Finished the tandem hitch and tow bar, v 2.0 and am very pleased. Also a few other goodies for the bug....

http://www.coastalwindsports.com/BuggyMods.html

That looks great! - Brian

Those are some great ideas, Angus. I think I'll build a rack like yours. I like the parking brake idea too. I hate walking to my kite and just as I'm about to reach it, the wheel turns and I have to hustle and keep from getting tangled! I wonder if a heim joint would have enough slack as a rear hitch? Finding out it didn't would be a drag. It would be a shame to crack that nice oak. I'm just a little iffy on the 3/4 pipe grinding against the hitch.

Thanks
A heim joint would work, I think, if there was enough range of motion along the twisting axis. The rake of the fork of the towed buggy induces quite a bit of twist in a tight turn. I think that's what you mean by slack (?)

An even better solution would be a ball and socket with quick disconnect. These are used in sailplanes to connect control surfaces in the case where the aircraft is meant to be dissasembled to go in a trailer. But they are expensive.

The design objective was to be able to use parts on hand from local stores, be inexpensive and completed with simple tools. Connect and disconnect should be doable without tools.

Time will tell on the grinding of the pipe. I figured the joint would spend most time in tension (towing) and not compression (deceleration). The pipe should grind on the edge of the washers so as to spare the rope from abrasion.

So far, so good but mileage is still low with the tandem rig. When I get good winds and higher speed, I will post video on-line. My primary concern is a sharp turn where the tow bar could contact the rear tire of the towing buggy.

BTW, the windex is being replaced by a streamer made out of ripstop. I never thought it would last long. Turns out the bearig fouls easily and binds with but a grain of sand.

The beverage holder works OK but in a chattering skid turn will throw the beverage. I considered a gyro-stabilized gimbal mount for v.2.0 but will settle for a bungee lanyard that snaps around the bottle neck (with apull tab for easy one-hand operation).

BTW, the next trick for the bug is a wireless Kite-Cam!

I found a wireless color video camera that is 3/4" square and weighs 2.5 oz with the 9v battery. The 2.4 ghz receiver is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes.

My intention is to rig it in the kite bridle pointing to the buggy. The other idea is to tow it behind the kite in the head of one of those kid's foam lawn darts.

My next challenge is to find a portable video recorder with exteranal video-in connection for the reciever.

brilliant your carpentry skills are excellent

like the way you think, have had to make most things for my Buggy as In Canada not a lot of choices. Keep it coming

Cheers

Thanks, all for the comments.

Funny note: Was flying down the beach the other day with a water bottle in the beverage holder (still version1.0) Hit the washed out remains of a sand castle. The water bottle pops right up in the air, flips over and lands top down in the holder. I'm not even going to try and repeat that.

Still looking for some 1/8" bungee.

Check out your local fabric store for bungee. I know that kitebuilder.com sell bungee so that might be an option. Good luck.

Susan

You can find bulk bungee at an Ace hardware ( or other). I bought 25' once to make a retracting anchor line for the boat. Also, if their diameters are too large, you could buy some of the bungee cords at Wal Mart and cut the hooks off to do what you need.

I finally had a chance to take some pics of some additions I've made to my Flexi buggy and wanted to show the storage method I came up with.

I am taller than average and really wanted some back support on the buggy, so I did some research and found that a guy in the UK (Trikbitz on the flexi forum) had come up with a system that was very strong and functional. I inquired about getting one of his backrests from him and he suggested I just try it myself with locally available parts due to the huge expense of him shipping me heavy parts. After many hours of sourcing parts, finding someone with a tubing bender, then 2 prototypes, I ended up with a very favorable addition to the flexi bug. I made one for Pokitetrash and Acampbell in the process. The one for the PL bug needs a tweak to recline the backrest since its side rails are horizontal but otherwise does the trick. I can give info to anyone interested in making one for themselves. Padding was pipe insulation from Lowes or Home Depot. Covers were from Kitemaker4 (Susan). I have some siderail covers for the Flexi, but I will need to make some buttonholes for the seat straps to feed through so I can fasten the velcro all along the siderail pad covers. That is my next project. For now I just have two short pads where my thigh hits the rail.






I needed a place to store the buggy when not in use so since we are hobby and storage space poor, I decided to go to the ceiling for storage space. I used a winch made for bicycles to llift up the rear of the buggy and installed hooks to support the front end up high where I won't bump my head. These pulley racks are at Walmart for under $30 I think. I carry the buggy into the garage holding it underneath and hook the footpegs on the ceiling mounted hooks. Then I tilt the buggy up and hook the winch hooks on the rear axle and pull the rope to lift it up to the ceiling. Works great to get it out of the way and not get hurt in the process.






Also a major pimp addition to the buggy is the rear cargo deck. This was a nice gesture from Acampbell since I use the buggy to portage supplies onto the beach and the occasional rumble seat ride for Wexler when conditions allow. The craftsmanship and design is top drawer and really looks great on the buggy.



There are more pics in the link in my sig if you are interested.

Call me old fashioned but still don't like the rear bars on Flexi's. I know I have sure did some wild spills were that bar would have hammered me half way to China. I wear a 661 pro suit and can't imagine the impact without protection.
I too have thought a little more support in the back area would be great, but the roll bar...just scares me...lol
The wide axle really gives you that extra room, looks good and could see it being really handy.
Working on my ice buggy modifications if only some wind would show up give her a try.
Cheers

I rolled my Bigfoot this weekend with Bobby's backrest installed and it acted as an effective roll-bar. When avoiding some pedestrians, I mis-timed a jibe (that's my official version) and powered up at an odd angle, pulling me up on two wheels faster than I could correct. This tends to throw you out and forward. I think if I flipped on catching a wheel rim (beach debris, etc), the motion of going up on 2 wheels first would still toss you forward as well as to the side. The back rest landed well behind me and kept the full weight from coming down on on my butt or legs.

When you sit in the buggy the backrest just feels like it should've been there all along. Time will tell but I would feel like I had half a buggy to take it off now. I rolled my buggy before having the rollbar installed at very slow speed and the rear tire flipped over and conked me on the back of my helmeted head. Still rung my bell but could've been worse. The backrest might've stopped some of the flipping motion before it hit me in the head. Can't say you are wrong Wolfee but I'll keep it on there for now. They swear by these things in the UK except for those doing extreme freestyle stuff.

Angus, you could try to use a bushing insert with the pipe to reduce wear on the rope/hitch.
A bit of dremel work would give you a nice smooth surface.

Quote:

Originally posted by csa_deadon Angus, you could try to use a bushing insert with the pipe to reduce wear on the rope/hitch. A bit of dremel work would give you a nice smooth surface.

Yes, that would be a nice touch. As it is, if the rope is tight, it remains in tension and compression loads such as deceleration are taken up by the pipe against the washers of the tow hitch. the rope is most subject to wear mainly in sharp turns and such a bushing would help there, I think.

The other thing is that the tow hith needs to be about 8" longer out the back of the towing buggy to keep the bar off the rear wheels in a tight turn. That's the big thing I would do different.

I was thinking about the tandem hitch issue. There are small hitch balls used on campers for the sway bar. The ball is an inch and a quarter diameter. One could probably obtain scraps from damaged parts at a camper dealer or they shouldn't be terribly expensive to buy outright. This is a picture of the one on my camper. The whole deal is $65 so the ball and socket should be much less.

http://www.hidden-hitch.com/product.aspx?pc=40660

I looked all over for something like that including ATV and garden equipment shops. I remember as a kid our Gravely tractor pulled a utility trailer with a small simple ball and socket hitch. Never thought of the RV world.

The perfect solution would be an aircraft heim joint. The arey ball and socket joints meant for control surface hook-up (relaible) and are quick-disconnect for taking the aircraft apart (think sailplanes). Expensive though.

Here you go BB...
For the price you cant go wrong...
Link
Just the sway control ball is $19.95...
Link
Can't find the receiver anywhere by itself...

The ball is separate to be mounted on the hitch insert. The socket or female side would be cut from the bar that slides back and forth between the friction material. I still think there could be scraps or throwaway parts at a camper store that could be salvaged. Attachment would be with a spring clip, very simple. I'll check with my camper dealer in another week. They were closed today or I would've already bugged them about it. These devices come with a ball that mounts via plate onto the camper frame and another that mounts on the hitch insert.

Link for ball