Custom stairs made to order

That was the idea, the jigs were made the sample set produced, they turned out fine too.

The treads are laminated from Superform bending plywoods, in the process the teak Perform veneer
is applied at the same time, other species of wood are available.

We offered them via the blog, held onto the jigs for a year or so, then dumped the jigs and we received an order from the USA, which was  too late with the jigs gone!

We now have a new enquiry and from the UK, the shape of the treads is different, they have the ends turned up with flat treads between. If that becomes an order we will again have jigs once more.

Roy

Building the Proteus 106

We assume this is not too complicated as one Proteus 106 kit buyer built his kit off plans that
Angelo supplied and never asked a single question of either Angelo or myself!

 

The picture shows one of our Proteus 106 kits being assembled in Caracas, Venezuela.

 

 

Hull assembly at the bow of one of the hulls.

 

 

The cockpit beam, we CNC cut all such items from the cut files provided by the designer.

 

 

A recent request for assembly process details brought the reply below from the designer.

 

The process you describe is correct.  All the panels are joined with glass/epoxy tabbing.  The whole hull & deck is glass sheathed with two layers of cloth to finish.  Here are some more photos, of earlier stage.

 

Kind Regards,

Angelo

Lavranos Marine Design Ltd
40A Seaview Ave, Northcote
Auckland 0627 New Zealand
Ph + 64 9 4802232
Mob 0226059735
email  lavranos@ihug.co.nz
web  www.lavranosyachtdesign.co.nz

Fog in Hout Bay

This was two days back, the weather report said sunshine and 26c temperature but at 10.30am all we had was this thick fog!

 

An hour or so later and a light SE breeze arrived, that blew the fog away and exposed the sun, yesterday it was also sunny, today its raining!

Not quite summer yet is it?

Picture one shows some 9mm okoume marine ply doublers port and starboard inside the bow.
This is to fend off the effect of the strong summer winds we have had this past few years.

Crossing the dock lines and adding a 316 stainless steel bow line spring to port has also helped matters, the longer lines allow quite a lot of stretch and act as a cushion.

Roy
 

An Arab Dhow from Zanzibar makes it to Hout Bay

Yes, it arrived today and came down the coast in a record sailing time on the deck of a ship!

This boat was built from drift wood and was built on the beached, used as a community boat, its just eight months old!

No epoxy, no paint,not much of anything but it is caulked at the seams.

Looks like its licenced, SAMSA will have a fit, there are no life lines or safety equipment.

An new posting in the morning and on some of the boats details.

How nice is that.

Roy

Principal dimensions:

LOA                        8.70 mtrs,
Beam                       2.50 mtrs,
Draft                        ???  mtrs?
Hight of hull            950mm at max beam
Width of transom       1.5mtrs

Length of sail sprit  13.20 mtrs, (lanteen sail rigged)
Hight of mast             6.00 mtrs,
Thin Sprit?                 5.60 mtrs

Said to weigh  eight tons overall.

The owner says the boat is eight months old only but I wonder?

Gibb main sail roller reefing

I would like to own this hardware just to restore it and have on a shelf to display!

This boom looks to be about 5.5 meters long and will suit a boat over forty feet long?

The mast end has twin square peg drives, one on either side so that a socket handle could be used to revolve the boom, it was a slow process, both up and down, the first yacht I crossed the South Atlantic used this main sail reefing system.

This is solid and cast bronze, it will clean up a treat when bead blasted clean.


Made by Gibb of England, Great Britain, Gibb has gone, England is still there but does the great in Great Britain still apply?

Maybe not, to some but we are still tops in F1 motor sport car manufacture and a certain Olympic sailing tactitian has just helped America hold on to their Americas Cup!

Roy

Toylander works car for sale

The famous yellow works car needs a new home, sold as a rolling chassis and as it looks in the picture.

Click on the picture to make it larger.

The car is a push car right now but the 12volt motor and 40:1 gearbox can also be supplied at an extra cost if required.

Just in time for Christmas!

Roy

Teak and Ash boat flooring

Normally named Teak and Holly but the wood Holly tends to be very hard to find and if found would be expensive.

45mm x 7mm or 55m your choice the image is the last batch we did early this year, 

This was from our supplier a day back, we have asked for thirty sheets and with 50mm wide teak and 6mm wide white ash. The real wood veneer is bonded to a penolic backer which means the sheet is then similar to Formica laminate to use.

This was floor was laid about twelve years back, it has been re lacquered once in that period, a removable mat is normally where the darker shade is.

Please place your order now to avoid disappointment.

Roy

light plywood for model makers

This comes up year after year, the plys sold in model shops cost about as much per 610mm square as our whole sheet of Superform plywood!

My thanks to Frans for the picture of his work, click on the image for a larger image.

This is a model made with what looks like a 3mm Birch three ply, it should be stronger than our three ply but it may not matter. Our Superform ply may be 50% of the weight though?

Roy

Westerbeke / Perkins gear box and starter motor for sale

Taken from a 1957 USA marketed Westerbeke, which is a Perkins 35 hp (about)  motor re branded, we can offer both a 2:1 gearbox with bell housing and a starter motor.

The gearbox is handle operated but I guess that can be changed to a cable selection easy enough?

Roy

New for old Dorade vent cowls

Will this work I thought? or will we end up with wasted plastic? as ever there was only one way to find out.

Do not try the hand roller and foam refill method, I did and ended up with a real mess and lots of bubbles.

These have been in the sun and weather for about fourteen years now, after spray painting they are nearly as good as new? in fact, the plastic is now protected from UV and while the paint may dull over time, the plastic is now quite safe from the elements.

They were spray painted (low pressure, high feed) with twin pack DK type auto paints, as long as the surface is clean you will not require a primer?

The original question was would the DK auto paints attack the moulded plastic, we now know the answer is no.

How cheap and easy was that!

Roy

Perform bending veneer suppliers

We have been supplying this for some years, one South African boat yard will use no other product, even
after trying some sheet veneers locally made and at less cost.

Click on the pictures to see the high standard of joinery finish on this South African yacht.

This is a fifty foot catermaran, the wood is American Cherry, we bring in matched Cherry veneer on a
Craft paper backer, its so easy to handle and work with that you can bend it around a pencil without
the veneer cracking or breaking.

Imported for each boat to keep the batch matching, we do hold reserve stocks in our store.

Check the perfection and quality,the same yard won the Boat Of The Show in Miami a few years back, also with Perform veneers we supplied.

Roy

Dix Design plans orders

Best that your aware that there will be a period when plans production from Dix Design will not be possible, please read below and contact me as soon as possible if your thinking of buying plans from me.

 

This was taken by myself when I was down at Ilha Grande, about sixty miles south of Rio Do Janerio, I know Dudley went down there himself on his return to Cape Town.

 

Roy.

Hi to all our agents.

 

If you haven't been following my blog http://dudleydix.blogspot.com/  then you may not know that I will be sailing trans-Atlantic in the Cape to Rio Race in January. Follow the blog for updates about our preparations.

More important for you is that both Dehlia and I will be away for at the same time, for a month. Dehlia will be coming to Cape Town for the race start and a well-deserved holiday. She leaves 3rd December and returns 14th January. I leave on 14th December and will not be back until about a week into February.

Please tell your customers that we will not be able to supply any paper plans from about 10th December until after 14th January. I will probably be very rushed in the last week before I leave, so please try to get your orders to Dehlia before the end of November so that she can supply them. I will be able to fill emergency late orders but will not be able to handle a rush of big orders in December.

We hope to be able to still process email orders while away but it will depend on us being able to set up the systems to do it. That will allow us to supply email plans for dinghies and email study packs.

Feel free to ask any questions.

Regards,

Dudley Dix
Dudley Dix Yacht Design
1340-1272 N Great Neck Rd #343
Virginia Beach, VA 23454, USA
Tel (757)962-9273  Fax (888)505-6820
Email dudley@dixdesign.com
Website http://dixdesign.com/
Blogs http://dudleydix.blogspot.com/ & http://boatbuilder-tips.blogspot.com/