I've been pacing around this sail as i'm sure everyone has, and this is what I think.
By cutting off the trailing edge and sewing it onto the foot, I can keep the re-inforced outhaul point. Also by overlapping the joint i can create a batten pocket.
Add a few new batten pockets and "Robert's your Mothers Brother"
This will allow me to keep the sail size close to the original, (about 4.7ish)
It will however need an extension to the mast of about 500mm. I figure this would be best done at the top so i can keep the base sstrong as possible.
Would this work or am I insane?
You have been reading and understanding our trials and tribulatios well young one
Well you have certainly done well with figuring that out
Just a suggestion from me for what it is worth
I would not use the overlap section as a batten pocket and instead
fit a seperate batten pocket parrallel to the one above it
as I think it would work better for sail shape
4.7 sq M should be great as your general use sail
I've tried to learn over the years not to re-invent the wheel where unnecessary.
I take your point Hiko, keeping the battens parallel to the foot makes more sense.
This sail only has batten pockets at the roach, I figure since i'm sewing i may as well add more. Quick question though, what is the scavengers batten material of choice?
Also what would a good sail size collection consist of, that is what size for what conditions?
The cheapest way I have found to get battens is when someone is selling old windsurfer sails at auction some times the sail, bag and battens etc can be picked up for a song
Regarding sailsize it largely depends on your weight and wind strength
4.5 SQM is a good alround size sail for me at 94kg on the mini on the beach
I have found 5sqm good on light days
Yet to sail in real heavy wind when smaller would be better say between 3 and 4SqM
On the subject of batten materal Landyacht and once made them from a fibreglass ladder he found at, ,,,,,, yes you guessed it ,,, the rubbish tip.
We cut the stiles into strips around 15 - 20 mm wide and glued them together in pairs. Then shaped them.
Hey they worked!
There was a thread on seabreeze recently on battens.... here is a link
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Construction/battern-material/
If you go to your local hardware store (probably not Bunnings but they might have it) that carries some cabinet making gear you may find that they have the plastic strips that are used as joiner strips for groove edged flooring or melomine sheeting used in cupboards etc.
The plastic strips come in about 2 or 3 metre lengths, are about 3 or 4 mm thick and are in different widths. It is as cheap as chips and will be a lot easier to work than fibreglass. I am sure it would be stiff enough when contained in a batten pocket of a land yacht sail.
After all "landyacht " has been making sails out of fertiliser bags and they work good.
Cisco, Are you referring to the same plastic that is in the yellow, (or red, or blue) tounge flooring. It is about 10-12mm wide. It woud be great if it is, i know where i can score some of that.
I read in the post be Gizmo, (in the link posted by gizmo!) that it might not be stiff enough. Has anyone tried it?
Yes that will be the stuff. I haven't tried it myself but to me it looks like it will do the job.
It is cheap enough to be worth trying. If it does not work well enough, there is no great loss.
I could be wrong here but it seems to me that as land yacht sails have less induced shape than sails for yachts or windsurfers, the main purpose of battens in land yacht sails is to reduce flutter in the sail.
My blokart sail has seen a fair bit of use and started fluttering on the leech (trailing edge) when sailing fast and hard on the wind. I added short intermediate battens which are attached using PSP Spinnaker Repair Tape (see www.admiralpsp.co.uk ) that I picked up from the marina chandlery shop.
Try Bamboo, narrow at the top , wider at the bottom natural taper , flexible and strong. Bends excatly where it should - near to the mast. Have seen it used and its amazing !
Alan
One billion Chinese 5000 years of building Junks with bamboo battens
How can you go wrong??
Hey iand, I just saw photo of the bent steering shaft and it's got me a little worried. However I was looking at the photo of your bmx setup and I am trying to work out how you have the extension bar attached?
I might need to arrange a catch up some time to have a close up look. Are you going out for a sail soon, (assuming the weather becomes more comfortabe!)?
Went out saturday had a top time apart from dodging stingray holes and in the afternoon actioncheese came over to have a look at the mini's. Just give me a phone call if you want to have a look.(spent sunday recovering and was able to blame father's day for being lazy) Probably take one of the boats out next sunday
Ian
Not much progress on weekend, but still I feel the uge to share!
Because i have the mast on the outside of the step, I Welded on a ring to square up the surface for the mast to sit on. Also I welded on some rigging points. Here's a tip, it appears you can get cut chain links for free, if you know where to shop. I went to the local "big green hardware store" to buy chain for these points, and with the chain was a small box with the offcuts from prevoius purchases. Dude told me to help myself! bargin!
Also I managed to aquire some more stuff over the weekend. Some old windsurfer gear. Some very "triangular" sails, (got an idea forthese to b explored later), c/w masts. (An opportunistic ebay purchase). I was after the mast which is longer, 4.6mt. However I noticed that it has a significantly smaller wall thickness to my original mast. The original blue mast is about 3mm wall, whereas the new Brown mast is barely 2mm. My question is, is the blue mast very heavy, of the brown mast too light?
the blue mast is probably an original "windsurfer" skinny one piece. . great for kids minis and micros.the other looks like a german mast , possibly with some kevlar? i have 2 of those on my actual windsurfers, very nice masts. since it is showing some glass fibres, I would recommend giving it coat of resin lightly thickened with talc to stop any bits in your hands
Just a followup on sourcing wheels, got a quote from "Castors and Industrial Products" www.castorsandindustrial.com.au/ for $36.70 +GST for 400X8KNO
-PWB20
Also i found this
cgi.ebay.com.au/New-12-5-X-2-75-Front-Wheel-Fit-49cc-Mini-Dirt-Bike-/130426293821?pt=AU_Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5e034e3d
Anyone tried these?
Select to expand quote. make sure they are quoting on a 4.00x8 pnuematic with precision bearings, not pressed bearings. the price seems too low.
youll be diddling around with the MB wheel , then youll discover the cost of tyres, tubes and special bearings
It does seem cheaper than what everone was predicting, I'll follow up tomorrow. I was thinking however it seems that it is necessary to replace the bearings anyway, it it just simplier to go with the plain nylon bushes and insert bearings?
.the other looks like a german mast , possibly with some kevlar? i have 2 of those on my actual windsurfers, very nice masts. since it is showing some glass fibres, I would recommend giving it coat of resin lightly thickened with talc to stop any bits in your hands
this was for rim tyre tube and pressed bearings
$44 ea + cost of precision bearings
the original windsurfer mast is to soft(flexible) to power much weight (likely to break) therefore "suitable for kids mini". So far I've broken one original windsurfer mast and one sailboard mast. cut part of the top of the sailboard mast and put it in the bottom of another mast, so far this has held together
Progress has been slow, I've been a bit slack. however a quick trip to iand's to check out his mini's has inspired me. (Also Thanks Ian for letting me rummage through your surplus materials!)
I have however bit the bullet on the sail modification front, and managed to unpick the mast pocket from the bombora sail. However before I start cutting, I have some questions. I was planning on adding an extension to the top of the mast so that I didn't have to shorten the sail. However I think I might be better off shortening this anyway, so my question is, how high would the boom normally sit above the chassis? I assume as low as possible without obstructing vision too much. I am guessing about 400-500mm. I suppose the same question is how long is the luff curve normally on a modified sail?
Also I have aquired another very small and old sail and mast. Only about 2.5mt ish, and no curve in the luff. Also the mast is not tapered. My question is do you think this would be suitable for a scaled down mini for the kids? I was thinking of using it as is, even with the wishbone boom,(about 1.5m long) so that they can't get clocked in the head.
Finally bit the bullet and cut the gastra sail, (rainy weekend!)
Layed out the final shape as well, and from my humble inexperienced opinion it seems to look like the real thing. Final size seems to be about 4.2mt without the mast pocket.
[Thanks Hiko for the last minute advice 
]
