Gday to everyone.

Have just started construction of my land yacht and have some questions, rather than trawling through all thepost I thought it maybe easier just to ask. Hope the questions don;t seem stupid. Will post some pics in the next week as it takes shape.

I have a pretty well equipt workshop and a lot of materials, don't really have a budget (other than fiancee but I'm trying to build it using what I've got, . Have tigwelder, plasma cutter, drillpress, dropsaw, lots of stainless and stainless fasteners, etc, etc

Questions, here we go

1. Mast angle, whats the best angle?

2. Most images I see have the steering constructed from an old bicycle set up, I can get one form my mates kids, the angle looks funny though in the pics, is it still easy to steer? Also how much lock do I need and does it need dampening?

3. I have machined out and fitted bearings to my plastic wheels and a spacer to prevent the bearings loading up when I do up the nut. I have concerns over balance. What speeds does a yacht get up to and is wheel balance a problem?

4. Is there any special length to width dimension that everyone follows? Or is it just so it looks/feels right?

5. Sails (1), people seem to use windsurfer sails and masts, checked on Trademe (NZ ebay) and theres a load of masts and sails from really cheap to really expensive. Recommendations for sizes would be appreciated. I understand they need modifying too? Is this to provide more clearance at the bottom and enable a boom to be fitted?

6. Sails (2) Originally I planned to use a length of 40mm ABS pipe for the mast and boom and fill it with expanding foam (we do a lot of pipe fitting in our business and its bloody strong). Anyone tried this? It's light flexes and you can hit it with a hammmer and it doesn't break. Would make a good boom too I thought.

7. Sails (3) I was going to sew up a sail from weedmat or similar for cheap (hey this is a budget build and , anyone tried this? Can afford a sail just curious.

Thats about it for now.

Any help greatly appreciated, I have checked the site a few times and just joined it


Thanks in advance



Andrew D

Hello and welcome Andrew.

Firstly there are no dumb or stupid questons in landsailing....

Let me assume you are building a Mini yacht size the overall dimensions have been worked out to be the same size as the Blokart.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39791
With a workshop like that you are streets ahead of most of us in the sport.


1. Mast angle, whats the best angle?
The LLMini yacht uses 10 degrees rake

2. Most images I see have the steering constructed from an old bicycle set up, I can get one form my mates kids, the angle looks funny though in the pics, is it still easy to steer? Also how much lock do I need and does it need dampening?
The layover style steering seems to work well and copies the way bikes and motorbikes steer at similar speeds. Lock is similar also to a bike and no damping is needed.

3. I have machined out and fitted bearings to my plastic wheels and a spacer to prevent the bearings loading up when I do up the nut. I have concerns over balance. What speeds does a yacht get up to and is wheel balance a problem?
Yes wheel balancing will certainly help the performance of the yacht, speeds are often in the area of 60+km/h

4. Is there any special length to width dimension that everyone follows? Or is it just so it looks/feels right?
Each yacht class has its own specs that ideally should be followed, they have been worked out over the years and the yachts are often measured for compliance prior to some races and championships.

5. Sails (1), people seem to use windsurfer sails and masts, checked on Trademe (NZ ebay) and there's a load of masts and sails from really cheap to really expensive. Recommendations for sizes would be appreciated. I understand they need modifying too? Is this to provide more clearance at the bottom and enable a boom to be fitted?
"Landyacht" on the forum can answer that one he's the sail mod expert.

6. Sails (2) Originally I planned to use a length of 40mm ABS pipe for the mast and boom and fill it with expanding foam (we do a lot of pipe fitting in our business and its bloody strong). Anyone tried this? It's light flexes and you can hit it with a hammer and it doesn't break. Would make a good boom too I thought.
Do it give it a try... whats the worst that can happen ...it breaks then tell us either way we all learn something.

7. Sails (3) I was going to sew up a sail from weedmat or similar for cheap (hey this is a budget build and , anyone tried this? Can afford a sail just curious.
I have a roll of "TYVEK" similar to weed mat but it seems stronger, I don't think weed mat would have the strength in it but people have used "blue tarp" with good sucess.

Smokey2010 said...

Gday to everyone.

...
6. Sails (2) Originally I planned to use a length of 40mm ABS pipe for the mast and boom and fill it with expanding foam (we do a lot of pipe fitting in our business and its bloody strong). Anyone tried this? It's light flexes and you can hit it with a hammmer and it doesn't break. Would make a good boom too I thought.

OOH AH
I like it already,
Please put some pics up

landyacht said...

forget the weedmat i suspect tyvek will pop when strained, or tear at stitches.
i think a good condition 2 piece glass or low % carbon mast ,with no cracks , might be worth $50. most of my ex windsurfer masts have been 1 piece(wally's) and cost $0-$10
I will be very interested to see what the ABS plastic can do . I would suggest a 50mm for the mast, 40 for a boom. my experience with foam filling is that it does nothing for the strength, what can you tell us about it. if the material is free or really, really cheap,can I suggest that you get 2x2m lengths , fill 1 with foam and photograph a flex comparison for us.
sails is a big question,. I would suggest that you firm up what your gong to build, yachtwise , then we can discuss suitable sails.
clemco and Hiko , in NZ have both built minis, and are best positioned to give you advice on local material availability.
welcome to the fun

Hi Andy

Thanks for the advice, I will flag the weedmat idea plan. I once built a trollet for the Red Bull Trolley Derby and we built the entire chassis out of PVC and foam filled it. In motorcycle racing they used to foam fill the frames apparently to reduce flex so I would say you are right about it not increasing strength its just ot reduce some flex. The ABS I have for free in the shed. Sizing is a good idea, but it would seem masts are pretty cheap just to buy.

Thanks again

I've also played with a bit of ABS and think you may have luck with your mast option, definately worth a try. Unfortunately, here in Aus its not common as poly or PVC is most used. That said Im sure there will be some, somewhere.

lachlan3556 said...

I've also played with a bit of ABS and think you may have luck with your mast option, definately worth a try. Unfortunately, here in Aus its not common as poly or PVC is most used. That said Im sure there will be some, somewhere.

Hi Lachlan

ABS pipe suppliers in Aussie will be Tyco Ltd, big corporation with many branches (read hard to deal with). The reason I know this is a guy came over from Aus a year or so back to give us specialist ABS pipework installation training for a big project we were on. I think the Schedule 40 ABS would be the way to go for the lower half of the mast and a ligher guage for the top PN15 or something, but from some of the above posts I would think a second hand windsurf mast is the way to go unless you can get the pipe for free, ABS is expensive 6m of 50mm is about $200.00

Hi Andrew

Hey, thanks, I live out in Waikokowai, west of Huntly a ways, I get to Raglan on the backroad when we go to the beach, or just for a motorcycle ride, Its about 45mins drive. Will email my details through to you.

A Hell of a long way west of Huntly!!!

For anyone who knows the layout of central Victoria, Huntly is a small town north of Bendigo (I used to live near there). Sorry, for my bad joke.

Its easy to pick , theres more kiwis in the one near Bendigo

landyacht said...

Its easy to pick , theres more kiwis in the one near Bendigo

If you had spent any time in the East Island one you would understand why!