tyce
Well-Known Member
I see that the yacht legs company no longer builds/ sells them, I am after an adjustable set, does anyone know a supplier of such things before I start lashing scaffold poles together?
Yachtlegs
- Thread starter tyce
- Start date
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I have never seen any others than those made by the Yacht Legs company in UK. It is possible that there are some French-made ones, as they are popular over there, but I have no knowledge.
Other than the fitting on the hull there is nothing complex about the non-adjustable legs and those fittings would not be difficult with access to machining equipment. This link http://www.faymarine.com/Pauls Information Site/Yacht_legs2.htm taken from my website details home construction of a set but the hull attachment is rather crude. Using pics on my website it should not be difficult to construct a drawing and have a decent pair made.
Other than the fitting on the hull there is nothing complex about the non-adjustable legs and those fittings would not be difficult with access to machining equipment. This link http://www.faymarine.com/Pauls Information Site/Yacht_legs2.htm taken from my website details home construction of a set but the hull attachment is rather crude. Using pics on my website it should not be difficult to construct a drawing and have a decent pair made.
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
It’s a pity the Yacht Leg Co have discontinued suplying beaching legs, my last boat survived for over 25 seasons in a drying harbour on a pair of Yacht Legs.
The adustable part is easy to fabricate, with three sections of differing diameter stock aluminium tube drilled to take stainless steel ‘pegs’. It’ the rest of the components which are tricky as they are mainly made from castings, although I would guess a competent engineer could devise some alternative parts. I do have a couple of old bits of Yacht Legs lying around (old hull fitting, T-bar holder, foot and a damaged top fitting.)and could post photo’s of them if it helps.
The adustable part is easy to fabricate, with three sections of differing diameter stock aluminium tube drilled to take stainless steel ‘pegs’. It’ the rest of the components which are tricky as they are mainly made from castings, although I would guess a competent engineer could devise some alternative parts. I do have a couple of old bits of Yacht Legs lying around (old hull fitting, T-bar holder, foot and a damaged top fitting.)and could post photo’s of them if it helps.
solent clown
RIP
please do, these are just the kind of thing I would be interested in developing myself
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
Give me a couple of days to find all the bits, which are buried under a load of junk and I’ll post some photo’s.
I thought I have detailed drawings of Yacht Legs lying around but they went with the paperwork when I sold them with my previous boat.
I thought I have detailed drawings of Yacht Legs lying around but they went with the paperwork when I sold them with my previous boat.
tyce
Well-Known Member
Thanks for your help everyone, I had a good look through your site viv and it is very helpful and would also be great to see the pictures of your bits praxinoscope.
DIY route it will be unless someone see this that has a set for sale.
DIY route it will be unless someone see this that has a set for sale.
Tim Good
Well-Known Member
My recommendation is to stick a "saved search" on eBay that emails you when a pair appear on eBay. That's how I got mine and took about 6 months for the right set to crop up but I did need the biggest type available.
I do wonder why they discontinued though and curious if the company found some flaw and decided they could be a safety liability?
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
There was nothing wrong with the product, I had them on my last boat for over twenty years, I talked to the guy from Yachtlegs recently and basically they were find the sales were declining and the costs increasing so they decided to concentrate on cradles where the market is still expanding.
I don’t know if they still have them but I seem to remember last time I visited Dale Sailing in Neyland Pembrokeshire
I think they had a pair in stock.
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doug748
Well-Known Member
As Praxinoscope has suggested they were excellently engineered things.
The OP may find they still have some bits available. Just the hull castings and spigots would save a lot of work for the DIYer, I made up a set of legs that way, using mast section, years ago.
Solent Clown, you may find a business opportunity here, if they are willing to sell on their jigs and patterns?
Tim Good
Well-Known Member
I feel that with low overheads and a good website / online marketing with reasonable international delivery this could be a profitable business. For those buying new, cost is not the driving factor and there is a monopoly on the design. Hydrovane, albeit a bigger market, is able to charge significantly more for a unique design.
We love ours:
Seajet
...
NB proper yot legs usually require beefing up the topsides local to the fastening point, and some way of bolting the things through - usually with a fore and aft line to the foot of the legs to prevent them folding.
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
Here's a couple of images of parts of Yacht legs.
I should have more bits lying around somewhere so will photo them when I find them.
Also a couple of images of my last boat on her mooring with the Yacht Legs in use.
The older Hull attachment was a cast aluminium, the later version was machined from a block of aluminium.
I should have more bits lying around somewhere so will photo them when I find them.
Also a couple of images of my last boat on her mooring with the Yacht Legs in use.
The older Hull attachment was a cast aluminium, the later version was machined from a block of aluminium.
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solent clown
RIP
Interesting, I am sure there will be some off the shelf Key Clamp hardware that would fit the bill.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
The clever part of the Yacht Legs fittings is that once the spigot is engaged in the hole in the hull fitting the weight is being taken off your arm. When hanging over the side with a considerable length of pipe in your hand this is a worthwhile consideration. It is then easy to fix the leg in place with the U-bolt. I am not very familiar with the Key Clamp fittings but they look like a two-handed job in this application.
tyce
Well-Known Member
Thats a really helpful set of photos Praxinoscope, would you be interested in selling the hull attachments?
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
I only have one as the other got damaged in a storm, and to be fair it’s about 25 years old so I wouldn’t feel happy you using it. What I’d suggest is I’ll find out what the postage is, and if you want it as a pattern you can have it for the cost of postage.
Any good engineering shop could machine you up a couple based upon this.
All the best
greeny
Well-Known Member
Just out of interest what are the dimensions of the hull fitting part of the assembly. Approx Length depth height would be useful to understand what size raw material i would need to make my own. Basic legs would be fairly simple to make.
tyce
Well-Known Member
That would be much appreciated, let me know the cost and I will refund. Thanks. It will come in very useful to make a copy from.
TSB240
Well-Known Member
I have a set of home made legs that work on our Hanse 301. I made a special clamp that is fitted to the toe rail and the leg is mounted via a simple through bolt. I used stainless Square box section and find the weight and overall length very difficult to accommodate on board. I am now working on a new design using a Machined Nylon clamp block that will both fit the existing toe rail clamp and take a stock standard carbon fibre tube with other stock standard a sliding fit inside. The objective is to have a very strong, lightweight telescopic leg. It's closed length will hopefully be about 1.5 M or less. It can then be stored in under berth with a lid opening of about 1.25M in length and occupying the unused space on our boat.
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greeny
Well-Known Member
Is the toe rail proving strong enough to take the loading? I'm only asking because i'm starting to fabricate a set for my beneteau and bolting/clamping to the toe rail would be easier and preferable to drilling and reinforcing the hull topsides.