My local second-hand stores seem to have only new stuff in stock. Get me some of those kiddie shoes with the blinkie lights? I want to get the lights & battery out to try on a boat for night boating…
Disco boating? 
it’s funny you mention lights tomohawk. i want to run a green, red, and white leds from one of my spare channels. when the sun starts to go down, flick a mix switch and presto…no commercial liner going to run me down.:lol:
You mean like one of those old-style color-organs, but with l.e.d.s? I think I’ve seen one someplace, like a DIY electronics experimenter’s website. I know there are eady circuits for a loudness meter (bar meter) that could be done wit h mixed up colors. I’ll PM you details, if you want.
I thought that if your boat bounces hard enough, like an ectric race boat, the blinkies will flash a lot. Maybe putting some on the mst of a 1M might work.
thx
Tomo,
You have it backwards, read my post again. The foam tires soak up water & get real heavy. They get a very good grip on dry pavement & are very lightweight.
As far as inline skate wheels are concerned, my experience is that they are too hard & tend to sideslip alot. If you go that route, try to get them with a low “Durometer” rating of 70 or below. These will be softer & get a better grip.
The one nice thing about skate wheels is that they already have bearings. It could be that scooter wheels will work better, but I’m not sure.
In that case, Bill, the rest of the landsailer world seems to prefer soft tires for soft surfaces, and hard ones for pavement.
Tomo,
Where did you come up with that information? I am speaking from several years of direct personal experience with models, as well as attending the full sized “America’s Cup” of landsailing held at Dry Lake Ivanpah on the Nevada/California border for 3 years. I saw all varieties of hard & soft, narrow & wide, treaded & smooth being used.
BTW, where did you come across the old article & plans for building the small free sailing model? Robert Weber & I had never seen that before & it’s very interesting from a historical perspective.
Bill
Bill-
Maybe not the whole rest of the sailer world, but all the research I read was that way. Maybe they’re all on the take or something? The information I have comes from many, many hours over the last few summers of research. I’m finally to the point where I want to start building a sailer, after I finish a couple Footies.
I found the little sailer article last week, when I was doing some more research. Go back a few posts for the link. #14
thx
Tomo,
Hmmm, that’s interesting. Please give me the specific references. A search of several years of discussion at this forum: http://groups.msn.com/LandsailerandIceboatdesignandconstruction/messages.msnw turned up little to back that up. Also, if you check out photos at http://www.nalsa.org you’ll see a wide range of wheel choices. More pix of wheels used on sand beaches (2006 European regatta in France) show solid narrow wheels being commonly used: http://www.bleriotclub.com/cm2006/
If your statements are only assertions of your personal opinion, please disclose them as such.
BTW, how close is(are) your Footy(s) to being in the water? We’d sure like to see some pictures.
Below is a foam tire after a hard session on blacktop
I don’t have any specific references Bill. I’m not keeping any notes. I’ve never heard of any of those places you mentioned either.
sorry.
:rolleyes:
perhaps ?
It seems Dick has resorted to sentences without grammar or vocabulary?
Dick,
Well, I don’t know for sure, but I see that several postings got deleted.
When presenting information on this forum, it’s nice if it’s based on verifiable fact or direct personal experience. Opinions are fine as long as it’s clear that’s what they are. Anything else just muddies the waters
Bill
Had a similar discussion today with friend who is boat dealer here in Michigan, and similar has happened on the big cat forums where individual opionions are often mistaken as fact by new owners or would-be buyers.
In one case a guy was talked into buying an “A” Class cat as a cruising/family boat. Seems he wanted something for he and wife to sail and wound up with a one-person racer - NOT a weekend sailer! Now he’s trying to sell and get his money out to move to a “real” weekend cruiser but prospects for a buyer are few and far between when the boat is single-handed, carbon fiber, a racer and runs about $21,000 !
It is nice, as you say, to offer advice, opinion or factual knowledge, but being up front and simply stating that is isn’t based on experience would go a long way to keep honest and factual posts from being doubted. Then again, “Buyer/Sailor Beware” - I guess !