'Iceboats" - Re: [bolger] Digest Number 1315

Take a peak at Stevenson's projects, they have a pretty nifty wheeled
land sailor there. Could give you ideas.

Steve

--- In bolger@y..., "Ron Magen" <quohog@w...> wrote:
> First - a Happy and not to over-stuffed-to-groaning Thanksgiving to
all.
>
> {Now to the Topic}
> We're kind of 'betwixt & between' around here.
>
> While we do get some 'acceptable' winds and the weekends do have
> sufficient daylight, there's no 'real' stretch of trustworthy ice
{Lake
> Nockamixon does have an 'iceboat launching area . . . but the lake
has
> to freeze FIRST}.
>
> I've been mentally toying with the idea of building a simple DN
Iceboat
> and using WHEELS instead of runners. There's a couple of abandoned
> airports {or at least parts of them} with nice open areas. In
addition,
> there are some 'very under-used beaches' during the winter months.
>
> Why not just put the existing boat on a 3-wheeled 'cart' and give
it a
> try ? If 'they' can race Lawn Tractors and Sofa's why not a
> 'Roll-a-Boat' !! If there are any beaches nearby, and 'ditchings'
should
> fairly non-disastrous.
>
> Regards {and let us know how it turns out},
> Ron Magen
> Backyard Boatshop
>
> [PS: We're donating my wife's old {1988}car to Purple Heart
Veterans;
> that should free up some space in the 'exterior working area']
>
First - a Happy and not to over-stuffed-to-groaning Thanksgiving to all.

{Now to the Topic}
We're kind of 'betwixt & between' around here.

While we do get some 'acceptable' winds and the weekends do have
sufficient daylight, there's no 'real' stretch of trustworthy ice {Lake
Nockamixon does have an 'iceboat launching area . . . but the lake has
to freeze FIRST}.

I've been mentally toying with the idea of building a simple DN Iceboat
and using WHEELS instead of runners. There's a couple of abandoned
airports {or at least parts of them} with nice open areas. In addition,
there are some 'very under-used beaches' during the winter months.

Why not just put the existing boat on a 3-wheeled 'cart' and give it a
try ? If 'they' can race Lawn Tractors and Sofa's why not a
'Roll-a-Boat' !! If there are any beaches nearby, and 'ditchings' should
fairly non-disastrous.

Regards {and let us know how it turns out},
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop

[PS: We're donating my wife's old {1988}car to Purple Heart Veterans;
that should free up some space in the 'exterior working area']


> Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 22:14:01 EST
> From:wmrpage@...
> Subject: Re: bolger iceboat question?
>
> In a message dated 11/26/02 7:40:41 PM Central Standard Time,
>xromad@...writes:
>
> > Is there a bolger design for an iceboat that uses the
> > mast and sail from a gypsy?
>
> There is a cartoon, which I suppose you've seen, in BWAOM (#4). If
not, it is
> a side-by-side two-seater, bow-steerer with a jib-headed sprit sail.
The mast
> is a two-part affair, so its definitely not designed to use the mast
from a
> Gypsy, but the sail area looks roughly equivalent to me, although
there is no
> scale and no spar dimensions on the cartoon. He makes it clear that
he'd
> never designed an iceboat and there is no indication that a design was
ever
> completed based upon this cartoon.
>
> It seems like a well thought-out concept, IMHO (having NO experience
with
> iceboating), but I wonder where anyone in MN would find the
combination of
> (1) daylight; (2) reasonably smooth ice (3) acceptable winds and (4)
any time
> for leisure during the Thanksgiving (early ice) to New Years Day (too
much
> snow) period to permit enough sailing time to make the building of the
boat
> worth the bother.
>
> OTH, we can't sail boats during the hard water season, and this one,
or a
> developed design, would lend itself very well to indoor construction -
might
> be just the thing to mitigate "SAD" while waiting for the water to
soften.
>
> Ciao for Niao,
> Bill in MN