AIS antenna spliter for the Watchmate AIS

Tony was installing the antenna spliter to his Watchmate AIS today,this box is a clever bit of kit,it means you can still use your existing masthead VHF antenna for transmission on VHF but also send and receive with the AIS,plus,this unit allows you to also receive FM AND AM radio signals too,what a bonus.

The Argie 10

Picture credits,all taken from the Dix Design web site.



This was Dudleys first venture into mass produced dinghy design,free plans were issued in the evening news paper The Argus,many must have been built at that time,its still a very good design.Light enough to carry on a small cars roof rack carrier but large enought to carry four adults with ease,sail,row or motor power,its happy with any of the three.

The Dixi Dinghy

We have found this boat is being looked at more and more,while its our smallest kit boat its also a big load carrier,its fine under motor and sail its also low priced at R3299 for the base kit plus plans.divide by 7.5 to get to a U$ price.
Sergey Kravchenko made a nice job building his Dixi Dinghy in Khabarovsk on the River Amur in Eastern Russia.

Dixi Dinghy Tender.

Dixi Dinghy sailing.




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The Pink Boat

This is new to me,pink paint primer,the boat is a Cape Cutter 19 we supplied as a kit to Ian in Picton,New Zealand,Ian is close to being ready to do a final fill and sand,having a primer of another colour is no bad idea,it allows you to moniter the coats that follow,as in white on white can be hard to see? for fairing and finding those high spots,a very light mist of grey or black can work wonders,as soon as you apply a sander block,the darker colour comes off but the hollows and bumps are exposed,its an auto trade trick,try it and see.

Traditional mast repairs

Traditional style,Steve raises his new top mast on Dixi Rollar,the original wood one having snapped off while on a trial sail in the bay prior to sailing off to Brasil,the new spar is painted steel,Steve tells me its is painted,he tried a steel section that was hot dip galvanised,it was a fair bit heavier than a bare steel section,so painting with marine grade paints made sense to Steve.
Left click pictures to see full size and just how casual Steve is up high in his rigging!

The Shipwreck

We have been 'gifted' a fine model of an old sailing boat,at some time it was mostly fully rigged but seems to have hit quite a storm in later years,its time to raise its top masts again and make her look a little more presentable,the deck fittings are fantastic,tiny bronze,rigging screws,cannon,anchor,propellor,lots more,check her out in my office next time your in the area.Thanks to Lars off Redfin for the gift.

Roy
Left click the picture to see more detail.

Flying Cloud from aloft

Ten years old today,the boat was/is a one off,Dudley Dix drew the hull and deck lines but in steel,later designed the steel keel shoe and balanced rudder assemblies,I built the boat and added the center coach roof,later the hard dodger,the end result was very pleasing.She is one ton lighter than the original steel design,with a 50/50 weight split on the keel to boat when launched,so always sails well,even though the boats mast is 1.7 meters shorter than designed.The hull took me six weeks only to build on my own,excepting a little help in the first few days setting up the bulkheads.We can offer CNC cut bulkheads to this Dix 43 design.

A birthday boats mast head vista

A general view from the top of Flying Clouds masthead looking towards the village of Hout Bay,thats the back of Table Mountain in the distance.The marina is accesed from the north mole,the HBYC is located at the other end on the land,its behind that fish factory with the blue roof.
Left click pictures to view full size,pics by R McBride using a Canon G11 on auto setting.

Flying Cloud from the masthead

The view from the top of this Dix 43 is great,the boat is wood/epoxy,now ten years old today,thats January 17th 2000 that it was launched,time to get the flags out!