Boat Builders wood,a new species is available

CKD Boats cc grew out of an established timber import company called 'Commercial Lumber cc',we stopped trading in retail timbers as we moved across to a more exciting line and kit boats and related materials.Commercial Lumber was started on the discovery of a plantaion of Teak,the british had planted in many places,one of which I sort of stumbled upon,our import of Plantation Teak to South Africa was a first as far as I know,its was the same with Bending Plywoods and Flexible Veneers,which we still stock.

Finding new products has become a way of staying in front to some extent and we have just found a new timber called Kiri,its also a plantation grown species (good news) and comes from Western Austrailia.Kiri may be the wood to replace our last shipment of Clear Oregon Pine,which we sold out of yesterday,to a builder of a James Wharram Design 'Tikki 38',we supplied his Ockume Marine Ply and Epoxies too,we will also cut all of the boats bulkheads as well.

Kiri looks like it is very stable,it air dries well just like Spanish Cedar but will cost less,it is perfect for strip plank constuction and is nice and light,we have asked the suppliers for samples,when they arrive we will expand on this new timber species and look to place our first order,again another first for an import into South Africa.

Roy

Paper Jet U-Tube film clip

Dudley Dix has just released a video clip of him sailing his Paper Jet,remember the Dudley is not a youngster any more,so his performance shows even more how easy this new design is to sail.

Dudleys message to the trade,click on the web address:

Hi to all of our agents and kit suppliers,

I have uploaded video footage to YouTube of me sailing the Paper Jet 14 with Standard and Turbo rigs. I have embedded the video on my website at http://dixdesign.com/pjvideo.htm .

I am still learning to sail the big rig so it is not the best sailing that you will see. In a few weeks we will do some more video and get better results. In the meantime, this shows pretty well that the boat can be single-handed with the big rig and is quick.

We take two Paper Jest to the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic Seaport next week. While there, Wooden Boat Magazine will sail test the two boats with the three rigs for an article to appear later this year, I guess one of the last two of the year.

If you have not seen it yet, I have also added a photo of me on trapeze with Turbo rig and spinnaker to the Paper Jet page of our website.

Regards,

Dudley Dix

Weekly Currency Rates Chart

Continuing with our rates chart from last week,we post the latest currency rates from the First National Bank web site.

Forex Rates


All exchange rates are updated regularly. However, the rates that you receive in a FNB Branch may differ to these rates due to changing market conditions and the amount of your transaction. Please contact your nearest FNB branch if you wish to buy or sell foreign currency.


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Bank charges and commissions have been excluded

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The following European monetary area currencies have been incorporated into the Euro currency:

ATS, BEF, DEM, ESP, FIM, FRF, GRD, IEP, ITL, LUF, NLG, PTE, SIT, VAL.


Public Exchange Rates against the rand for amounts up to R50 000.


Published at 2008/06/20 08:32:00 AM


Rand per foreign currency unit

Description Code Bank Selling rate Bank buying TT Bank buying TC's Bank buying notes
EURO CURRENCY EUR 12.5964 12.0957 12.0644 12.0835
BRITISH STERLING GBP 16.0000 15.3636 15.3128 15.3481
US DOLLARS USD 8.0752 7.8253 7.7693 7.8174



Foreign currency unit per rand

AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS AUD 0.1289 0.1356 0.1361 0.1357
BOTSWANA PULA BWP 0.7898 0.8735 0.8844 0.8744
CANADIAN DOLLARS CAD 0.1239 0.1316 0.1323 0.1317
SWISS FRANCS CHF 0.1284 0.1339 0.1345 0.1340
DANISH KRONE DKK 0.5882 0.6204 0.6245 0.6211
HONG KONG DOLLARS HKD 0.9448 1.0123 1.0200 1.0133
INDIAN RUPEES INR 4.6422 5.5692 5.5692 5.5748
JAPANESE YEN JPY 13.2951 13.8614 13.8844 13.8754
KENYAN SCHILLINGS KES 7.6456 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
LESOTHO LOTI LSL 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000
MAURITIUS RUPEES MUR 3.1553 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
MALAWI KWACHA MWK 16.3835 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Not Available MZM Not Available Not Available Not Available Not Available
NAMIBIAN DOLLAR NAD 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000
NORWEGIAN KRONER NOK 0.6350 0.6679 0.6748 0.6685
NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS NZD 0.1604 0.1700 0.1706 0.1701
PAKISTAN RUPEES PKR 6.6748 7.8208 0.0000 7.8287
SWEDISH KRONER SEK 0.7425 0.7810 0.7843 0.7817
SINGAPORE DOLLARS SGD 0.1669 0.1774 0.1787 0.1775
SWAZILAND LILANGENI SZL 1.0000 1.0000 0.0000 1.0000
UGANDAN SHILLINGS UGX 189.3204 211.1612 0.0000 211.3746
ZAMBIA KWACHA ZMK 339.8058 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Not Available ZWD Not Available Not Available Not Available Not Available

Water Ballast but 40% heavier!

A discussion came up today when I was moving an order of Bio-Magic,which was packed to send to our agent in Johhanesburg,the order is a 25ltr container of unmixed concentrate,this travels for less cost and the agent then mixes it for end use.Moving a filled 25ltr drum (plastic) is seriously hard,its so heavy,I now find that Bio-Magic concentrate is a whole 40% heavier then water! read some comments below.

Roy



I have just been preparing an order for a client,its Bio-Magic concentrate,normally we do not supply it as such but the customer is an agent,she will mix it hereself and save pack and transports costs. I commented on the weight to the UK agent,he is a sailor too,this was his reply .


Hi Roy,

You've just hit on a good idea, how about using BM concentrate as liquid ballast on hi-tec yachts, to be pumped around as required? The reason its heavy is the amount of minerals in it.Notty,General Manager, Bio-Magic UK

Paper Jet,Turbo Rig

Dudley has his new large main sail on his Paper Jet number one,we supplied his kit too,one of the great things with this new boat is it can go from a trainer,move to a more talent required boat,then up to a very fast sport boat but all in the same day,same morning,if your keen enough!

Roy

Bio-Magic an enviromental solution

We have mentioned our invlovment with Bio-Magic on this blog before,we have just received a picture of the RV Home in Austrailia that tours the country doing shows and promotions,all forty six shows per year! We have very good stocks of Bio-Magic,either collect or we can send by post to your address.Payment will soon be as easy as using your credit card.

Roy

try www.biomagic.co.za

Charlies Sundowner blog news

This was lifted of Charlie Whipples blog,more news and pictures when we have them.

Leaving at last -- 17-06-08
Rained all day yesterday, so I spent the day inside the boat, making tiedowns, installing lee cloths, making a canvas bucket, and so on. Today will see the water and stores go in first, then tidy up the rest. Some things must wait until we are under way. Plan to leave about 3 pm. Heading 020 to about 29S 180, then 070 to the southern Cooks. Chuck is working on the website and will have updates from me via satphone messaging. See you all in Honolulu. Oh, my apple died so I have no photos at the moment.

Cape Cutter 19 kit in build

Cape Henry 21




One of the most succesfull designs in our range will be the DixDesign Cape Cutter 19 at www.dixdesign.com the enquiries to this boat were many,we still get asked for it on a regular basis but as the design was taken off shore and no more kits were allowed to protect production of the GRP built boats,we have moved our attention to the Cape Henry 21.Its the same boat,just 10% larger but all of 30% more boat volume wise,so forget the CC19 and look at the CH21!Todays pictures just recieved,are of one of our CC19 kits being built by Ian Allen at www.thegables.co.nz down in New Zealand (we have another kit being built in Ausi)the CH21 wont look that much different when building.