Mirror Dinghy kit news update and a lower price offer

Boat kits can be quite involved, some become more complex  as the class rules add on to the base kit., after a full review we see that customers can save themselves outlay by out sourcing materials themselves.

Taking advice and finding the rules do state we can supply to the local market as we wish, we offer
the basics and ask that the buyer shops around for  themselves to complete the kit.

In the case of the Mirror Dinghy, CKD Boats cc will only  now offer  the plywood CNC cut panels, epoxy, glass tapes, fumed silica and micro balloons only, rudder and foil are still options.

Customers will need to supply their own fasteners, timber and whatever else is needed to complete the boat themselves.

This will save you plenty!

Roy

The JoLon Imp one year ago today

They set off for the Impossible journey one year ago,the plan was Johannesburg to Coventry, England, they made it too!

The car was 1971 Mk3 Hillman Imp but the engine was an old 1963 Mk1 engine that was used as it was handy.

Coventry.

Frank Clayton is on the left, it was he and a mate who had tried to get to Mongolia in his own Imp some years before, they failed at that attempt but Terence on the right and his mate Geoff  succeeded.

This took 29 days, 19 countries, 3 continents and 14,000 kilometers plus 1000s more by ferry,they arrived
with six hours to go an the last day of the Imp Clubs event.

Well done guys!

TT writes below, his book on this epic trip will be published later this year.

The JoLon Imp will be shipped to South Africa soon, it will then drive from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, then on to Johannesburg to close the loop, let me know if you want to see the car and meet the guys who do the driving.

Almost a year ago we Geoff and Terence achieved the Impossible; they managed to drive a Hillman Imp from Joburg to Coventry in the UK to celebrate the car’s 50th birthday. After the success of their trip the car was entered into the Classic car of the Year competition in England and against hundreds of other much shinier classics it managed to claim runner up at this prestigious event. 
On the 1 year anniversary of the Groot Imp Trek we will bring the car back to South Africa. It will arrive by ship in Port Elizabeth and then travel to the Historic Hillclimb in Knysna. Thereafter a trip to Cape Town for a few days before continuing on to Joburg, Arriving back where it started with a generous amount of fanfare that the little car deserves. 
Tomorrow 28 March is the 365 day anniversary of our famous departure and to mark the day, Geoff and I will drive another of Terence's Imps again north from Johannesburg but this time we will spare the folk of Coventry and pay a visit instead to our good friend and Imper David Alderson Smith who lives in the quaint little town of Cullinan which some years ago produced the World's largest daimond which is today to be found on the Queens crown! 
the picture was sent to me by a lady who once owned a chamois and immediately took an interest in the Imp as i was chatting with Frank who previously did the Mongol Rally in an Imp under the name Team Badger. (great clip on U tube worth watching!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5hk_chz47Q

Terence Tracey

Manager of Scrooge Diner.

Get there for good value and interesting fellow diners, who may be from all over the world plus motor sport fundi's.

Roy

British Seagull 5hp carburator

In this case its a twin fixed jet one we have changed to a 25:1 fuel to oil mix jet.

The carb is a quality item and is known as the Seagull - Amal two - jet Carburetor.

This carburetor arrived in a mess, we have reworked it, and painted it,fitted the 25:1 fixed jet and put a new
choke hood and throttle cable on the carb.

Normally the fuel mix is 10:1 so liable to smoke?

The outboard will have the timing cover spray painted in hammered gold metal paint, the rebuilt  petrol tank

will finish the restoration.

Roy

A Series three RCOD ?

This  is being discussed right now, it will be a CNC kit to a real classic please read the blog below to get an idea of what this boat has done and probably will do again?


http://sayachts.blogspot.com/2011/01/rcod.html

 

RCOD Shosholoza in Chapmans Bay, South Africa.

What an exciting prospect!

Roy
 

Watchmate AIS Imports, Duty and local Vat?

The Watchmate AIS by Vesper Marine continues to be a popular choice and cruising yachts persons are choosing this make over others. We have been the Vesper Marine agent for Southern Africa now for some years, we can ship to other destinations of course.

We ship using companies like Fedex, they are very cost effective and delivery takes around a week.

Duty is not applied on navigation equipment but we are charged 14% Vat when the goods enter the country.

The buyer then claims the Vat back from customs when leaving the country, its the same as when flying out?

Roy

When it says stop you stop?

Well what choice did the driver have?

Your arrival at the very nice Hout Bay Yacht Club in Hout Bay Harbour demands you stop there!

The car is a 1967 Singer Chamois which I restored some twenty years back. Used as a daily driver for
thirteen years, it was then used less often but still on a regular basis.

Upgrades have continued, a part Sport engine is now complimented with Monte Carlo lower and stiffer road springs, plus a change to disc brakes on the front of the car. Note the larger 13" steel rims, the tyres then become a lower profile, the ones used are similar to those on the Fiat Uno and 65 x 155 x 13.

Roy

The RCOD or Black Soo design as a kit?

This has been on the back burner some years but we have never had a an order,so nothing ever became of the idea. The  Royal Cape One Design (RCOD) concept was taken from Zeeslang, which is still sailing and now in Austria.

The boat that started it all, Zeeslang.

 http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2009/12/yacht-zeeslanga-good-wooden-boat.html

A Roy McBride picture, taken in the Hout Bay Harbour at the Hout Bay Yacht Club marina.

BUT! that design is a very special and super fast sailing yacht, plus against some of todays fancy but fast yachts can still show a decent turn of speed, did Chris in Durban quote me 25 knots of boat speed?

We now have an ex TBA member who is doing the plans, put that another way a cut file for us to CNC the hull bulkhead shapes.

Unlike the older plywood boats, the new ones when built in an epoxy/ plywood build will stay both light and also strong.

Traditional wood builds could and did take as much as 20% of the boats weight up in sea water, it would have been less with the plywood sheeting builds, say 10% how much is that, I wonder would it be 50 or even 100kgs?

Anyone with interest with this design and idea please contact me.

Roy

A new Hillman Imp Timing Chain Tensioner

May 2014 and some two years since the repair shown below was tested in a 1963 Hillman Imp engine. We find the rub strip looked just as it is in the picture below but could be prised free with a screwdriver.

Please do not copy this attempt to re furbish the Imps timing chain tensioner parts, an update will follow once we have the correct grade of glue.

I say new but refurbished would be a better term?

Now we are into year 51 of the Hillman Imp motor car some parts are either hard to find or very expensive, both probably?

The engines timing chain tensioner fits that description exactly.

This is an old tensioner fitted with a South African anti friction pad, I did this in April 2013 for a 1963 Hillman Imp engine I was rebuilding.

The 1963 engine with the remade chain tensioner fitted. The engine has now run for many hours as a static motor on the bench top, no degrade of the tensioner was seen.

The suppliers of the friction pad and the special flexible epoxy were both involved with this idea, approval was given by both suppliers.

The last Rootes made tensioner  (on the right) was supplied to me by a company in the UK in 2011, the cost ex works was GBP42 then, that's about R756 right now, plus postage, import duty and local Vat of course.

The small friction pad on the left may be next to be remanufactured if there is enough response?

We now have a Timing Chain Tensioner export order and would be happy to have more!

The price? R385 ex works and with a replacement tensioner blade, that's GBP 22.00 or U$36 .00 depending on the exchange rate? payment with your Amex, Visa or Mastercard via Pay-Pal is acceptable

The old and the new, we need your old metal parts on and exchange basis.

Roy