Firstly, a confession...I'm new to land yachts so as far as I'm concerned, a 'boom' is the sound the tyre makes when you put too much pressure in it...just putting that out there.

I'm about to start building a mini and during my quest for windsurfer parts, I picked this unit up very cheap... figuring that if it was actually knackered, it would at least be a good source of parts.

It actually looks (to my untrained eye) to be in reasonable nick if I can figure out how to use it. So I went to Dr Google to see if I could find some info on how to rig it, adjust wheel alignment, operate it etc etc...but I can't identify it.
Seeing as it came with bags, it kind looks shop made but maybe it's home made by a very clever person.

This photo is from the auction...




This is when I got it home and pieced it together to see how it all fit.
The rope from the end of the boom attaches to the end of the fibreglass seat, which seems strange to me because I'd assume there would be a fair amount of pressure on what seems to be a very lightweight anchor point.

The mast is aluminium tubing, (3 tubes thick and stepped at the join). The frame is all steel, steering rods and pedals are stainless.
It'll need a good clean, maybe even strip the paint back and re galvanize the frame it if not too expensive. I'll check the bearings and replace anything rusty or corroded before I risk my neck in it.

In another post... 'kennatt' from the UK suggests it might be a 'kirawee bundeena' but can't find any info on such a beast.
So it seems to be some sort of class 5, but all the class 5 yachts I've googled have a very different shaped frame that seems to sit above the rider's legs (probably good protection in a spill) and the rope and pully section seems to be in the centre of the boom and connects between the riders legs.

I've not seen any photos of one that look like this.

This frame is more like my badly made drawing below...
I'll take and post some better photos soon, but can anyone identify this yacht or give me any pointers on how to rig it, align wheels etc?

Cheers!

The frame over the top, Y over the top(YOTT) is a newish idea Yours is a y under the top. Many think YOTT is faster but never seen any conclusive reason as to why,various explanations but must be some reason since they are winning races. No problem for you ,your 5 will be fine as it is. Must be a pro make since the seat pod looks too well made for a home build. Has been raced at some stage since it has a sail number(required for racing).
There are two main ways to rig it . Centre and rear sheeting (the only rope on a yacht is the one holding the flag)
Yours has the sheet rigged at rear. sheeted from rear of frame to boom forwards to front of the boom down to frame and then out to riders position.
Centre sheeting is from centre of the boom directly down to centre of frame just infront of the sailor position. The idea that as you pull the sheet in the sail responds by being pulled over towards the frame,thereby tightening up the foil of the sail, bending the mast so powering up and driving the yacht forwards(Hopefully)
Both systems work equally well and to begin with either system works ok for a new sailor. There are pros and cons for these systems but no need to confuse you at this point
As you have it now, apart from the front wheel / tube needing straightening and tightening up . Its about set for use.
Without a shot of the wheel/axle attachment can't explain how to adjust alignment. Basically with the 5s and large thin tyres the wheels need to point at the centre of the sail. This ensures there is a downwards drive as well as a sideways force to prevent the tyres being rolled off the rim. The only other alignment is to check the rear wheels are either parallel ,or slighty toe in or out,some say makes a difference on surface you are sailing on.But for general use parallel is fine.
There are various ways of checking this by eye,with square bits of timber laser beams etc . The easy way is to set it by eye, as near to parallel as possible,take it out onto a beach,sail it straight for 50m get out tip it onto its side and walk back examining the tracks you just made in the sand . If the rear marks made are clean....Parallel, If toeing in there will be sand sprayed outwards from the centre of the marks,if toeing out the sand will be pushed towards the inner of the marks.

You may find if you look closely at the rear axle,chassis and wheel to axle attachment points there will already be marks to align up since this will have been done by previous owner. Once done as you progress you can fine tune to your own preference.
keep at it,there will be loads of things you will need to know,this is the only decent forum about to give that advice
Good luck

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/General/Landsailing-A-brief-Tutorial?page=1 Have a read of this it has a lot of good information for anyone who has no previous experience of sailing The only thing I would add ,not so obvious, is to turn yacht into wind and lay it on its side when not in use(saves daft kids pulling sheet and powering up sail.)

www.windsport.co.uk/boats_for_sale/fed-5-land-yacht/ This is my fed 5,I rebuilt the steering and re designed the mast base to take reduced diameter windsurf masts but gives you an idea of how to rig it since it is very similar to yours.. Cheers

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kennatt said..
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/General/Landsailing-A-brief-Tutorial?page=1 Have a read of this it has a lot of good information for anyone who has no previous experience of sailing The only thing I would add ,not so obvious, is to turn yacht into wind and lay it on its side when not in use(saves daft kids pulling sheet and powering up sail.)

speaking from experience?

Here's the basic frame. The axles are fairly hefty aluminium tubes held in place by 2 stainless steel bolts on the frame and two on the coupling that connects to the wheels. Doesn't appear to be any way to adjust the alignment


I spent an afternoon disassembling the yacht, carefully lubing and removing all the bolts (which were pretty stiff). I'll see if I can find a suitable tap to run through the threads to clean them up before reassembly. I then got busy with a wire wheel stripping as much paint off as I could so I could examine the welds and remove some of the surface corrosion, basically prep it for a paint job. All the welds appear solid, it seems to be build like a brick s**t house. 95% of the bolts are stainless, but a few aren't and need replacing. Galvanic corrosion between the stainless bolts and the aluminium axles is slight and nothing that shouldn't clean off.






The wheels are interesting, they seem to be two aluminium dishes bolted to the rim. I poked my phone camera on the tube hole and verified there are no internal spokes.
The tyres have no tread, they are Cheng Shin brand, 200-19, max load 225lbs at 40psi, max speed 50km/h. I don't think I'll disassemble the wheels at all, the bearings feel ok. The large nut that bolts on the end of the axle (shown on this picture) has surface rust but I haven't managed to loosen it so I might just leave it for now and just hit it with some rust converter and paint to protect it.

It will be adjustable because of the angle (camber),if you rotate the wheel fixing tube on the straight axle you will see the wheel toe in toe out changes,it's a common way of construction. It has to be that way because of the Y framed design ,therefore there needs to be a way of setting the wheels at a Rt Angle to the main tube. It's one of the reasons that most home builds go for a simple T frame,less angles to consider.If you re paint make sure you note where those Twin painted marks are,as previous stated they are the alignment marks set by prev owner.Best way is to just drill a very slight depression on each,there forever then.

Id say what you have there is a FED 5( mike hampton designed) circa1988/89 yacht. seat looks very much like a Seagull class5 seat circa 1987. the wheels look like the ones that nord Embroden was sending from the US in the early nineties. so basically a good class 5 from the early nineties. probably mostly built in new eland.how much did you pay

I'm embarrassed to say, it was on auction with $1 reserve. I spotted the auction when some guy had outbid the last person by 38cents. I thought what an egg so tried to place an extra 1cent bid just to show how silly that was, but I couldn't, the next minimum bit had to be $1 more, so I added a dollar.... and there it sat. I won the auction for $28.38.
one of the pulleys would be worth more than that!
it's now been stripped and repainted, I just have a few bolts and a pulley to replace and then it should be ready for a test! ??

I'm embarrassed to say, it was on auction with $1 reserve. I spotted the auction when some guy had outbid the last person by 38cents. I thought what an egg so tried to place an extra 1cent bid just to show how silly that was, but I couldn't, the next minimum bit had to be $1 more, so I added a dollar.... and there it sat. I won the auction for $28.38.
one of the pulleys would be worth more than that!
it's now been stripped and repainted, I just have a few bolts and a pulley to replace and then it should be ready for a test! ??

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markkiwi said..
I'm embarrassed to say, it was on auction with $1 reserve. I spotted the auction when some guy had outbid the last person by 38cents. I thought what an egg so tried to place an extra 1cent bid just to show how silly that was, but I couldn't, the next minimum bit had to be $1 more, so I added a dollar.... and there it sat. I won the auction for $28.38.
one of the pulleys would be worth more than that!
it's now been stripped and repainted, I just have a few bolts and a pulley to replace and then it should be ready for a test! ??

bargain. enjoy the sail

Hi Markkiwi, The yacht you have is one of our Ohope Fed5 fleet from the late 1990s. Original sail number was NZ747. See picture attached. It is the 3rd yacht from the right. Yacht was made by IMAC landyachts. They were very good for there time. I have plenty of spare 19" spare tires for the rear wheels if you need any. Where are you sailing? Pim me your email so we can keep in touch.

There is the right answer! Good going Clemco. One came to the US and raced in the Worlds and PacRim here decade sago.
Blake

off topic question: Does anyone have a good picture of a Pacific Magic?