Saturday 23 June 2012

Building Ians Cape Cutter 19

Ian emigrated to New Zealand and set up shop as a B&B in Picton,South Island, he made sure he had a decent sized garage/workshop and then placed an order for a Cape Cutter 19 kit, the last one we had, drop keel as well.


Hi Roy,

I wrote an article on building a boat, Tiptoe specifically, but really just to encourage folk with plans gathering dust in their attic or office to take the leap and do it. It was published in the American magazine Small Craft Advisor (SCA) and it is reproduced here in the form of a PDF file and if you have time you might be vaguely interested in having a peep. I gave you a wee punt in there too.

Cheers,

Ian




Small Craft Advisory story.


This file is way to large for me to load into my blog, please contact me if you want the story and I will email it to you direct.




Note, we can not supply the CC 19 now, the Cape Henry 21 is our replacement.


Roy


www.ckdboats.com 



Friday 22 June 2012

Saving the worlds energy just by using plantation grown wood.

I was sent this by one of our suppliers, its a factual story writen in a cartoon style and well worth the short time it takes the view it.

I think you will like this short you tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxfBxmr0ZnI



Worth thinking about next time your considering plastics or a renewable wood species source.

The BBC World Service have just been discussing a state an hour north of Rio do Janerio, Brasil, there they have been re planting natural species for some sixteen years and its working. Industry can clear vacant land by one Hectare as long as they pay to have at least five Hectares re planted, sounds fair to me.



http://www.greenpop.org/why-trees/  found this South African related site.

Note, the Superform bending plys and Flexiveneer we sell are all from a renewable recource, with the glues being used having a low emmision and the factory warranted to be safe for staff to work in.

Roy

On the slip at the Royal Cape Yacht Club circa 2005

Times change, the slip is basically the same but the port side rails are now gone, boats got wider, they would not fit.


A Dix 43 in wood/epoxy on the Royal Cape Yacht Club slip.



Note that they retained the port side upstand leg, very handy for squaring yourself off with a bow line.



This is a good facility with really well qualified staff.
Roy

Thursday 21 June 2012

Looking for Alan Butler

Alan was a friend of one of the crew on yacht Tal-Gal, we flew out to Rio together to meet the girls when they retired from the race due to a lack of wind, that was the 1985 race.


He was a partner in a clothing company named Spoil Sports.

Where is Alan now I wonder?

Roy

Wednesday 20 June 2012

J Class racing in Falmouth,England

I have just been told of an event to be held while the 2012 Olympics is on in London, so if you get bored watching track and field events, head a little south and west to Falmouth.


Aerial St Mawes by Mary Alice (my thanks to Mary for the picture)

Hi Roy,

Have a look at this link. I was told about this by a customer just now on the phone, makes me wonder why we left such a lovely place but the people are a bit strange down there. Unless your great grand-dad was born there you remain what they call an Emmit, an outsider and are treated as such, far more than we would be living in SA. Still this may be of interest to you?


http://www.jclassfalmouthregatta.com/


This was a mail sent in by a well known Royal Cape Yacht Club member, he sailed from Cape Town to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, by way of St Helena Island, Assencion Island, Brasil, most of the West Indies, the Azores, Gibralter, Spain and Portugal and they still call him names!
Emmit?? whats that about?


  1. Definition for emmit:

    Web definitions:
    Emmet is a disparaging nickname that some Cornish people use to refer to the many tourists who visit Cornwall..
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmit

Tuesday 19 June 2012

We Shall Overcome, the album by Pete Seegar

I saw Pete Seegar live in Liverpools Philharmonic Hall, it was a concert to remember and probably around 1965 or so, by which time the song We Shall Overcome was very well known to all of us. The place was full, so was the stage behind Pete, the event was well over sold and those lucky enough to be able to buy stage seat tickets did!   http://www.liverpoolphil.com/


Recently I have been trying to find some of Pete Seegars music and on vinyl, I had asked Brian of the used record  stall, Bay Market, in Hout Bay to find me some of Pete Seegar albums. It took a while, one was too scratched to be worth playing, then Brian handed me a copy of the album recorded at the Carnegie Hall Concert back in  June 8th 1963. What a find, I noted that Brian gave me the record June 8th 2012, so exactly 49 years after the album was recorded and in the USA. I doubt it was ever released here?


Was this album cover a later issue, one for me to watch out for anyway.

Pete Seegar the singer is still around, he turned 93 this year and is still entertaining, well done Pete.  http://www.peteseeger.net/



Roy

On the slip at the Royal Cape Yacht Club

My introduction to the RCYC was around 1974, that was as a visitor and finding I had an interest in ocean going yachts. I spoke to a yacht owner about the costs, he was an ok guy and said well lets start with a boats ballast. His own yacht was a GRP 45ft job that was moulded up in JoBurg,very nice center cockpit and a Van Der Stadt design, by coincidence I have the plans to that boat here someplace.

He went on to say that the boat had five tons of lead in the bottom of the keel, we then worked out the cost back then, it was plainly out of my cost band, I would not be building my own boat anytime soon it seemed.
Today that lead will be worth R135,000, or around U$16,200 or so?


Ocean Planet on the RCYC slip, this must be around 1985? and after the South Atlantic race where Ocean Planet was an entry as Tal-Gal, an all girl crew entry.

 Taking your boat up on this rig on your own is quite easy, assuming there is no strong wind. The method is to use the rigs existing lines, then when your secure, they will bring you up far enough for the keel to bottom out. Then you make off a decent set of lines to the mast and all round, an aft spring is very important when being pulled up!

The route I took and in 1977 was to work my way onto a friends Ingrid 38 which was wood, I work with wood, so did the friend but as a tree surgeon, so he could cut trees down while I could fix and repair them.

The years went by, I returned to Cape Town after a years work in The Sudan, I found the Endurance 37 hull was being moulded in Knysna, I phoned them arranged for a visit and soon was on my way back to Cape Town with a brand new GRP hull on a road trailer which was part of a rig owned by Chris Wray Foreshaw, an ex Rhodesian farmer who came to South Africa bringing his gear with him. The cost of the hull? well back then just R4500, I took the option of the moulded in cockpit too, with bulkheads it was an extra R920.

The ballast was still to be paid for, I needed around three tons, and found it free at Barlows heavy machine repair yard, Catapillar track link pins! Bellamy Masts supplied the bare alloy mast at R1300, the brand new Faryman 30hp diesel and related shaft gear was R4500, it happened to be one of three that Reeds Motors had brought in as a trial order, I paid their land cost to clear it, we could afford yachts and yacht fittings back then.

How nice was that.

Roy

Sunday 17 June 2012

Making a Sliding Sash window with a kit

The request was for traditional sliding sash windows, I suggested we can do them as a CNC prepared kit but what is the interest?


Made with a quality marine ply as the casing, I see no problem with the supply of such windows but is there a demand?





I have made these before, also serviced them when the sash cords have broken, there is an access trick to doing that!  Each kit will be pre cut on a CNC machine from high quality marine plys to BS 1088 grade. The kit will include instructions for assembly and the epoxy required to glue it together, balance weights and  glazing is optional.

So who in South Africa wants sliding sash windows?

Roy