Johns Didi Mini Cruise project news

As ever,building boats is a time consuming business but its not about the time taken,its satisfaction you get from standing back at the end of the day and seeing your progess made.

John started with the main CNC cut kit,then as he progressed placed an order to the drop keel foil and lead ballast halves,thats 400 kgs of hot pour lead.We also supplied the lifting gear in 316 stainless steel,plus the deck gear fittings in alloy and stainless.This gave John the push and pulpits,deck stantions,tiller and related parts,stem fitting and also the chain plates.

A third order was for the Harken deck package,this is detailed and allows for Harkens various up dated part numbers. Note the drop keel foil sticking out of the coach roof.

Andre's light weight canoe

The canoe in the pictures was designed around 4mm ockume marine plys,Andre made one from our 3mm Superform bending plys,saving around 50% in the boats weight,such savings are normally only posible using expensive exotics,in our case the bending ply is actually cheaper than the marine ply!

Check out the nice detail works and how the pale straw shade of the Superform Bending ply blends in with the trim,its nicer than normal marine ply I think?

This was not built from one of our kit sets but could be if you buy the plans and supply them to us,we can of course supply all the required materials right through to paints.

Easy building using the well known stitch and glue method.

We have suggested a super light build of boats using our bending plys before,its around 50% lighter than marine plys,check this one out as built by Andre.

Hi Roy,

Hope you are well. This is a 14' Chesapeake light Craft kayak, I used your'e 3mm bendy ply.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Andre.

From Switzerland to Spain

We  can add in South Africa too,Kyrill bought the Mk1 Didi Mini Transat plans from Dix Design,then built hinself the boat he has now,reaching the stage when it needs fitting out he has now placed his order with CKD Boats cc for the deck engineering pack.

Spain? well later this week he will move the boat by road to warmer waters.

That is a great pro build trailer,the angle is required to make the given load narrower on the highway,most countries want about 2.4 meters,the Didi Mini Transat is 3 meters wide.

Iate Clube Da Bahia, Salvador at 3252

Always a favorite destination of mine,Salvador,Bahia,Brasil is a great place to make landfall,visitors at the Salvador Yacht Club,which is five star, are made very welcome and will hold mail for you in their front office.

Picture by R McBride

Trixi,Dennis and Michelle cross the road at the main entrance,beware when you step out into the road,the cars are coming from the opposite direction to what we were used to! left click for a larger image.

Roy

Robs Toylander progress

Two images of progress to-date.


A pre Easter mail from our Toylander kit builder Rob:

I have made up all the steel and got the motors wheels lights etc from the UK. The tub is ready for painting. Will be away for Easter so it will have to wait until after that.

Regards

Rob

Note,wheels can be found in SA if you look long and hard enough but the motors are best sourced direct from the UK and Real Life Toys,who can supply the right units off the shelf.

Roy

What a great picture!

Happy Mothers day

Mothers all over the world should  have a Mothers Day,so why not,its a family thing and well done.

Picture taken by R McBride using a Canon FT camera and Kodaks Ektachrome 100asa pro, slide film.

A mother with her daughters (ours) this shot was taken in Sao Luis on the Brasilian North East coast while we cruised as a family on our Endurance 37 Ocean Cloud,both daughters now have their own children,well done girls.

Mothers Day as Google sees it,when is Fathers day?

Roy

Harry Ellens,the sailmaker

The original Ellens and Hudson sailmakers cloth badge,as seen world wide as sailors went cruising.


This corner was cut off when a genoa was changed from being a hanked on sail to a furler when a Harken system furler was installed,you can see the quality of the stitching and leather work is good.


This Ellens and Hudson mainsail is still in good condition,its tan cloth is nice on the eyes while sailing.

Why mention Harry? well I have never met the guy but I have seen the Ellens and Hudson lable on his sails many times over,the hand work looks good and Harry had a good name while his loft in Durban was open,he later closed and worked for North Sails I believe.

May 8th 2011,well it took some years you get an answer but here it is'thanks Len.

Hi Roy,


You were asking of Harry Ellens – he ran a Doyle Loft and then a UK Sails Loft in Durban for a while, later came down to Cape Town for about a year where he worked at Quantum and did sail design for Sanders Sails in Lymington before moving to the UK to work for Peter Sanders in Lymington.

Regards,

Len

Len Davies