm up from the spine. Might be some misunderstanding here, I was just trying to work out how much tracel to expect.


Also I have just been out and about looking at battens. The fiberglass batten from Whitworths seems to be very flexible. THere was an earlier suggestion to look at the yellow toungue strip, and from a very agricultural test I don't think it is much softer than the fiberglass batten i was looking at. (the batten I was playing with was 25mm x 2mm.) I though i should then head over to the surf shop to check out what they use nowadays, and they are very stiff carbon fibre tube, (at about $80 each) I am starting to think about making some timber battens, do you think tassie oak would be suitable? It is readilly availiable and reasonably priced.

I think the battens are sorted. Thanks to Padi at SurfConnect at Sandgate. Found him advertising on this site and he hooked me up with about collection of battens for about $5 ea. Hardest part was finding matching battens and tearing the family away from the park with such great wether today, (finally).

thats what Im using on my 2 minis at the moment

Can anyone supply a photo of how you mount a rowlock to an oval section of wishbone boom please?

I am considering finding a piece of round timber the right size and drifting it into the tube forcing it round. (alternatively turning it on a lathe)

The alternative is to put two screws thru the tube into the plastic rowlock, seal with magic, and fill around the rowlock with epoxy, thru a small hole.


Also Paul, with the timber seat in the build sticky, did you actually fiberglass the entire timber seat, or just over the joins and use the polyester, (or something else) to seal the rest? I've started with a timber seat for this first build, and have used some recycled plywood packing timber, and it's pretty ordinary quality.

To be honest i'm not planning on straightining it at all. The curve on tube only just begins at the 1500ish mark on the booms I have. Which will almost puts the rowlock a the right angle without having to drill at a wierd angle.

I removed the ends from the tube, and used 2 piles of bricks to rest the tube on and gradually pushed/ bounced it until it was straight.

but it wasnt as easy as it sounds.

I had this Mini chassis and an old windsurf boom laying around so thought I would make up another yacht So am now looking to straighten another old windsurf boom for it Here is progress so far


I really need to stop this sort of thing
Here it is folded I have stayed with the ski axle theory for this second one


Happy with the result seems comfortable Yet to sail it
Am thinking about putting a removable seat back on it as well so children can use the foot steering Still to figure that part out

Well I like them One did break when the yacht was being sailed by someone else
so not exactly sure of the circumstances and that axle had binding holes right in the wrong place strength wise I thought the holes wouldnt matter obvously I was wrong Havent had any further breakages but I have spares !
They take a little longer to assemble the way I have done them Four bolts to do up versus two pins but I do like the springyness and as you say they are easy to come by Just cut them to avoid the binding holes seems to be the way
I use the front of the skis for mainsheet extensions at the back of the seat
I thought of using a ski for front suspension as well but rejected that as not worth it

On a couple of my sails I just made two plates one each side of the sail
A hole through for the shackle or whatever and riveted on with Pop rivets
Punch the nail head out of the middle as they will rust and rivet the back side down with a small ball pein hammer with the head side on something solid
The plates can be shaped from plastic or aluminium or SS
Worked for me and many yacht sails are done in a similar way Especially the head
On the rowlock issue I dont use them so thats an easy fix for me
Keeping to the original LLF Mini design is a good way to go ---well proven
I just cant help myself sometimes its a fault I have