Awesome mate!!

Your family is not too far from me - and yep - Lake Gnangara was my playground, and I even let the Blokart fellas borrow the place after they lost access to the racetrack carpark they were using.

Hepburn avenue was pretty good too [until the ruddy government opened it to traffic]
Some of the local shopping centre carparks are ok, but cars tend to take up valuable sailing space.

I have sent you an email via the forum system, sling me a message when you are ready.

Thank you sn for the very kind gift. You've made sure I'll have a yacht on the lake with the grandkids over the Christmas holidays.



but I'm am getting there. I spent most of the day recovering from a trip to Perth yesterday. I couldn't live up there with all that traffic and congestion. I need to add a bit more floor, pin the wheels, hang a few pulleys and face it into the wind for a test drive..... :)

Phil - Yesterday I noticed a decent sized and empty truck parking area behind Kambo's in Malaga.

The property is vacant, with a real estate agency sign outside.

Seabreeze and the easterly flow the length of the parking lot - so good for tacking practice and general messing about

The front gate is locked, but if you get your kids to call the owners via the agency - they might grant access for them to use for landyachts if Lake Gnangara is too muddy.

If you are lucky - they might even let you add a padlock of your own to the gate, might involve signing a waiver to keep them happy though.

Have fun!!

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sn said..
Phil - Yesterday I noticed a decent sized and empty truck parking area behind Kambo's in Malaga.

The property is vacant, with a real estate agency sign outside.

Seabreeze and the easterly flow the length of the parking lot - so good for tacking practice and general messing about

The front gate is locked, but if you get your kids to call the owners via the agency - they might grant access for them to use for landyachts if Lake Gnangara is too muddy.

If you are lucky - they might even let you add a padlock of your own to the gate, might involve signing a waiver to keep them happy though.

Have fun!!

Yes Stephen I just took a peek on Google. It looks good but I think I'd like the kids to get started on the soft stuff. I don't like the thought of them crashing on the bitumen.

I will be busy at home for a few weeks so I've got a bit of time before I take this to Perth to give the kids a ride.






I've gone very simple because until I learn how these things work. I'll get a bit of seam sealer into the gaps tomorrow if I have time and then give those patches a bit more colour. After that I think it's just assembly and give it a trial run.

Awesome!!!! Well done.
A narrow tip on a hot air gun to really concentrate the heat and just cut some long thin strips from the wheely bin (to use as welding rods) and they plastic weld really well.
I repair a lot of them for people.

Come for a sail any Sunday at Lake Walyungup and check out the other mini's while you are there :-)

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Chook2 said..
Awesome!!!! Well done.
A narrow tip on a hot air gun to really concentrate the heat and just cut some long thin strips from the wheely bin (to use as welding rods) and they plastic weld really well.
I repair a lot of them for people.

Thanks Chook, A good tip for when I'm asked to put the bin back together

And Bazl, thanks for the invite but this is just a bad time of the year. I have Toll parcels to pick-up and deliver over the next few weeks so I'm not going too far.

Wow, cool seat, am I correct in that it is a cut out section of a wheelie bin ??

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seabrit2 said..
Wow, cool seat, am I correct in that it is a cut out section of a wheelie bin ??

Yes seabrit, I'm building it for little kids. The seat makes all the difference to the weight.
Seat = 4.5kg
Frame = 15
Sail, Mast, rope and pulleys = 7
Wheels = 10
Seat belt and bolts = ?
I think the finished yacht will be about 40kg all up.

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Chook2 said..
Awesome!!!! Well done.

Hey Chook!
Phil [Moneybox] needs a couple of clear photos of your Lefroy mini sidecar arrangement - either "dangerous goods" or "chook chaser" will be getting an undersized passenger

I can't do any more now until I get a chance to try it out. Today I made a steering pedal extension for those little legs that can't reach past the mast






There's a little bit of wind out there but too many trees and buildings to get and sort of direction out of it.

Hey Phil, I'm pretty impressed with how the seat and pedal extension turned out!

Your yacht looks fantastic. The seat is a great idea.

Sorry it's not very clear. Old mobile phone pics from 2010.
It has a dummy axle/frame that seat is attached too, that just slots into the existing frame and retained by the same axle bolt. Wheel slips onto the end of this.
You can just see the 25mm x 25mm x 1.6mm RHS "L frame" that comes forward from the rear and is attached to the spine of the yacht using 2 plates (one welded to the spine, other to the L frame) with 2x 6mm bolts. See pic below.
Just a short stub to support the seat back.


It has since had a mudguard fitted to keep the kids hands out of the wheel. "Landyacht" recommended I do this and yes it's necessary.
I made it from the end of a blue plastic 205ltr drum.


The wooden seat yachts were where I started off. It was one of the batch of six (Stephen's chassis was included) that I first built along with repairing the one on the left back in 2010. Stephen "sn" rounded up all the masts and sails I needed. (Thanks mate it got me off to a flyer. )


Kits when I constructed them ready to build wooden seats. And I still love building them too!!! Up to number 26. Long way to go before I catch Paul "landyacht" and Bill though.

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sn said..
Hey Phil, I'm pretty impressed with how the seat and pedal extension turned out!

Me too I love seeing these new ideas coming through

The dicky seat is certainly on my list of things to do. I went and got a wisdom tooth out yesterday, seems like it was not a wise decision but I'll be back in the workshop soon if I survive this one

YOW!!!!! That made me cringe.
Looking back at your photos (now my internet is back online) Moneybox, your mast base, is it a turned piece with a turned stalk up into the fibreglass mast? (these are great old masts tough as hell the speckled fibreglass for learning on)
If so I wonder if it will take the stress over time Does the mast fit into the mast step? As I would be inclined to add a bit of old alloy boom to the tip of the mast to raise the sail, rather than extending the bottom with wood.

I'd still do the necessary internal alloy stiffener to the mast too.

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Chook2 said..
YOW!!!!! That made me cringe.
Looking back at your photos (now my internet is back online) Moneybox, your mast base, is it a turned piece with a turned stalk up into the fibreglass mast? (these are great old masts tough as hell the speckled fibreglass for learning on)
If so I wonder if it will take the stress over time Does the mast fit into the mast step? As I would be inclined to add a bit of old alloy boom to the tip of the mast to raise the sail, rather than extending the bottom with wood.

I'd still do the necessary internal alloy stiffener to the mast too.

Now that I don't know

Will it take the stress in time, well yes, if it will take the stress at all I don't think time will make a difference. I have the piece of jarrah going up about 600mm although I've not measured it. I was concerned about the strength of that bit of wood but it's all I could find to work with on the day

Yes the mast will fit into the mast step. The mast also seems very rigid compared to some I got from sn.

Too late to change right now. It's on the trailer heading for Lake Gnangara for a trial run with the kids this afternoon. Just waiting for Sandra to crawl out of bed and that always takes a few hours

Phil

Well I did take the new yacht to Lake Gnangara on Saturday but I'm not sure how well it went. I had two little kids to look after while trying to get this thing underway. Unfortunately I know nothing about sailing so I was struggling a bit. I don't know if the soft surface might have been the main problem but the yacht seemed to want to fall over instead of taking off in the right direction. Young Matthew tried to video it but he was running behind trying to keep up so we didn't get much footage.

Youtube link:

Anyway it was a fun day out and the yacht is still in one piece

I hope you use a seat belt so that when you tip over you dont get hurt!
with the wind behind you, let the sail out till you start moving. Then, as you turn towards the wind bring your sail in. where you started filming the ground was ok and speed helps overcome the softer sections.
Looks like fun was had and that is the name of the game

Hi Phil - good to see you starting to get rolling at last!

I think you can see why seatbelts and ankle straps are a good idea - as soon as the yacht started tipping, your grandson tried to bail out instead of letting go of the sheet rope!

That is kinda why "CHOOK CHASER" has the 4 point harness and ankle straps - I learnt pretty quick that kids and new sailors keep sticking hands and feet out when they shouldn't!!

If I had known you were at the lake last Saturday arvo, I would have called in on the way back from Pickering Brook......

Keep up the good work,

stephen

When the boom is about to swing over to the other side, "ride the rope" so it doesn't slam across with too much force,
This can damage the sail, and/or tip you over pretty quick.

when stuff goes pear shaped let go of the rope, when it gets scary - hang on and make the most of it!!

If you lift a wheel - either feed out the sheet rope to drop back onto 3 wheels, or keep the tension on to cruise on two wheels.

You need to get the knack of one wheel up - and be better at it than your kids and grandkids for proper "Awesome Grandad" status

Drifting sideways and spinouts are good fun too.....

Someplace here, there are videos of Test Pilot 1 spinning out and capsizing on a claypan near Kalgoorlie, will try to find them for you.

stephen.

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sn said..
Hi Phil - good to see you starting to get rolling at last!

I think you can see why seatbelts and ankle straps are a good idea - as soon as the yacht started tipping, your grandson tried to bail out instead of letting go of the sheet rope!

That is kinda why "CHOOK CHASER" has the 4 point harness and ankle straps - I learnt pretty quick that kids and new sailors keep sticking hands and feet out when they shouldn't!!

If I had known you were at the lake last Saturday arvo, I would have called in on the way back from Pickering Brook......

Keep up the good work,

stephen

Next time I'll give you a call to see if you're out and about.