Are 16" bicycle wheels legal or illegal for the international mini 5.6 landsailing class?
From the current discussion on the rules NO, In the original rules they just got through as a front wheel because they can't take the forces as a real wheel but the proposed defined rues they are quoting 'tyre size'.
So don't waste your thoughts on bicycle wheels.
Thanks Gizmo, I just recently got finished building a landsailer of my own design without planning on racing it. After the fact I realized that it might fit in the mini 5.6 class but it has 16" bike wheels and tires all around (the back ones flex a ton and have a limited lifespan). If I ever decide to race it then it'll need some modification. I do live hundreds of miles from the nearest landyacht races so it's not a huge deal at the moment.
Yes many years ago I also tried 16" bike wheels the problem is the tyre tends to roll off the rim when pushed hard, and I know of others that also had used them where the metal spokes broke after a short time of use.
As a general rule with land yachts is do it with proven designs it will save time and money in the long run, there isn't much people haven't tried at one point or another in this sport.
I currently have plastic bike wheels that just bend. I was planning on upgrading to metal spoked wheels but I may just go straight to something sturdier instead. I'm tempted to try making one with two wheels in front and single rear wheel steering sometime. Is that just a bad crazy idea?
Here's a read on the subject from quite a while ago.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/General/1000-Landyacht-retail/
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Construction/wheels-and-tires/?page=3 (some interesting pics here)
Select to expand quoteJAronstein said..
I'm tempted to try making one with two wheels in front and single rear wheel steering sometime. Is that just a bad crazy idea?
Yeh I'm currently running a stern steerer. You can check it out along with the discussion here. 
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Construction/56-sternsteer-land-yacht-idea-a-bad-idea/?page=1
Great to have you on board too JAonstein. Welcome. 
even when you build a really strong 16" wheel with a maxed out tyre(16x2.3) and have a heavy tube and 2" wide rimscarbon reinforced the tyre simply doesnt have enough contact are to prevent lateral movement on the rear. 8x4.00 wheelbarrow wheels solve that
Thanks Chook2, It's good to be here! I'm gonna sail the wheels off of mine,(might not take that long) then i'll be installing some wheelbarrow wheels. Is it possible to use the same axle mounts that I'm using for bike wheels or will I need to cut them off and make something new? my bike wheels are mounted identically to how bikes have their wheels mounted, with a fork going over the wheel and an axle mount on each side.
All my yachts have stub axles that take 20mm ID bearings. (6204 2RS) 47mm OD x 20mm ID x 14mm wide.
I'm slowly turning them over to 6204 2RS SS, which are in stainless steel to ease the corrosion hassles.
Select to expand quoteChook2 said..
All my yachts have stub axles that take 20mm ID bearings. (6204 2RS) 47mm OD x 20mm ID x 14mm wide.
I'm slowly turning them over to 6204 2RS SS, which are in stainless steel to ease the corrosion hassles.
I'm sorry. Can you explain what 6204 2rs means?
The 6204 is a universal bearing numbering system that most manufacturers use that refers to type and sizing The 2rs means 2 rubber seals (the black ones one each side) you can also have metal shielded non contact seals ZZ that have lower friction but less sealing against grit etc (serious racing?) or LLU which are usually red coloured seals and are recommended for dusty environments etc These carry a penalty of even more friction
It is possible to buy say a ZZ sealed bearing and an RS sealed bearing of the same size and swap one seal out of each and keep the rubber seals to the outside of the wheel to give a little less friction over the all rubber sealed bearings (They pick out easily)
You can get a lot of info online from the bearing manufacturers but thats the essence of it
Chooks method of sticking to 20mm axles is a good one as that size has proven to be strong enough and the metric size fits metric bearings which because of
the volume made in that size usually are cheaper and easily obtainable
Select to expand quoteJAronstein said..
thanks hiko for all the great info. hope that wasn't a dumb question.
no such thing. only dumb mistakes.
thats exactly the kind of reason we come here.
if however you make a dumb mistake please tell us about it. even better a video .
with all the wheels ive built ive settled on 6004 bearings . still a 20mm centre ,but narrower OD. seem to get a better life out of them
Select to expand quotelandyacht said..
JAronstein said..
thanks hiko for all the great info. hope that wasn't a dumb question.
no such thing. only dumb mistakes.
thats exactly the kind of reason we come here.
if however you make a dumb mistake please tell us about it. even better a video .
with all the wheels ive built ive settled on 6004 bearings . still a 20mm centre ,but narrower OD. seem to get a better life out of them
Well I made a dumb mistake right there guys!!!!! 
When I just checked them, all my bearings are just as Landyacht has described above. They are 6004 2RS.
Doesn't pay to trust your memory when you are an old fart like me.
Sorry bout that. 
Great info Hiko!!!
Ive found that removing the inner seals on the bearings makes it easier to clean and wash after sailing on salt, no need to replace as any salty, gritty liquid will drain out during use! 
No such thing as a dumb question if something is learned from it
No such thing as a dumb mistake either if it serves as a bad example !
i haven't been landsailing long enough to make any dumb mistakes related to it. at least nothing big, dangerous, or memorable. and my sailboat hasn't been struck by lightning yet which must count for something
Select to expand quoteChook2 said..landyacht said..
JAronstein said..
thanks hiko for all the great info. hope that wasn't a dumb question.
no such thing. only dumb mistakes.
thats exactly the kind of reason we come here.
if however you make a dumb mistake please tell us about it. even better a video .
with all the wheels ive built ive settled on 6004 bearings . still a 20mm centre ,but narrower OD. seem to get a better life out of them
Well I made a dumb mistake right there guys!!!!!
When I just checked them, all my bearings are just as Landyacht has described above. They are 6004 2RS.
Doesn't pay to trust your memory when you are an old fart like me.
Sorry bout that.
Great info Hiko!!!
we changed to a 6004 in the fallshaws because the nylon bush ws thicker and didnt distort as much also didnt tend to pop out of the placcy wheel as it aged . the i found they were longer lasting
5/8 will be fine for light duty yacht. blokarts started with 15mm then moved up to 17, .
on lefroy we simply snapped 15's(5/8)
we use 20mm simply because they are the narrowest thats readily available in a range of typesand tempers, cheap to buy, range of sizes,bearings readily available.
next metric size down thats off the shelf is 16mm and everything gets complicated
Just a data-point: I've been sailing 15mm axles/bearings on my blokart for years without bending an axle or other problem.
I sail hard and weigh 115kg (255 lbs).
I don't know what the blokart axles are made out of. I would guess some kind of stainless steel.
Having said that, I'm switching to 17mm axles/bearings when I wear out my current set of bearings (which is taking longer than I anticipated...).
Cheers,
Geoff S.
never seen a bent blokart axle, but they must have changed for a reason. the lovely fibreglass axles on the blowie probable save the axles.
at 115 kg you are in the lighter range of blokart pilots that ive met 
keep in mind that us homebuilders are using hardware store HT bolts
Select to expand quotelandyacht said..
never seen a bent blokart axle, but they must have changed for a reason. the lovely fibreglass axles on the blowie probable save the axles.
at 115 kg you are in the lighter range of blokart pilots that ive met
keep in mind that us homebuilders are using hardware store HT bolts
actually just realized seen 1 bender, drunked idiot sailed into bog on pink lake. own fault,but replaced on warranty
There have been a few bent 17mm class 5 axles here I have been told
20mm has become the standard for them
Spacers between the bearings with the end nut done up tight effectively increases the axle diameter in the wheel area
Select to expand quoteHiko said..
There have been a few bent 17mm class 5 axles here I have been told
20mm has become the standard for them
Spacers between the bearings with the end nut done up tight effectively increases the axle diameter in the wheel area
never thought of those spacers like that. I rely on them yo prevent the bearings getting sloppy
thanks everybody! I was planning on 20 mm just to be safe but I cant find 20mm ID bearings to fit my new wheelbarrow wheels. I guess I'm stuck with something smaller. When I make new axle mounts on the yacht frame i'll plan for possibly increasing the diameter in the future. I'm just going to use a bolt for the axle. Also I broke one of my plastic wheels yesterday so I can't go sailing until I get this wheelbarrow conversion done.
Surprising you cannot find 20mm bearings they are plain vanilla world wide Even the USA I would have thought
If you must 3/4 inch is very close maybe you can get those to match wheelbarrow wheels in your area
Select to expand quotelandyacht said..Hiko said..
There have been a few bent 17mm class 5 axles here I have been told
20mm has become the standard for them
Spacers between the bearings with the end nut done up tight effectively increases the axle diameter in the wheel area
never thought of those spacers like that. I rely on them yo prevent the bearings getting sloppy
Spacers done up tight have saved a few skinny axles in this neck of the woods
Select to expand quoteHiko said..
Surprising you cannot find 20mm bearings they are plain vanilla world wide Even the USA I would have thought
If you must 3/4 inch is very close maybe you can get those to match wheelbarrow wheels in your area
im guessing it would be 1",3/4"9/16"5/8"
