The return of The Pinkertons (Hout Bay branch)

Aka Mr and Mrs Phillips,off on a night watch patrol looking for ghosts and other strange things found in the night?

Fiona and Justin trying their search light out.

A christmas gift,the Toylander

For the child who has everything but their own personal transports:

(within the terms of sale,see note below)

 This Toylander is now just about ready to receive its
new 12 volt motor and 40:1 reduction gear box,as the assembly is now its a Push Away option and saves cash over the motor option.

Our demonstration Toylander,its only a year old and with a couple of coats of twin pack auto paints is now nearly as good as new.

The German imported switch control,which when connected to a 12 volt motor, gives Park in the center and Forward and Reverse with either 1 or 2 options.The motor drive option is suitable for children about five years and older.The Toylander in a push mode is suitable for any age?

Front wheels are controled by the steering wheel,just like on a real car (almost)

The new owner will have the option to fit lights.

Both cars have seating for four.

The loading bay door,tail lights are optional to owners choice.

Space for a driver and friend.

Space for two and weekend gear,or two passengers in the rear.

Note: the Toylander,is as its name suggests,a toy,it is not allowed on a public road or space and should not be driven at a speed that exceeds 4mph which is 6 kmph.At all times it is expected that parental supervision be used when a child plays with such a toy.We offer and  accept no liability to either a buyer or end user of any sort,the risk,if any, is undertaken in full by the buyer and or user.

CKD Boats cc

Furuno and Green on the Screen

This old (very) Furuno 1800 radar is a great bit of kit,when it works that is,the set seems voltage dependant and in the past has often just switched itself off,or refuses to show anything much at all.

Like much on the boat,the Furuno 1800,thats a 25 mile range by the way,has been re cycled and arrived used but as far as I could see not abused.There was no cable,thats an 11 multi core wire,I had that made up by a local guy who knew what he was doing.The missing radome cover I made from 5mm Superform bending plywood and epoxy,that cover has been in place some ten years now,its still just perfect.

I have just used a slightly longer and I think better fuse,the internal wire has a white powder around it,I think its an 8amp fuse? the set lights up now and runs straight off the batteries where often before the engine was required to be running.In a perfect world a set that draws this kind of load would have a dedicated circuit breaker,its not a perfect world though is it.

The owners hand book does say that a piece of equipment this good does deserve its own breaker,I think they are correct,as excepting the windlass,the radar draws more amps than any other piece of equipment on the boat.

Note: the Furuno hand book mentions a 10amp fuse,which is on the rear of the display cabinet.

The set is a 3 KW and is suitable for a wide range of voltages without changes,from 10.2 v to 40.0 v,it draws 43 watts,thats 3.5amps at 12 volts.

R McB

Restored Toylander repainted and is for sale

Not that a one year old Toylander really needed a respray,more the fact that some parts such as the windscreen base,front lower apron,dash panel seats and the back door were painted on one side only,some not at all.

The special DK Auto type twin pack paints make such a good job,the Toylander has spent much of 2011 out in the weather,with an epoxy base paint over an epoxy coating on the marine grade ply,its very much weather proof.

To touch up such paint coatings is not so easy,so a full body strip down and full repaint was the result,the painting alone takes two sesions as the lower side has to cure before we can do the top sides.

The refit of the engineering pack has now begun,all metal has been spray painted with a very special MCU ( moisture cure urethane) silver paint,it will last a long time.

R McB

Toylander engineering pack ex stock

We now have a set of front and rear axles,control arms,steering rack and front bumper,front screen mount arms, in stock,there is a drive wheel option too.

 Left click the picture,it should become larger.

We include a full pack of nuts and bolts,suitable for the fastenings and some other items you may add to your own Toylander build.

A mark 3 drive wheel with better rims and a stronger drive gear.

How hard can this be? well even I managed to make one,so it must be very easy!

R McB

New post about a new style blog

This is an admission in that being self trained in things to do with computers, I may have done some (quite a few) things wrong when the blog is concerned? Some have sent me mails saying the entries on the right hand side where wrong but I failed to grasp just why,when they looked just fine to me!

Roy and Jean

Thanks a stack for those who tried to correct my errors and especially Justin, a fellow HBYC member who could also see the faults,they were so bad the blog was near stagnant,you would have to wait for ages to see it load.The pages are still being adjusted,so to those who have been regular viewers since it started in July 2007,please do re visit now and again and see whats happening in Cape Town and CKD Boats cc.

Try http://www.ckdboats.com/

R McB

Teak Cockpit Grates

Never an easy thing to make but they do last and they do look good,they also work well under bare feet or sailing shoes.

These are over ten years old now,they have been serviced twice,as some joints will always come free on the glue line,which is just about all that holds them together.A good wash with oxalic acid and a light sand with a 60 grit orbital sander soon has them looking quite new again.

Special shapes such as in this boats center cockpit,will require a template which you can supply in thin cardboard.Squares and rectangles are just size related.

How hard can this be? (takes a long time though!)

R McB

The KD 860 Catamaran kit

We get a fair number of enquiries to supply catamaran kits,one popular size being Bernd Kholers KD860.
the kit we supply is all the materials on the designers list,down to the carbon fiber,which we also include.

This is the timber only,in this case we used selected American White Poplar,it gives a good finish,does not have shakes and comes in long lengths.Added to the timber was the plys,epoxies,glass cloth and tapes,plus the 3M micro balloons and fumed silicas to make fillets and fillers with.


The final package is quite a lot of materials!

R McB

Aerogen 24 volt stator in stock

I was fortunate to be in the right place when a friend fitted new Aerogen wind chargers to his yacht.There was a problem in that his boat was 24 volt and I needed a 12 volt unit for the boat I was going to install it on.

24 volt Aerogen stator.

The agents imported a 12 volt stator and we fitted that on a customers boat.

Note we also fitted new bearings to the main shaft,if you do this,be sure to use genuine SKF bearings,there is a difference to other makes and the SKF will last longer.

As new and for sale.

R McB

Superform bending plys

We can advise on our stockists right now,some sizes are short on supply,for the next delivery we ask that you book now,as there are still a few packs available.The next container load arrives in mid January 2012.

Simply the best,ask our customers,it bends better than any other,its also water proof and carries a valid CE approoval stamp on each pack lot,which is vital if your company is involved in any sort of export manufacturing.

R McB

Teak Grab rails

We still have a stock of these,as stock items they will not be replaced but special orders may be possible.

Made to replicate the Thai Teak range imported some twenty years back,they should fit most boats in South Africa that already have them and need new replacements.

R McB

Teak lumber and teak made decking

We still have prime grade teak ex stock,its also kiln dried.With some expert joiners still in Cape Town we can normally put you in touch with a pro who can make you a teak grate or lay a teak deck for you.We also supply Dow Corning 813c black silicone for the caulking lines.

A teak laid deck panel,the grain has been sawn to the correct quarter sawn pattern for long life.

Teak of the same quality we import direct,this was to lay the decks on two 70ft catamarans.

Ships navigation lights for sale

We have an excess of lights,these are way too large for our own christmas tree and may just suit your own,or even your next boat? We can ship world wide,the pair will cost you only U$250 or R2000 plus pack and post.

We have the fresnal lens and a red cover,wired to take a normal 220v bulb,they may just look good outside your house,you just aim between the red and green when you drive home.Made from solid copper sheet I believe.

R McB

Plastimo AT 50 tiller pilot drive gears and belt kit

I say Plastimo but they may also off be another make,I have a few of these kits and they date back about 25 years or so,someone out there may just have a self steering tiller pilot that needs new drive belts and gears?

A Plastimo (navik) tiller pilot AT 50, on eof the better Tiller Pilots at the time.

Compass

Control

Tiller pilot Plastimo AT50, is I think the correct model number,I still have a brand new one as a back up to my vane gear.

New old stock and sealed packets.

Brand new and off a tiller pilot from some years back,you may just have one waiting for a new service kit?  U$31 a set plus shipping.

R McB

Astra's road trailer,as drawn by Jean

Re opening the Astra files showed me a few interesting pages which brought back some memories:

To move a 28ft Tumlaren from the FBYC to the HBYC needed transports by road,as the crow flies its not very far but as the tow truck drives its a rather long way,with at least a few mountain passes along the way.
My idea was to ' borrow' a trailer from the HBYC boat park,which one was not difficult given what was in the yard.

The basics were sketched out by me,Jean then filled in with the faces and all the other stuff!

In the end an L26 trailer was used,its made from steel,the L26 is a very different shape to a Tumlaren but with the boat loaded backwards and secured with timber bracing,plus lots of threaded rod bolts,none of which could be fastened to the L26 trailer,we made our way out of the Simonstown car park and on and up to Sun Valley. Then on to the main pass at Ou Kaapse Weg (old cape road) an eventfull trip in so much as nothing went wrong and we arrived safely in Hout Bay Harbour some hours later.

How hard can this be.

R McB

Astra revisited

Its now some 15 years since I got invloved with the restoration of a Tumlaren named ASTRA,now and again another one pops up but never in South Africa,she was (i think) the only one in the country?

At this stage she was some 72 years old,she will now be close to 78 years old? having been built in 1934.

Read the story of Astra in these two links.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/designs/astra/index.htm

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/designs/astra/index2.htm

Last  week news came in from Holland of another boat,believed to have been built in Australia,where a large fleet was known to exist.

Adam Marshall has been gifted this Tumlaren and asks about a sail plan,I have no name for the boat or hull number,this can be added later.

Toylander for sale in Cape Town

Just in time for Christmas.

Our demonstrator is having a refit and will soon have rear wheels with ball bearings and nice silver MCU painted metal parts,plus a re spray in our favorite bright yellow.Available as a push car version or with a single 12 volt dc motor drive at an extra charge. Now for sale so we can start work on the next one.

Contact me on 021 790-3859 for information.

Christmas is for kids,so are Toylanders

It looks like Ben and Holly are enjoying a ride in our Toylander,Druma the dog wants a piece of the action too?

How to clean stainless rigging wire

This is a simple fix but you will need to make a large round bath as I did using Superform bending plys,the base was plain 16mm chipboard,the entire bath was made waterproof with some of our AR 600 thin epoxy.

Make up an acid mixture of about 1 kg of oxalic acid,use hot water to disolve the white powder,then dilute and fill the tub up,about three to four days and your rigging looks like new again!

How hard can this be?

R McB