hi all i would like to know if anyone knows anything about a land yacht that was reported made in queensland, i have been given several names for it, twister, saber, stinger, its a fairly big boat fiberglass in construction with a full cockpit/hull alloy mast and boom with a sail that has a pocket for the mast to go into the mast is stayed by 3 wire stays 1 forward to the front wheel and one port and one starboard to the axles near the wheels, the original sail is an older more fuller shape i dont believe that very many were made only 2 that i know of are in south australia atm i was told that there was possibly a youtube video of one sailing at port gawler in south australia but i havent been able to find it. i would be grateful for any information on these dirt boats.
They were made in Queensland by a company called Saber Fibreglass, which built large cruiser power boats.
Several of the land yachts were transported to Adelaide for a TV commercial shoot that occurred at Lochiel SA (Lake Bumbunga).
The TV commercial was for a Canadian Beer Commercial 'Labatt Blue'
The commercial had 6x yachts (I think) and a hot air balloon.
At the end of the shoot ALL the yachts were purchased by Martin Bell and then on sold by his business 'SA Landsailor Sales'
The Red / White yacht was purchased by Rod Dunning
The Pale Blue / mid Blue yacht yacht was purchased by Graham Parr a 6" aluminium wing mast was added on a very thick sail that was Navy blue in colour.
The Blue / Purple trim yacht was sold to Andrew Royce and tricked up with fancy mag wheels.
The Orange Yacht had a 6" aluminium wing mast and then to a 12" fibreglass Wing mast, a windscreen was added, this fact was owned by Martin Bell. The front wheel on this yacht was changed to a 'Vesper' scooter wheel and suspension..... Worked VERY well.
There was also a Yellow Yacht and also a Green yacht .... I am unaware what happened to these
The reason the yachts stayed in Adelaide was the local sport was quite active then and it was a saving on transport back to Queensland.
The only failing part on the yachts seemed to be the rear axles... they were alloy cast and they bent with heavy use this made the bum of the yacht to scrape a bit.. some axles were changed to Fiberglass axles made by using FG rovings (like string used in FG chopper guns).
The roving string was wound between 2 large nails and moulded with resin in a 2" aluminium extrusion as a mould.
Sails were very basic with a slip over the mast pocket style.... the exceptions being the ones made for the wing masts.
here is a link to Labatts commercials ....The one made at Lochiel was probably produced in the mid to late 1980s ..... I haven't had a good search on this site.www.youtube.com/results?search_query=labatts+blue+commercials
thats brian, i'll see what i can find, i think i have the yellow one it was purchased from sydney several years ago and has an alloy pole mast not a wing mast.
i'll keep looking to see what i can find
Hi
I have just finished rebuilding the Orange one and heading to high tide beach next week to put it through its paces as long as the fun police are not going to spoil the outing - Dru
Interesting Dru60... That orange Sabre Stinger (yours) is different from the Orange one in Adelaide.... The Adelaide one owned by Martin Bell had EXTENSIVE modifications that could not be unseen....
So there have been many more produced than we had believed.
Select to expand quoteDru60 said..
Hi
I have just finished rebuilding the Orange one and heading to high tide beach next week to put it through its paces as long as the fun police are not going to spoil the outing - Dru
hi mate, just saw a pic of your saber land yacht, exact same as mine other than the sail, same way to rig it and everything, for and arft stays, same colour too, where are you located ? did you get to sail it how was it ? i'm located in adelaide, there is one other one here in south australia too that has been re done but is not yet finished. every year a bunch of us head to a sea side town about 3 hours south of Adelaide called kingston , you're more than welcome to come if you are in Australia , it's held over the January Australia day long weekend every year.
cheers
tony
