Dix Design visitors

Tom and Errol,with two Didi mini transats we built from our own kits.

We had Tom and Errol call on us,Tom is from the west coast of the USA and Errol was building Tom a steel Dix 38,this came about when Tom and his wife viewed the same 38ft version Errol built for himself,as with Errol,we supplied Tom with much of the boats interior plys and timber and glues.

building a Didi 34 from one of our kits

Here Nick is adding a T&G detail by routering a V groove into the plywood.



Note the containers on the floor,they are all 5ltr packs of 816 epoxy which is a standard part of any of our kits we supply.

Even we were surprised when the news came out that Nick would launch his Didi 34 yacht just two years after buying his kit from us,he made a deal with his wife,extend the house to make a new kitchen but he would build the new boat in the extension first,deal struck,Nick got a move on!

A few words from Nick when he started his build:

Roy please find a selection of pictures showing some of the bulkheads glued together as well as the rudder which I made while waiting for the kit to arrive.For your interest it took me less than one weekend to remove the bulkhead sections from their sheets, trim them where necessary and glue them together.It is only further into the project that one fully appreciates the benefit of having bulkheads that are 100% accurate as one would never be able to cut them out as accurately using a jig saw. I do apologize for not taking more photos But honestly before I knew it I was finished will take photos of the hull skin before I remove them from their cut outs.I was truly impressed with your kit system.

Superform bending plywoods

The cockpit on a Dix 43,the sides were preshaped with 8mm bending plys and epoxy glue,the outer surface was stablised with a layer of 6oz glass cloth and laminating epoxy,we stock and sell that too.


Some of the many uses for Superform waterproof bendable plywoods,the boarding scoop and side lockers were fabricated from layers of 8mm bending plys,as were the Lewmar STA 56 main sheet winch bases and cockpit well walls.

Birds Mouth Mast Kits

Our spindle does sterling work on such jobs as birdsmouth spars and masts.


The right tools for the job,you can make a jig and cut with a circular saw but nothing comes close to doing the work right on a spindle,we have a number of special cutters just for birdsmouth masts and spars as in this picture.


left click to see pictures full size.
While these sections are round,we can also do rectangular shapes as well.


Part of the standard kit we supply are the support jigs you can see in this picture,made from sheet MDF and pre cut on our CNC machine,once assembled and made level,they make assembly a simple task,one man glued this mast up (me)



dry assembly is advised to check your glue joints will close up,especially when internal blocks are installed.


We have just made a kit to fit a John Welsford Navigator design,we used the optional NV12 plans for the Gaff Yawl,it has a longer mast than the normal one drawn on NV7.The pictures are of other birdsmouth spars we made (wharram tikki) but the work similar.

USS America,we arrive to be hosted for breakfast

left click any picture to fill your screen and see more detail.

Dennis,Hugh (our host) and myself.



This is in Salvador,Bahia,Brasil,we have been collected from our 38ft yacht by the ships own launch,we will soon be shown around the ship,then its the officers mess for breakfast!

Kayak building from our materials supplied

We supply materials only to some customers,when they buy their own plans as Alain has done with his kayak by CLC,we can CNC cut your own plans purchased too.

Message from Alain:

Hi Roy,

Here are some pictures of the kayak I am building with my Dad. Progress is slow but very enjoyable, we get to spend one afternoon a weekend working on the boat and I have learnt a tremendous amount about woodworking and especially about making accurate measurements from the offsets in the plans. Scarf joints are a breeze now, I can make one in 10 mins. We are busy making the fillets at the moment and look forward to glassing the hull next.

Thanks for all the materials and the advice.
Alain

Inside one of our Didi Mini Transats

The boats are big in heart and quite large inside,you just can not stand up,there is lots of space and wide bunks otherwise,the storage is good too.This picture is of Neville,he was fitting the forward removable front bulkead panel at the time.

Hout Bays past

Interesting Facts
Hout Bay
skip The first recorded inhabitants of the Hout Bay valley were the Khoisan.

The first European to visit & name an area was John Chapman, ship pilot of the Contest in 1607. He rowed ashore in the hope of finding provisions & named the bay Chapman's Chaunce (chance).

Jan van Riebeck in 1652 named it "t' Hout Baaitjen" (the Bay of Wood) due to the extensive forests in the area & it later became known as Hout Bay.

Timber from the forest was used for mast building & for the building of the Castle in Cape Town & shipped around the Mountain to Table Bay. It was because of this need that the Constantia Neck Road was built in 1666 to facilitate easier access.

But by 1679 there was very little left of the forests in Cape Town & Hout Bay so the cutting down of trees in Hout Bay was regulated & 15-16 years later, alien trees were planted. Many of these oak trees are still standing & most of the forested areas of Hout Bay are alien plantations, except for those in the Orangekloof Nature Reserve.

With the deforestation, land became available for farming & because of poor soil it was intially not very successful. Pigs & sweet potatoes were first grown here to feed the wood cutters & later sheep & cattle, but the wild animals proved a problem. Lion, leopard, elephant & other wild animals roamed the area.

Chapman's Peak
skip The bronze leopard on the rocks at Flora Bay, was sculptured and donated to the people of Hout Bay in 1963 by local sculptor, Ivan Mitford Barbeton, in memory of the many leopards that used to roam the woods of Hout Bay.

Chapman's Peak Drive was built by convict labor & took 7 years to build. Considered an impossible task, The Mountain consists of flat-lying succession of stratified sedimentary rock, belonging to the Table Mountain Group, resting on a gently sloping surface of a solid base composed of Cape Granite.

It was the French who built fortifications on the Eastern and Western sides to protect the Bay from the English in 1780. The ruins of the blockhouse and barracks at the East Fort can still be seen.

Manganese was mined on the slopes of the Constantiaberg between 1909 and 1911 & the old jetty at Flora Bay can still be seen.

Sheer Tenacity

Sheer Tenacity,Ilha Grande,a perfect cruising ground in a national state park.


Rod cleaning a nice sized fish he took in the islands.


Mary,Roy and Rod,picture by Mike.

Rod and Mary,owners of the Shearwater 39 flew into Cape Town last week,they came to our premises yesterday,they are looking relaxed and really well after a transatlantic crossing from Hout Bay to Ilha Grande island just south of Rio de Janerio,Brasil,the pictures say it all,the cruising life is a good one!

More Optimist kit built sailing pictures

This is a great series of pics of another of our plywood and epoxy kits,we supplied the equipment too.
Pictures were supplied by Vincent,he built the boat too.

CKD Boats premises

For those of you wanting to visit us or are just curious to where we trade from,this is the place we call home,we have been here six years now.

Optimist kit agents required

Thats grandpa watching his son and his grandaughter sail off for a first trip,I can imagine the great feeling grand dad had.


One of our kits,assembled and out for a first sail with the builders grandchild,what a nice thing to do!

One regular question we receive is will we supply our CNC files to cut our kits,for quite obvious reasons we always decline the offer,we do however require an agent to stock and sell our Optimist dinghy kit in the USA,or any other country for that matter.The enquiries we receive from the states are quite regular,so there must be a market there,we have shipped a number of Optimist kits but always as part of a larger boat kit,which means the Optimist will ship for as little as U$100 or less,if we ship just one kit it may be five times this,as we have to pay for a minimum of one cubic meter load,five kits makes around 1.2 cubes,so we can handle that costing easily,let me know if your out there,conected with sailing at the Optimist level and we can discuss the idea?

Singer Chamois Sport for sale

We even have the original seats,in a mess but very good for making a pefect copy,the front seats recline backwards,the rear seat folds down to make a massive parcel bay which is accessed via the opening rear window.




This body shell was hand stripped of all its sound seal tar coating,then proffesionally blasted to a bare metal after which it was sparayed with Sigma Coatings etch primer,inside and out.


All suspension points on this car are 100%


This is not the car on offer,it is a Singer Chamois and restored by myself some years back,car number 610 was white with a black interior and pale blue carpets,it can be finished to any colour required as it is a bead blasted and etch primed shell right now.


All parts are as new,the cylinder head has new guides and valves,the work was done by Viglietti Motors,the local Ferrari agents.



These parts are from car number 610 made from around 2500 only in 1966,yes the car is now 43 years old!The car was found complete,its original engine too,all numbers match,plus we found the original owner who just happened to still have all the cars documentation,export invoice,insurance documents,Earls Court Motor Show glossy sales brochures too.The parts and engine are all refurbished,it has a brand new exhaust manifold,we have the transaxle too,the body needs some metal work,we can undertake that or you can take it as a parcel,we can also to a full rebuild to as new specifications.

Mark Bowdidge Marine Design

SPORTZ 16
By Mark Bowdidge (ARINA)
BOWDIDGE MARINE DESIGNS
www.bowdidgemarinedesigns.com.au
THE DESIGN BRIEF

The Sportz 16 brief was for a fast and thrilling racing yacht with excellent performance high on the priority list, but yet at the same time it had to be easy to sail, with a comfortable cockpit for weekend day sailing for the family and a competitive racer without breaking the budget. The cockpit size and deck layout had to be carefully balanced to achieve this 3 fold role. The result is an attractive, easily to handle, 'club racer' or weekend day sail.

MATERIAL LIST
The following list of materials is approximate and intended for calculation of approximate costs. We offer no guarantees of accuracy. The list is for all timber in the construction of hull, deck and interior, including building stocks, temporary bracing etc. Allowance has been made in the quantities for about 10% wastage, with the exception of the building stocks and chipboard, which are net. These figures allow for building with 1/4 in (6mm) Kiri or Western Red Cedar skin for the hull and 1/4 in (6mm) Gaboon plywood for the deck and cockpit sole. All frames and bulkheads are CNC cut and constructed from 3/8 in (9mm) Gaboon Plywood.
Resin & glass quantities are only approx

WESTERN RED CEDAR/ PAULOWNIA TIMBER
30mm x 6mm (1/4") - 17 sq.m (182 sq/ft) - Hull planking
1600mm x 125mm x 13mm - keelson (1x)
1000mm x 115mm x 20mm (2 x) laminated stem piece
MARINE PLYWOOD
8'x4' (2.44x 1.22m) (Gabbon plywood -Okoume)
6mm (1/4") - 6 sheets approx.(decking, cockpit sole and ceilings)
EXTERIOR GRADE
9mm (3/8") - 4 sheets approx (bulkheads/ringframes)
SAWN PINE (for building stocks etc)
25X125mm (1"x3") (rails) - 9.4m (31')
42x19mm (1"-5/8 x 3/4") (frame supports ) - 8.7m (28')
Hoop Pine, Oregon or similar,
30x19mm (1-1/4"x3/4") (Header, sole & deck longitudinals & sheer clamps) -33 m (108')
RESIN & GLASS (for coatings and reinforced areas)
Epoxy resin (low viscosity 100% solids) - 40kg (88 lb)
450g/sq.m Biaxial fabric - 1 roll (100mm wide) 20m (65ft) -Tabbing
200g/sq.m cloth fabric - 48sq.m (516sq.ft) - sheathing the hull external/internal, keel & rudder.
2kg glue powder ( Cabosil-FGI)
2kg Q-Cells ( fairing powder)










Morgan making sure his building stocks are level.


Mark Bowdidge looks like a good fisherman too.

We have had Mark on our list of designers since last year,you will find a link to him on our 'links' page or at http://www.bowdidgemarinedesigns.com.au/Bowdidge_Marine_Designs_1/Contact_Us.html,copy and paste this to an email or send us your message and we will handle it for you.

Mark has a number of designs that suit what we like to offer,one is the Sportz 16 sailing boat,its a strip plank build,so a change from what we have so far offered,here are some build pictures,we will be offering CNC cut bulkheads soon,plus all te related materials as a package.