Johns Didi mini cruise build progress pictures

John has applied his first coat of the epoxy we supplied,he will now sand that and apply a second coating,John hopes to be turning his hull shortly.



We ask all of our kit buyers to send pictures if they can,this certainally helps others who are building our kits elsewhere,this way one builder will normally be on a different stage of the same boat and he can find out in pictures whats next?

Singer Chamois Coupe for sale,1969 model?

A similar model,this one won a prize in its class at the Imp Clubs 2007 Hop Farm annual club meeting.




We know some of the Imp class of cars are now very rare but few as rare as the Singer Chamios Coupe we now have for sale,thought to be a 1969 model but as no paper work or engine/chassis numbers exist,at the time of writing this can not be confirmed,what can be confirmed is it is a four head light Singer Chamois Coupe,the picture of the front of the car tell us that much.

For those needing more info please email me at Roy@comlumber.com ,we can ship world wide,with an engine and transaxle if required.

Some known history:

I spent about 3 years fixing up the car:

Cut rust from rear quarter panels, repaired both sides’ outer and inner panels with fibre sections
Full respray
Rewired
Retrim roof/side/door panels
Re-upholstered back seat cushions (front seats were still good)
Fit new carpet throughout
Retrim and refurbished the dash, adding a custom hardwood dash insert with full set of individual Jeager gauges from a Citroen!!
At no point did the car have decent wheels: I got it with 13 x 7 Ford “Rostyle” wheels that had the mounting holes reamed by hand to fit. I wanted to fit Minilites, but at the time could not set the money aside…The only other issues that remained were to repair the waterpump (I planned to eventualy fit an electrical pump and recore the radiator), and find a driver side window, but then I accepted a job in and relocated to the USA. The vehicle was in storage for about a year when a friend’s friend made an offer on it…



Now that I have it back the issues are:

Chassis plate (removed from position next to fuel filler before respray) missing
Engine and gearbox was sent for refurbishing by previous owner, but the shop closed down…I may be able to trace the owner of the shop, but what happened to the drivetrain no-one knows
Front seats, rear seat cushions missing
Sideshafts…one missing, one present but not fitted, thus rear hubs can not hold wheels (which are also missing) on car…
RH front brake drum and shoes missing
Front indicator/parking lights missing
two dents on right side above and below rear quarter window (but should be an easy fix)


The body is still largely straight and rust-free, but what is perhaps more important is that none of the trim went missing!!!, and all glass remains intact (except for drivers window which was never there)

If I remember correctly, the chassis number was along the lines of B722000853, but I am not absolutely sure…I do know that at the time I researched it all indications were that it was a 69 model, and propably one of the last made.



Whereas the car was a fine example to be preserved when I sold it, now it would be good for spares, donor car, or for building a coupe from an existing saloon, or (shock, horror!!!) modification/rodding/racer, or given enough resources, restoration back to spec

Toylander,the start and the end in stages

Buy your original Toylander brand plans from CKD Boats.


This is the intened end product,not one from our kits but there is no reason why this high standard of finish should not be the result.



We cut our first Toylander series 2 some while back,the customer did the build himself with the help of his son,I must say the idea of creating a project such as this and being able to have your child work with you has its attractions,there is always some work to do and when your finished your daughter or son can drive it,the learning process is a quantum leap in engineering,from building the shell,which requires a person to read and understand drawings,to the joinery and building,which of course requires the use of hand tools,both wood working, mechanical and electrical (12 volt dc).The end result will be a learing process that will give an insite ito the use of tools many years down the line.

Packing another kit,we can now supply tempered glass cut to your sizes.

In this case the toughened glass will sit inside the rebated frame it belongs to.


Mike applying shipping lables.


Whats inside the crate.

I had an enquiry as to whats happening here right now,the past few days we have packed a hard dodger kit thats going to New Zealand,this follows our development that started at least a year back,the demo unit turned out great and based on that we can now offer sized based around the first one.

The structure is very solid and has its toughened glass rebated into the 15mm marine ply walls,with 7mm deep and 15mm wide section,the 6mm glass sits well bedded in the Dow-Corning 813 silicone sealant we also supply.Toughened glass is quite low cost here,so we can now offer that in either clear or tinted,all we need are your sizes or templates,we can pack and ship anyplace?

AISWatchMate®

This is the information you will receive on each vessel.

I have been an advocate of the AIS system since I first found out about it a few years back,the basics say all vessels over 350 tons must have it installed,this then gives out a constant signal such as the boats name,heading,speed and call sign number,plus what it may carry too.The transciever is an exppensive item but for yachts persons a reciever only can be quite low cost,the lower the cost,the less you get and with the bottom end units you will need either a plotter,radar or PC to display the information.

We have been asked to source a AISWatchMate and we expect to see some arrive in this country soon,you will still require a transponder/receiver and we now recomend the Icom MXA-5000 which will work well with the Watchmate,for more info read below.

We can ship either the Watchmate or Icom MXA-5000 world wide,please contact me on pricing at roy@comlumber.com

Target Plot Provides a radar-like display of all vessels within the selected range. The display is oriented heading-up so it's very easy and natural to interpret. Dangerous and lost targets are readily identified.

Graphical Plot Shows Crossing Situations Shows the relative position of a target vs. your vessel at the closest point of approach. This provides a graphical view of the crossing situation and clearly indicates whether a target will pass ahead or behind.

CPA and TCPA Computes the closest point of approach and time until CPA. Alarms may be based on these and other factors.

Bearing and Range Computes the bearing and range to each vessel. Bearing can be displayed in magnetic to facilitate easy visual identification using your compass and binoculars (requires magnetic variation data supplied by GPS). Bearings can alternatively be displayed in true or relative to your vessel's heading.

Prioritisation Vessels and alarms are presented in priority order.

Filtering To minimize clutter and false alarms, vessels can be filtered from either display or alarms.

CPA alarm Triggers alarm if a vessel will come too close. Full control of alarm parameters.

Guard alarm Sounds alarm if any vessel comes within the specified range. Both CPA alarms and guard alarms may be used together.

External alarm trigger In addition to the internal alarm, an external buzzer, alarm, or signal light can be interfaced without requiring any additional relays (max 2A).

Consise and easy to read displays
Uncluttered easy to read display shows all available AIS data.

Class A and class B Displays AIS data received from all class A and class B transponders.

Safety messages Displays received AIS Broadcast Safety Messages. These messages may contain important safety, navigation, weather, or shipping information.

Aids to navigation Full support for AIS aids to navigation including off-position and virtual aid indicators.

GPS failure alert Alerts you if your GPS stops working.

Transponder monitoring When coupled with a transponder it will alert you if the transponder has an operational problem, such as transmission failure.

Large backlit LCD Adjustable daylight viewable backlit 125mm (5") LCD.

Easy to use Four buttons control all features. Each button is clearly labeled on-screen. Buttons are backlit for night time use and illumination brightness is controllable. Each setting has on-screen help.

Ultra-Low power consumption Designed for minimal power consumption the AISWatchMate is extremely well suited for energy conscious vessels.

External interface Easy interfacing to optional computers, chart plotters or other devices.