wooden land sailor plans?

[imported_Jimmy]

Does anyone know where I can find plans for a simple land boat(like and iceboat, but with wheels), one that could easily be transported in a car? I've seen some plans for metal ones but I would rather build a wooden one if I can find a good design. Otherwise I may just make one up. Thanks,

[chrisk]

You can check out ice flyer . The plans are free and it appears you can remove the ice blades and put wheels on it so you can sail all year round on the hard stuff.

[dan-marques]

I've noticed this one from Uncle John's.

Been thinking about building a pair over the summer.

[imported_Jimmy]

Hmmm, the one at Uncle John's looks easier to build, but I like the looks of the ice flyer better. I think it would be strange sailing with the sail behind you though. I think I will keep looking. Any others?

[ 01-19-2006, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Jimmy ]

[Todd Bradshaw]

It doesn't do much good to look at the sail of an iceboat while sailing since most of the time it looks just about like it does when you're sitting still and you sail pretty much by feel. So whether the mast is in front of you or behind you can be pretty much a matter of what works best with the seating system and keeps downforce on the runners to keep from spinning-out (you can also see better). I assume the same would be true of a land sailor (dirt-boat?).

On these little ones, I can see where there might be an advantage to not having to sit there stradling the mast...especially if you happened to hit a pothole and stop suddenly. if you know what I mean.... I had a similar iceboat called a Lockley Skimmer for a few years. It was built of steel tubing with a canvas sling seat and though not very sophisticated by iceboat standards, it was a lot of fun. Kind of like a wind-powered go-kart. Like these, it had foot-pedal steering, which is very convenient, but has two drawbacks. First, of you hit a bump and one foot slips off of it's pedal, the thing immediately tries to do a tight 180 at whatever speed you happen to be going. At the same time, your foot usually contacts the ground, which tries to jam your leg up into your torso, so be sure that if you have foot pedals, they have some sort of solid "trays" below them to keep your feet in position. The second downside is that the faster you go, the twitchier foot steering gets and the more aware you become that your feet aren't quite as precise as your hands, especially if you're getting bounced around a bit. The Lockley was big fun up to a certain speed and then got a little scary to steer. This is not usually the case on a wheel or tiller-steered iceboat where you can finnesse it a lot more.

Converting to tiller steering if you're building a boat isn't very difficult. Usually on small models it's done something like this with cables or sometimes with just a single rod on one side connecting a couple of bellcranks (one on the bottom of the tiller post, one on the bow runner or wheel asembly). This is a design for a stitch and glue iceboat that I've had sitting on the back burner for a few years and haven't had time to build, but the drawings will show you the steering system.




Note also that most of the land sailors and some iceboats also rake the post on the steering runner or wheel a few degrees (raked aft at the top of the post). This causes the runner/wheel to lean into a turn and reduces it's tendency to slip at high speeds.

[ 01-19-2006, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Todd Bradshaw ]

[gert]

there was a video kicking around here a few years back of a parking lot sailer hard at it; any body got a copy?

[Lewisboats]

http://www.stevproj.com/SpecPurp.html

Stevenson's Projects has a nifty one too, The Vector, looks easy to build.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

I believe that Clark Craft in Buffalo has one or two of these plans.
http://www.clarkcraft.com/

Charlie

[imported_Jimmy]

Thanks. These all seem pretty simple. I'm tempted to go ahead and try something similar without plans. Has anyone actually built one?

[bainbridgeisland]

Originally posted by Jimmy:
Thanks. These all seem pretty simple. I'm tempted to go ahead and try something similar without plans. Has anyone actually built one?

I have built a half dozen landsailers over the years. The one I have now was built without plans in about a day and a half. It worked well until I crashed it into a log last year going about 20-mph and broke the front wheel (something to fix when I finish the new house). Here is a description of the thing:

Main fuselodge: 8' long, 8"x8" aft tapering to 5"x5" forward. Made from 1/4" AC plywood with 3/4"x3/4" cleats on the corners. 1x6 across the deck where the mast goes thru. 1x4 across the bottom to support the base of the mast. 1/4” ply cap on each end. 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" steel angle to bolt the running board on (makes it demountable).

Running board: 6 1/2' long, 1 1/8" x 8" in middle tapering to 3/4" x 8" on ends. Built from 1/4" AC ply seperated by tapered cleats. I put 3-cleats across the 8" span.
At each end of the running board are two 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" steel angles bolted across the 8'-span and seperated by about 4". They have a 3/4" dia hole drilled in the flange to accept standard bolts for axles.

Forward spring plank: The forward spring plank is red oak, 4' long, 1 1/8" high x 5 1/2" wide aft tapering to about 7/8" x 4" forward. It overlaps the main fuselodge about 12" and is bolted through the fuselodge with 5/16" diameter threaded rod. On the forward end a 1 1/8" wide x 5" high x 7" long piece of oak is through bolted on centerline for steering gear.

Front wheel assembly: Wheelbarrow style; sides of 3/8" ply with 3/4" thick x 5" wide spacers. The back of the plywood is about 3" aft of the axle position when upright. One spacer laying flat and the other upright (on top of the flat piece) when viewed from above. 5/8" hole in the plywood sides for wheel axle.

Steering assembly: Standard boat pintles on the front of the spring plank. Be sure to cut about a 15 degree angle on the 1 1/8" wide x 5" high x 7" long oak piece so the pivot point of the steering slopes aft at the top. Standard gudgeons are bolted to the upright spacer (aft side) of the front wheel assembly. To control the angle of the front wheel, I use a transverse timber bolted to the front wheel assembly connected by low stretch rope (3/16” vectra fiber) to a second transverse timber pivoted under the fuselodge. i.e. you steer with your feet. I have had a little wear on the rope and replace it each year.

Seat: Right now I have 3/8" ply sides with a rebate for 1/4" ply back and seat bottom. The seat bottom is supported by three cleats across the top of the fuselodge. The sheet connects to the top of the seat, leads forward to a ratchet block at the gooseneck. This seat is on the heavy side, think next time I will use fabric.

Wheels: I got my wheels from Northern Tools, spent about $120, you can find them on the internet. I use 12" wheels aft (3/4" axle) and a 10" steering wheel (5/8" axle). The wheels have integral ball bearings. I have tried cheaper wheels over the years with poor luck (they break).

Sail rig: Use any free standing rig from 35 square feet to 80 square feet. A laser rig works O.K. Just be careful not to bend the mast. Landsailers put a lot of strain on the sails so use an old set if you can.

Sailing the thing:
The smaller rig works best on pavement.

These thing do not sail up hills very well (though I generally do where I sail).

In light wind, unlike a boat, you are not going anywhere unless you push. So don't sail too far in variable weather, or you may have a VERY loooong push.

In good sailing conditions you can go SCARY fast, fast enough to hurt yourself. So wear a helmet.

Be careful when bearing off in a breeze, the acceleration can throw you out of the seat (I use a seat belt).

To get started, put the landsailer beam to the true wind and pump the sail like mad (bouncing a little helps too). Once you start to move, the apparent wind quickly shifts direction so be ready to sheet in and steer to your desired course. If you haven't sailed anything like this, it takes a while to get the hang of it. Apparent wind angle shifts so quickly most beginners have a hard time keeping the sail trimmed right. When trimmed right the difference is amazing (dead stop to 20mph in 8-10 knot wind).

Hope this helps you.

David Mancebo

[bainbridgeisland]

deleted

[ 01-22-2006, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: bainbridgeisland ]

[brian.cunningham]

you can get going real fast
http://www.harborwatch.com/news/new_...eed_record.htm

On their second trip to Lake Ivanpah in the past five months, Bob Dill (Burlington) and Bob Schumacher (Shelburne) set a world land speed sailing record of 116.7 mph.
....
Dill andSchumacher built their first land yacht in 1994 in Schumacher's shop. It was made from wood and carried a two person crew. It had triangulated struts supporting the wing structure that was mounted on the starboard axle. This yacht was 38 feet long and 18 feet wide. The West Coast sailors christened it the "Mammoth from Vermont" (later to become the "Wooden Duck") when it first appeared in Nevada for a speed test.
...
In 1994, on their first day of trials with the "Wooden Duck" the wind was too light to get the heavy machine moving. The next day the winds came up and they got it up to 73 mph. Coming back from the run; the got hit by a 55-mph puff and tipped over. The "Wooden Duck" suffered a broken wind and strut, and by the time they got it repaired the wind and their time had run out.

off the web

wooden landsailer

I can't get the pics to post, but it's worth going to that lastest site.

[ 01-22-2006, 02:54 AM: Message edited by: brian.cunningham ]

[Gary Dierking]

For maximum performance, be sure to equip yours with a "death stick".
http://iceflyer.com/sheet.html

Gary

[imported_Jimmy]

Excellent info guys, thanks. I will be at a dry lake bed for about a week this summer and am planning to build a little landsailor to to bring with me so I can do some saling. Something simple since most of the time I will be at home and can do all the sailing I want on the water. Bainbridgeisland's info looks good, I will look over it in more detail later. Thanks again,

[imported_Jimmy]

bainbridgeisland, you don't have any photos do you? I'm having trouble pictuing some of your descriptions since I'm not familiar with a lot of the features of landsailors. Thanks

[bainbridgeisland]

Originally posted by Jimmy:
bainbridgeisland, you don't have any photos do you? I'm having trouble pictuing some of your descriptions since I'm not familiar with a lot of the features of landsailors. Thanks

I do not have pictures and the thing is buried in my garage (awaiting repair). I will try to draw a sketch and take pictures of a few details over the next few week and post them. ( I am working O.T. and building a house too so it will take me awhite to get to it)

[brian.cunningham]

There's a new iceboat site, and it has a real good page showing most of the iceboat types. Most of which can be converted to landsailers.

http://iceboatlongisland.com/new_page_4.htm

Most use a DN, sort of the spec racer.
Plans are available for FREE

[ 01-28-2006, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: brian.cunningham ]

[imported_Jimmy]

no rush bainbridgeisland , I'm thinking about making it for August.

[bainbridgeisland]

As promised, here is a quick drawing of my current landsailer. I built it about 4-years ago to sail in a local park (usually on grass). As mentioned before I have built a handful of these things. The goal with this one was to use a wide variety of possible freestanding rigs. I built it without plans in about a day and a half. See my previous post for a word description of the thing.

[paladin]

use extreme caution flying one of these things on hard pan...and wear a crash helmet....I still have scars from the mid-late 50's.....those things fly faster than you would think...