Hi. I'm in the process of designing and building a 4.3m long land yacht. Wheel track at the back is about 1.9m. Am contemplating a swing seat that would get me around a half metre off centre to either side. Would appreciate views on whether this is a good idea. Thanks.

Hi Gizmo. Thanks for your quick reply. I'll forego the swing seat based on your advice. Yes, first build, in fact I've never landsailed before. However, after long research I've not seen anything that suits my intended purpose. That is not to say that I'm entering into this project cold, although I'm predisposed to a necessity of "figuring it out for myself" (there ARE worse things) ;). There is certainly lots of good info on this site to help guide.

Let us know what sort of area you intend to sail on and what your trying to achieve..... There have been yachts built for most conditions, and we will see if we can dig up some pics that might help.

Also if you are going to build it yourself what are the materials that you are comfortable using and what sort of tools do you have?

There is no point in directing you toward lots of welding when your skill set is timber.

This is great! I'll be on a fairly smooth beach to learn. The plan for the future is long range salt lake and desert adventures. Rear wheels will have suspension of the type in ultralight trike aircraft, but on stub axles to increase clearance. I'm using aluminium predominantly, from my old hang glider. I'll be doing the design and cutting, and a mate for the welding. Rig is from an Enterprise dinghy, basically. It will be far more cruiser than racer.

Thanks Gizmo. Yes, I've read that post numerous times. Even spoke to the old fella on the phone for a couple of hours. Agree with you re welding hang glider alloy, those bits will all be bracketed and bolts. I think posting this was just the reinvigorating that I needed!

Ease of build,
Simplicity,
Doesn't improve stability,
Less weight,
And by not using it it won't damage your finger (been there seen that) 5 stitches ....not nice.

Just think about it that any swing seat locking system has to work in the opposite direction to gravity and or land yacht forces.
The next generation after swing seats and the mechanical complexity was basically a giant shovel that you could sit anywhere on, and do a body slide from side to side as you went around a turning marker.

The 'Manta' took it a bit further with a twin seat made from canvas that seems to have worked well.
It allows you to get your weight further out yet has no moving parts and is simple to make. (and you can sail two up if you wanted)
www.outsideonline.com/1988171/ground-land-sailings-title-race

our last foray into swing seats saw the weight out at the sheels with the swing seat linked to a rotation control on the wing mast.
the next year somebody simply moved thier weight back and lay back more reducing windage and increasing leverage, blew the swingies away