Welcome to Land Yachting in Kent U.K.

Thinking of Building?

The items needed to build a "project" land yacht can be quite expensive, and not always designed specifically for this purpose. If your sole ambition is to save money, you would probably be better off buying a second-hand yacht. The design work and strength calculations will have then been done for you.
Whist we do not recommend the building of land yachts by novices (remember, we have seen some of the results), we realise that some people will want to anyway!
We do get a lot of enquiries from students building their yacht as a school/college project. Remember, you could always consider taking just one part of the yacht and re-designing/refining that.
The yacht has to be balanced so that it is safe and manageable to sail. Various calculations are in place for this, although exactly where everything is set varies from one yacht to the next. There is lots of useful information available on the web to get you thinking. Try the technical pages on the British Federation web site to start with.

Parts

The wheels need to be strong to withstand the considerable sideways forces acting upon them. The following have been successfully used on land yachts: plastic wheel-barrow/launching trolley wheels, plastic B.M.X. wheels, alloy motor-cycle wheels, various car wheels although Citroen 2CV are favourite for large yachts. Do not use wire spokes as they will pop out with the sideways forces.
Sailing dinghy masts and sails are no good. The masts are not strong enough (honestly!) and the sails tend to be too full. Windsurfer masts and sails can be adapted and at least one commercial model training yacht uses these already.
The chassis needs to be strong. The following materials have been used: aluminium tube, steel tube, monocoque fibre-glass, wood.
A set of plans is available (to purchase) from the British Federation. This is for the Fed 5 yacht, a racer/trainer with good performance, strength and durability. The two land yachts pictured sailing towards each other on our home page are both Fed 5s.
If you are building a yacht, our local manufacturer of land yachts, Kirrawee, can supply any parts that you do not feel able to make. These would often be the seat, the front steering fork assembly and the sail.

Conclusion

Excuse the pessimism, but there are several Kent club members with older land yachts, purchased second-hand, getting great fun and performance on a budget. If you are really determined, and prepared to accept the design constraints, then you can succeed in your project. But remember, you must make it strong!
If you do decide to go ahead and build, then good luck with your project.
Jim Moran