Steampunk Lugsail Land Windsurfer

Here's a lugsail land windsurfer that will go with your top hat or pith helmet.
To my surprise it works really well.
It's a work in progress, I'm gradually replacing modern parts with "authentic" ones.
Here's some video of previous landsailers in action.

If you haven't yet met Steam Punks, they're people who dress up in classic outfits and build machinery with a Victorian era aesthetic.
Here's my contribution to the movement, a land windsurfer with a 3.6 meter lugsail.

It sails just exactly like a regular windsurfer. Sail tuning is a little different, due to having four corners to adjust rather than the old three. Study up on lugsail tuning.

Step 1: Board and Gooseneck

The board is any skateboard you're willing to drill a hole in the front of.
Later you'll make a truly Victorian skateboard.

The gooseneck can be almost anything, a universal joint from an old car's steering column, two interlocking eyebolts, or a simple loop of cord.
For the first tests I innertubed a regular mast base to the mast and bolted the universal to the board.

Comments

[Wade Tarzia]

Nice! Keep at that mechanical connection to the Victorian! The Victorian Age was confronted with an under-rated amount of ideological challenges -- a fascinating time in history.

[Crazzee]

Is there any way the sail could be homemade out of trash bags and whatnot, or would that not hold together?

[siggy_lxvi]

A: Garbage bags wouldn't hold. Thick canvas or tarp would work. B: what the OP is referring to as "reef points" are actually telltales. They are used to indicate whether airflow over the sail is laminar or chaotic. Reef points are used to reduce sail area, usually in violent storms - the kind of weather in which you wouldn't be using this sort of sail.

[TimAnderson]

In the diagram above, the things labeled reef points really are reef points. When using this sail with a kayak you need to reef down in just moderate winds. I failed to do that in Costa Rica in a strong offshore wind and was capsized, blown out to sea, lost my water, and although we both survived, lost the girlfriend too.

[siggy_lxvi]

My appologies, then. I've never sailed a kayak, just everything from a 15-foot dinghy to a tall ship.

[Deutschmann]

With apologies to siggy_lxvi, I must respectfully say that certain varieties of garbage bag will work in at least moderate wind; I have constructed a windsurfer with them, and never had a problem. That said, I'm using some strange variety of garbage bag manufactured by Kirkland Co., and I'm not sure how widely available they are. They don't, however, seem like they should be too hard to find.

[dontwealllovebuda92]

whats so steam punk I KNOW IM NOT THE FIRST TO ASK THISSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[allen]

A lug sail, the rig used in this instructable, is an old-timey rig. You won't see them on commercially-built sailboats. Luggers went out of fashion probably a hundred years ago. There's your "Steam Punk" aspect. The spars - that's the sticks to you land lubbers - are all pretty short and not under a lot of strain so they don't have to be real strong which all means they're pretty cheap. But even with short spars of inexpensive lumber it'll spread a lot of sail area. That translates into lots of pulling power on the cheap. I built a 16-foot sailboat, a Bolger Windsprint, that uses lumberyard 2x2s for the boom and yard of its lugsail and the son-of-a-gun sails like a scalded cat. If you wanted to be super-authentic you'd have to use a straight boom rather then the wishbone but you've got to draw the line somewhere. A wishbone boom makes the sail easier to handle on either tack.

[SuperCoPilot]

don't really see the steampunk aspect of it

[SuperCoPilot]

though i'm still gonna try it lol

[Xellers]

Hmmm....... This is really very nice, and I will certainly try this (given that I can procure the required materials w/o spending too much money), but one thing that I don't really see is how is this steampunk? I looks really cool, but I don't see it fitting in with anything else steampunk that I have seen previously. Good job anyways. 5 stars.

[carpespasm]

I'm with you there. Hopefully this gets a set of spoked wheels, an ornately carved deck, a brass u-joint, brass plated axles, and a sail with some Victorian style. Maybe replace the clear part of the sail with stained glass held together with hog clips? This looks like it would be very fun to ride around on, but it's not too steampunk at the moment.

[Phantom5582]

Stained glass? That sounds dangerous. It would be safer to use plexi-glass that looks like stained glass.

[carpespasm]

probably so. certainly something would have to be found that could stand in for the clear plastic window though.

[Phantom5582]

That is true, but what... I'll have to do some thinking on this.

[andygates]

Craft stores sell clear paint, for use on glass, which would be perfect and strangely beautiful.

[Phantom5582]

Thats cool and good to know, but I wanted steer away from using glass in the first place. Maybe that paint can be used on plexi-glass. It would give the same effect.

[andygates]

I should have been more clear: clear paint on a clear PVC section sewn into the sail. Only an absolute maniac would actually use glass in a windsurfer sail! :)

[Phantom5582]

I agree 100% with you. I see two problems with it. One, the weight could be to much and rip out of the bindings. Two, in a crash the glass will shatter and cause more damage then I would want in a crash.

[Phantom5582]

The problems above are with using real glass and not PVC

[Phantom5582]

Ok, What about a thin and tight mesh screen like whats found in screen doors? One would have to make the sail alittle bigger, but it could work.

[EnigmaMax]

people are starting to confuse steampunk with old fashioned, so bear with it.

[aweis]

steampunk= Victorian+industrial revolution

[MisterMissanthrope]

trucks on top, very cool, im living in the windy city right now, and Austin texas where ill be moving gets pretty windy, ill be sure to give this a try

[skunkbait]

I made an 'off-road' skateboard that looked a lot like that back in high school (20 something years ago). Now I think I'll swipe the sail and boom off my kids sail boat. If I could just get enough wind to sail it off-road... Oh wait, I'm putting wheels on the kids sailboat!!!

[Grey_Wolfe]

And the baseball bat is guarding the boom? lol

[Grey_Wolfe]

Why did you decide to use the mountain board upside down? Was it just to give better balance? I'd think it would roll more smoothly the other way. But, then, I haven't tried it yet. Gonna be hard to find a mountain board cheap around here, I think.

[GorillazMiko]

It must be so sad.... and lonely... at the old HQ...

[Phantom5582]

This looks good. I want to make my own now. Something tells me that I'll be using a mountainboard with a hand brake as the base. I'm thinking about getting this one. MBS Atom 95X I know its not steampunk, but I want some safety.

[bumpus]

hmmm, inner-tubes are the new duct-tape? awesome job!

[Patrik]

That's some nice work on that boom! How does the weight compare with the modern aluminum one? Is there historical precedent for a wishbone boom? It's easy enough to build one using modern materials, but I wonder if our ancestors wouldn't have used a different design if they had wanted to build a wind surfer or land rider... The laminated boom works well for a steampunk theme of course. But now I'm imagining a steampunk explorer in pith helmet, pursued by stoneagepunk savages riding even more "authentic" land windsurfers... :-D

[legionlabs]

Totally awesome. I may have to use this to make a wind powered robot... several anemometers (glorified fans) could measure the wind vector, and a microcontroller would power a servo to rotate the sail to the optimal position. Combine it with a hall-effect sensor as a compass and a solar panel and you might be able to get it across the Atlantic. Maybe. Eventually. I suppose that wouldn't be very steampunk though... I guess I could put a gear on the sail, at least.

[earnst2w8]

i was just thinking of making something like this and i thought why not look here and i looked at the front page and there it was lol thanks

[reedz]

Umm for some reason I feel the urge to say "Tim Anderson"

[Brennn10]

Awesome stuff Tim Anderson! It sure would be a sight to see taking this baby to work.

[rimar2000]

What a good work, Tim Anderson!

[=SMART=]

Nice ! was the first photo taken at the old instructables/squid labs naval base ? i haven't seen any photos of the new location :(