Our newest kit offering,the Cape Charles 32' ocean cruiser in a traditional style

January 2016, this design is still not complete, at this time we cannot quote on a kit or the price of the plans.

Left click on any picture to view full size!


This is a design you can build just about all of yourself, traditional means a hands on approach, so large cost savings are made in the do it yourself making of gear and fittings.




This boat is a size we can relate to when we need a boat that will be home to a couple or even a small family,its large enough to sail most places and being traditional in its rig, as low cost as its possible to find, you can make your own mast from a kit we can supply or we can make one complete and ready to raise for you.

Building this boat will be very easy and quite simple, you will be working with mainly flat sheets of plys, so no laminated radius to slow you down, I would expect this boat to be skinned off in a matter of weeks from one of our CNC cut kits.

The layout shown is variable,this is a large volume interior, so you have a lot of space, which in turn gives a lot of options. As with all Dudley Dix designs you will get first class technical drawings, details such as rudder, mast, sails, engine, chain plates, etc all as part of the plans.

 Dudley is known for his quality of design package, plus as a part time  boat builder himself, he knows what works and details this in his drawings.

This boat can now be supplied as a kit which you can have shipped as a flat pack, or as a built up hull and deck structure to any form of completion.

St Lucia to St Maarten aboard Jacana

The trip on Jacana, a Fortuna 37 by the Family Notman was the extension of the two previous trips Notty had done with Roy on Ocean Planet and Ocean Cloud, both are Endurance 37 yachts. This time Notty takes his wife Sonia and son Dion.

The voyage does a lot more than just go to Brasil, they take in the South Atlantic islands of St Helena, then Asscension Isle before Brasil,after which they sail most of the West Indies island chain. They then head off on another ocean passage and on to the Azores and Spain, with England being a final destination.

This movie is the reason why we do what we do and tend to want to do it more than once!

We can supply it at U$5.00 or R40 localy, payment by Pay-Pal is accepted.

Special offer, if you take the two DVDs the price will be just U$7.50 or R60 to local buyers.

Roy 

Cape Town to Salvador,Brasil the DVD

The movie version has been around some while, starting with the 1988 trip on Ocean Planet and when she went on the Uruguay Race as Tal Gal. The crew was an all girl event with six Cape Town girls on board, they never got further than Rio de Janerio due to the very light winds that year.

The boats return was by Roy McBride and Alex (notty) Notman, the pair did a 32 day trip back to Cape Town.

The movie was filmed and edited by Notty, he added the music and did all the work, he started with a three hour VHS tape, then selected from that to give a compact version  of the trip. As a bonus is the second trip and on Ocean Cloud, the boat Roy took off the rocks at Slangkop,then rebuilt and went sailing, again to Brasil but the better direction this time.

The CD can be purchased for just U$5.00 or R40 in South Africa, payment by Pay-Pal is acceptable.

Roy

Yacht Elangeni,J683,at Peters Place,Brasil

Elangeni,a Durban yacht and sponsered by a hotel of the same name, had entered the Uruguay Race from Cape Town and like many found not enough wind to finish the race in the alloted time,so pulled out and retired at Rio de Janerio,here she is pictured with her race crew at Peters Place,Ilha Grand,sixty miles south of Rio and on her way back to Cape Town.



March 2nd 2012, this mail has just come in!

Hi Roy

My name is Edwin Collingridge, I was the young kid aboard "Elangeni" that is me reading a book on the coach roof, way back in 1985. We must have met at the time I am sure. Any other photos?

Traditional wood block making kit

we have a bag of these parts on offer, the wood is very nice teak and the sheaves are in the correct Tuffnol. You will have to supply your own center pin and side straps, plus the through bolts.

the left hand block cheeks have the top and bottom spacers fitted, the right hand block has just been screwed together, it will come apart to accept the end spacers.

Well priced for a quick sale!

Roy

The Didi Mini Transat Mark 2

The mark 2 has a similar materials list to the mark 1, in our kit to both designs, we include the extra materials to the boats interior,they are also CNC cut, we are the only
company to offer this?

The basic kit without the wood to building stocks and stringers will cost you U$5854 only, about Rands 46,834 plus Vat to local customers.

We can ship to the USA at about U$500 or close.

Note, we can also do the Didi Mini Cruise, there are some extra plys to build in cost wise.

One of our export kits we sent to Pittsburg, USA, a group of college kids are building it.
DUDLEY DIX YACHT DESIGN


Didi Mini

Radius Chine Plywood

TIMBER 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 20% wastage, with the exception of the building stocks and chipboard, which are net.

These figures allow for building with 6mm plywood skin for hull and deck. If you want to build with the optional 9mm hull skin then replace the 3mm plywood with 4 or 4.5mm thick, whichever is available in your area and replace 7 sheets of 6mm plywood with 7 sheets of 9mm. The extra weight of the increased plywood thickness will be approximately 30kg (66lb) with Okoume plywood.

MARINE PLYWOOD 1,22x2,44m (4'x8') (preferably Gaboon or Okoume plywood)

3mm (1/8") - 7 sheets

6mm (1/4") - 18 sheets (21 sheets for Cruise-Mini) at an extra cost

9mm (3/8") - 17 sheets

12mm (1/2") - 2 sheets (4 sheets for Cruise-Mini) at an extra cost

RESIN & GLASS (for coatings and reinforced areas)

Epoxy resin (low viscosity 100% solids) - 40kg (90lb)

50mm (2") Wide woven tape - 60m (200')

75mm (3") Wide tape - 15m (50')

100mm (4") Wide tape - 15m (50')

450g/sq.m Biaxial fabric - 8sq.m (90sq.ft)

The above list is what we include in the base kit.

One of the two Didi Mini Transats we built, named Warlock and seen here at the RCYC in Cape Town Harbour, it was this boat that allowed us to develop the boats interior, that includes the ballast water tanks as well.

Roy

The inside and out of the Cape Henry 21 yacht

Now being built here in Cape Town, we have one of our kits assembled and fast reaching the stages when it will be spray painted.

This is a very large volume boat, check all that space, this boat will have the twin bilge keels to optimise the floor space inside.

We can now offer the base kit as a flat pack of plys, or the options to the rest of the boats materials.

There is a huge double berth forwards, then two singles port and starboard.

This makes the maximum out of the 21 feet of boats length, room for a small stove and a book shelf, a Porta Pottie type loo can also be made to fit.

The cockpit is spacious, there is more space here than on the Compass 47 yacht on the right.

Built up hull and deck units now available to your order.

The Cape Henry 21, its a larger version of the Cape Cutter 19, just 10% longer it is 30% larger volume wise, there is a Cape Charles 32 to the same principal on the drawing board too, this sounds like a great sized cruising boat.

Roy

Figaro V has a new none slip deck finish

Seen here and looking really fine, Figaro V looks as good as I have seen for some years. The dark blue hull paint was changed to protect the cold moulded hull from the effects of the sun, the new none slip deck system tie it all together and give the boat a highly waterproof and hard wearing deck cover.

Paints and the special none slip materials are from CKD Boats cc.

Roy

Hout Bay Harbour four years back

Time flys and having just found this picture I realise that the cat was launched then is now in Australia,the Dix 43 has its mast repainted and back on.

Photo by RMcBride using a Sony cybershot digital camera.

My thanks to the guys at Sparcraft who tied the two mast lifts into a one day event.

you will find it hard to do this kind of job on your own, so also thanks to Rod and Athol whe were up around 6am to help with the line pulling.

 The morning coffee tasted great.

Rod left, Athol to the right, thanks guys!

Rod and his wife Mary have been cruising some three years now, they are in the West Indies and on Shear Tenacity, their Shearwater 39. Athol is preparing his William Gardener design for a trip one day.

Cape town moves in to winter

Winter, the name means different things to different people, so called global warming may affect some, our winter is not yet as harsh as that one spent down south by Iron Bark and my good friend Annie Hill.

 Picture by Trevor?

Thats Annie holding the bowsprit up.

By late spring Iron Bark was completly buried by snow.

Remind me to stay north of Antartica this winter!

How hard can that be.

Read more about Trevor and Annie in this blog, now that is a real winter.

http://iron-bark.blogspot.com/2011/10/iron-bark-in-antarctica-winter.html

Annie has her own blog, there is a lot of detail on the spots they visited here.

Did you know there was a Transvaal Bay in Antartica, well Gough Island anyway, there is a South African weather base down there.

http://annie-hill.blogspot.com/

GOUGH ISLAND

40°21'S 9°52'W

Chart 1769: Gough Island
H M Admiralty Pilot, Africa Vol ii

Gough Island lies just in the Roaring Forties and is 230 miles SSE of Tristan de Cunha. It is a dependency of St Helena. The South African Government lease the island for use as a weather station, which is situated at Transvaal Bay on the SE end of the island. Visitors are not permitted ashore unless they have a medical emergency– such as a loose filling. There is a paramedic on the island, who was very obliging about Badger’s emergency.

Gough Island is well watered and covered in luxurious vegetation. There are several mountains, the highest being Edinburgh Peak at 910m.

Transvaal Bay

Anchorage

We anchored in Transvaal Bay, nearly 1 cable N of Standoff Rock and a little S of the gorge, S of the met. station, in a depth of 13m, rocky bottom. This gives good protection from the W’ly quadrant, but is otherwise exposed. There is no easy landing ashore, but it might be possible to do so at the gorge (the cliffs are very steep, but a rope on the N side of the gorge, is rigged to assist access).

The Traditional Boat Association

Note,Annie Hill was one of the TBA editors while she was staying here in Cape Town, she bought a locally built Van Der Stadt, Dogger and intended cruising that but seems to have had the offer from Trevor to sail on Iron Bark. Annie has writen many books and it showed in the fine quality of her TBA news letters, many thanks Annie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Hill

Annie Hill continued her sailing aboard Iron Bark, a 35ft, steel gaff cutter. She and Pete divorced in 2001 and she now travels with her second husband, Trevor Robertson. In 2004/05 they spent the winter on Iron Bark frozen in a remote bay in Greenland.^{[citation needed]} She is now based in New Zealand where she lives aboard a 26ft fibreglass boat Fantail that she converted to junk rig in 2011.

Annie has now covered more than 165,000 nautical miles (306,000 km) under sail. In March 2010, she and Trevor received one of the most prestigious awards in the sailing world, theBlue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America

My thanks to Wikipedia for the info in the two paragraphs above.

Roy

The Hout Bay Yacht Club marina planks

Some years back (many) I promoted the use of our local SA Pine (radiata) as the correct wood to use on our marina walkways. The reasons are simple to understand, any hard wood will be a lot heavier, plus the use of Balau, as was the practice for many years, was an import.

Imported timbers take funds offshore and hardly do much good for our local mills, the change to Karri or Blue Gum (diversicolour) sorted that out but the cost was still higher than pine,as was the weight. 

SA Pine is also plantation grown, Mondi run a quality program and we can be sure the growth cycle is correct.

This is not a fencing grade and bought down to a low price, rather a structural grade that will be strong and give many years of service.

The pine is a quality V5 grade and the same as would be used in building trusses, its been CCA treated and will withstand the weather and sea water. I later changed the dimensions to make the thickness some 3mm  thicker, there is a small rebate on each end, the thicker board will make the planks last many years longer.

Roy

Birdsmouth mast making jigs

We developed the jigs with the idea of making mast making more easy, that was prooven to be the case many times over. With the jigs glued up and fastened to a
known straight bench, a great deal of guess work is removed before you even start.

Lined up with a length of fishing line, these will hold the five staves that are laid in place first, the next three staves will then support themselves.

Glued up with our resorcenol, or phenolic glue, the construction becomes very strong.

To get to the round stage a light dressing down with an electric plane is handy but not a must, the finished must always be done by hand and a long jack plane.

For the full sequence of making these masts please view the link below.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/howto/birdsmouth/index.htm

This is Mike hand sanding a mast we made for a Wharram Tiki 30

A Cape Cutter 19 on the HBYC marina, we made the mast and boom to this boat.

How hard can this be!

Roy

Peter Randle boat builder on Nandi at the HBYC marina

Peter Randle,master and commander, knows wood construction boats of any type, including traditional. Peter told me repairs to Nandi after a sudden storm, were easy and he was surprised to find how stong the Didi range of boats were and just how simple they are to fix.



Peter Randle is standing on the boat, he told me that Wyane, the chap working with him has worked on all of the kits we have supplied to Randle Marine for customers orders. The boat in the picture is a Didi 34 and was home assembled by Nick using one of our kits.


Pictures by R McBride using a Canon G11 camera.

I will see Peter later today, he is building another of our CNC wood/epoxy boat kits, it is the Cape Henry 21 this time. We have the birdsmouth mast building jigs for him, they really do make assembly of the eight mast staves really easy.

Roy