Four wheeled dinghy

I am having a mental episode of sorts. It goes like this;....... There are two perfectly good bicycles in my garage. There are also numerous sails, an opti, a couple of board sails, a laser radial, and some bigger ones too. Since the bikes and the sails occupy the same general space it occurs to me that they should, or at least could, be married to one another.

My brain fart combines the two bikes with a central framework so that the bikes are parallel and about four feet apart. Mount the Opti rig, or whatever, somewhere near the center of the forward framework..WHoopie! I might be able to ride two bikes at once and not have to pedal. I Could cheat by pedaling to windward if forced to do so.

Details; sit on the weather side seat so that you have access to the handlebars and also front and rear brake levers. The two handlebars will be linked with a tie rod. When tacking, shift to the new weather side seat. The framework between the two bikes will be detachable so that neither bike is permanently sacrificed.

Do you gentlemen think that I might need to get an appointment with a therapist or do you imagine that the contraption might be great fun? Or both?

 

A trip to the therapist is not necessary. Reading the above you are obviously the most sane on this forum excluding me.

All I can ask is photos please.

 

This one has a video...
http://chrissails.blogspot.com/2010/11/ocracoke-land-sailing.html

 

I'm all for it, get a helmet, a GoPro camera & a sponsor, make sure you support a charity or some just cause with your efforts........... it's a dead set path to fame & fortune but make sure there's some kind of adversity or hurdle to overcome for a winning formula...... or then again just do it for fun! Jeff.

 

I think the way to do it would be mimic sail-board as much as possible.

A big long skateboard with 12" kid's bike wheels(cheap).

The "payoff" on a wipe-out will be a little more than on water,(as will be wear and tear on the gear) but at least you wont drowned.

I just think you would be cooler and get more chicks VS sit down/3 wheeler.

 

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/all-things-boats-and-boating/huge-land-yachts-36852.html

 

In the 60's there was a kit gizzmo of consisting of a bar with clamps that attached two bikes together behind the gooseneck and they had a telesopic bar that attached to the rear forks (inside), that allowed them to lean into curves and the main bar across swiveled as well. I don't think they went over too well, had to get on from the outside and it was rather confined.

Anyway, you can figure that out, like a sidecar set up, I'd try to tie two bars one behind the gooseneck and the other from behind the seat, that would give you a platform for a longer forward bar or platform to mount a forward sail, a bow spirit. Seems you'd have a problem comming about if the boom were not high enough...

I have seen a kite used, he just had the "mast" steped into a belt with suspenders much like a pocket used by flag bearers carring flags while marching. He layed it forward to pedal or leaned back to use it. It wasn't a commercial contraption I'm sure.

Then you sailor types could rig a mizzen between the two bikes.

Might be fun, make sure your hospitalization policy is current.

 

I'm way too old to be contemplating such madcap stuff. Nevertheless I will actually do some serious drawings and then some machine work, to see if this can be made to work.

Right away I can see that tying two bicycles together will present problems. I was planning to have both sets of pedals remain functional. Alas any framing that does a decently rigid connection gets in the way of the pedal path. So, on to plan B. If a purpose built frame is to built from scratch while utilizing some of the bike components, then it may as well be a three wheeler. It seems, judging from the pictures above, that others have opted for three wheel designs. That does make the pedal option a bit less complicated and the whole of it lighter..

Maybe I will have to resign myself to the land yacht type vehicle, many of which already exist. Some of those are beautiful creations and some are spectacularly fast. I do so want to fiddle up an everymans wheel borne sailer that is cheap and easy to build. Maybe not fast but sure to be fun. Dry land sailors unite!

 

The 'bike' in the second photo has 4 wheels. It's got a short video of it in operation.
http://chrissails.blogspot.com/2010/11/ocracoke-land-sailing.html

 

The vid of the pier & board walk are pretty mad, cool stuff, I don't think I'd wanna meet a semi trailer when driving it though.Jeff.

 

Heres an amphibious version

http://autocanoe.com/

 

Perhaps you could replace the pedals with a motor of some sort and give a classical name; something like "automobile" or "car"; maybe even "people's wagon".

 

SamSams reference to the Ocracoke guys caused me to explore the net. There are some really serious land sailors at http/www.nalsa.org. Their dirtboats are basicly ice boats with wheels. Some of them are pretty exotic with enclosed, streamlined, cockpits. It seems that the Aussies, around Adelaide, are into that sport too. I discovered other land sailing thingys such as Blocart and Kite Buggy. These are go kart like vehicles and yes some of them are kite propelled. One builder sells kits for under $500.

One of the things that prompted me to think of sailing bicycles is the remains of an RC model land sailor that I built several years ago. That thing was great fun until I crashed it badly. Acceleration was astounding and I failed to catch up with a sudden blast of speed and the brick wall jumped right into its path.

Another siren call is the presence of a huge soccer field across the street from my house. Looks like the ideal place to break my neck. Sailing on dirt or grass might require increased horsepower. I have a nifty full battened sail from an IC that would serve the purpose, no doubt. With a rig like that the bicycle idea might need to be abandoned. A stolen go kart chassis might be in order.

 

Now that you've let the cat out of the bag, it might be better to just buy one.

 

Some ex Foreign Legion people had a race/rally across the Sahara in land yachts back in 1967.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sah...m90AGji4DwAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1067&bih=557



http://westerntrips.blogspot.com/2011/09/peppards-wind-wagon-of-old-west-trading.html