Greetings All,
I'm working on an article for Dirtboating Magazine on the BAT1 landsailers from HobbyKing. So far we have a cover and a sketchy outline. I was wondering if they had appeared in the southern hemisphere as well? If so are they being raced, modified...have they become victims of OCD (obsessive constructive disorder)?
Any Photos of them being sailed in your neck of the woods?

Have not seen any over Australia way, what class are they or are they RC, look a little smaler than a class3, Nice to have you back Blake.

I took mine to Lake Lefroy last trip but forgot to take any photos of it on the salt.

They sail really well and I put a little more weight on the rear axle.

Guess that means they ARE in Australia!

Check out the steering geometry !

Seen one for sale on trademe here in NZ, but haven't seen one for real. I like my design better...I'd love to compare one racing

its CCD blake . compulsive constructive disorder. obsesive would make it sound like a bad thing , and we wouldnt want to confuse our fellow sufferers.
we are in it by choice .
my wife was recently telling me off about it until I explained that she had CQCD ( compulsive quilting constructive disorder) and wlcome to the club

Then I guess "OCCD" would be really bad sounding...

Select to expand quote

blake52 said..
Guess that means they ARE in Australia!

Yes I bought mine from HobbyKing last August when they were first released here in Australia. It cost me A$148.00 delivered to rural West Aust.
Postage was $36.00 from Sydney.

I had to use my own radio control gear but they do a "Plug and Play" ready to sail version which has come down in price but still requires a transmitter and reciever.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__76850__HobbyKing_8482_Bat_1_RC_Land_Yacht_P_P_AU_Warehouse_.html

I used it on Lefroy when there wasn't enough wind to sail my bigger yachts.

I bought one to fool around with, but I started modifying it and making upgrades to make it better. In the process I also started designing my own.

What set me in motion to making my own is explained in the first Trike-A-Sail™ videos I made.

Some of the PROS and CONS:

PROS:

Fairly simple Assembly
Ball Bearings in the wheels allow for smooth rolling wheels.
Mylar Sail

CONS:

The BAT1 Plastic body is weak where it needs to be stronger, "the front" In the real world landyachts front ends are more forgiving because they are typically operated in wide open areas, but in an rc model where you are bound to pick up speed and hit a wall or cement in parking lot car blocks, posts etc, the plastic weak nose loosens the front end wheel assembly constantly and has a high risk of breaking.

Of course if you use it strictly in a beach where you got a lot of open area and the above is not that much of a concern. But most people do not have nearby beaches and they are bound to use these models in parking lots or streets, like I do.

The Sail straps break easily, and the toothpick pin to hold the sail control tube near the mast is simply pretty cheese way to do a pinned connection. I ended replacing all the straps and connections with the same strap connection hardware I used on my own design sails which are a lot stronger and better.

The sail control is also something that could have been done better with some more thought into it and one can still get away with a std servo without stressing the innards of the servo given the right geometry in the cord that controls the sail.

On an aesthetic point of view, the BAT1 plastic body looks like a bottle of wine cut in half and has no design appeal to me except for the decals that make it more eye catchy. This is also one of the reasons I stared to make my own.

I know that everyone has their own likes and dislikes and what maybe attractive to one person may not be to another. But I am of the opinion that an RC model should have some design flair to it and not be just a container for innards.

I added a pilot to mine and a few extras to my BAT1 but I have shifted to my own designs because they perform more to my liking.

I am sharing this here because I stumbled on this website and thread by doing a search on Google and was curious as to what Dirt Sailing Magazine was all about. I hope this is taken with an open mind as my goal with this is hopefully to expand this area of the hobby, as I am sure the creators of the BAT1 were/are too. The more options the better.


Here are some videos of what I am talking about. Note all videos were done in very light wind conditions and some were done
in an enclosed 6Ft fenced back yard where the air is more turbulent above the fence.

Cute. I love the driver's head swiveling.
Agree with designing the front end strong - I made the front end of my RCyacht out of a ski pole and 16mm steel rod to take the impact of crashes - the one I milled out of plastic lasted all of 5 minutes.

I am no land sailor, rather a water one. But i bought one to experiment with wing sails. I made an 8 sqm solid wingsail for my moth (whisper). It worked prety good but my centre of effort is too close to the centre of rotation. So rather than guess, i plan to make scale wing sails to compare and contrast against the mylar sail and future designs. I will probably out fit it with gps gear to get vmg data too.
Should be quicker than building another wing sail!

gofigure, I'd like to build a wing sail for my RC landyacht, but don't really know where to start. So I'd be keen to see what you come up with.

Ok, i will keep you posted, should start 3d modelling and building next month.

Nice looking and seems to go well! The more flexi mast seems like a good thing (that got lost in the translation from Robert's designs to HKs production model).
The driver is a lot of fun!

Did anyone mention this one?

www.rclandsailing.com/design.html

Looks pretty sophisticated...

Very useful website.
I found using plastic trolly wheels from Bunnings bored out and fitted with bearings much better than urethane scooter wheels for grip, if you actually want to drive instead of slide round corners.

The wheels on the Bat1 look like those soft foam wheels for light RC aircrafts. Scooter wheels are made to handle 30kg+, so maybe too hard. Depends on the driving ground and weight of the yacht, as usual!

This is an RC wing project I built while recovering from a spinal fusion in 2009. Ut was fun to build and challenging to sail because it's hard to trim a wing when you aren't in the boat.

This is my modified Bat.

Re wing sail - great work - so not really a goer for a rc land yacht - fun and interesting to make but no real performance advance?

What gps are you using there?

Re bat - did you make this sail yourself? Does it have shape built into it through the use of shaped panels?

Gps is an Etrex

Looks great; the red makes it easy to tell which is yours, do you find that it goes better with the frog sail?