Jack,Gilanas sea dog

Yacht Gilana,a steel build round bilge Van D Stadt design.


Gilana is a HBYC yacht,well she was untill she sailed off about ten years back,the family dog went too and it looks like he was quite at home living and sailing aboard.

Time to revisit the Birds Mouth Spar

For a full story on how we make these masts,click on this link,its all there to read with a full set of pictures.

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



Examples from:
CKD Boats
Cape Town
South Africa
www.ckdboats.com
kits@comlumber.com
021-510-7206 works phone number.

A Crane Driver? in Palmers Ship Yard Jarrow.

The two postcard pictures are from this web site
www.picturesofgateshead.co.uk/postcards



Below,these remarkable pictures of a bygone period of the River Tynes ship building days come to you from Norman Dunns web pages and with his kind permision.The term Crane Driver takes on a whole new meaning when we see these guys high up in their cabs,cables and wheels whizzing away,how times have changed!

Normans picture pages can be found at http://www.norman.dunn247.co.uk/




History:

Jarrow

This is the town that is famous for the 1930's "Hunger March" caused by the intense poverty that followed the closing of the Charles Palmer shipyard. The last of the surviving marchers, Cornelius Whalen died in 2003 at the age of 93...

Voortrekker 2 a design by Angelo Lavranos

Voortrekker 2 had a great success at what she was built for,ocean racing,the SA Navy asked Angelo Lavranos to design the replacement for an aging Voortrekker,Angelo worked his magic and Voortrekker 2 was the result,I assume the naval dock yard in Simonstown built her? The boat was entered in a second double handed race around Britain,Rob Sharp and John Martin were the only crew,first they had to sail her all the way to England for the start line,thats 7000 miles? they then went on to win the race.

John Martin did a lot of single handed racing in this boat,Angelo did a re design on the boat later on,as newer boats of a similar size just became more powerfull,I remember Angelo telling me on re launce, she was a totaly new boat performance wise as they made the keel deeper,rudder too,plus added the scoop.With John Martin as skipper the revamped boat took on the world as Tuna Marine,its new sponsers,John entered the BOC Around The World Yacht Race for single handers.

Mail from Angelo,

Hello Roy,

I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of Bertie and VII together. Bertie was involved through the construction, launching, the first Cape Uraguay Race she did and the first Round Britain. However see Cape Times photo (attached) of Bertie, Roy Kingon and myself looking at a model of VII. This is published in the Book "Reed in the Wind". SA Yachting published it. I have just scanned it out the book so it is poor quality.

The other pictures of VII are both with and without the Scoop stern.

Regards,
Angelo.

Marine Survey with Allianz Insurance

We have been called in a number of times to support insurance claims,on both damage to boats and mal practice by rouge builders,some well known marine surveyors do not have the in depth materials knowledge that we have.A survey for a prior sale is always is worth its cost,we supply a written report,backed up with pictures and normally comments on what needs fixing,that alone pays the survey fee when negotiations with the seller are concerned.

In memory of Bertie Reed

Sir Robin Knox-Johnson on the right,

Unveiled with the help of Sir Robin Knox-Johnson.

The SA Navy Band giving Bertie the recognition he deserves.

Thats John Martin in the dark blazer,he was rescued from his sinking Allied Bank when down in the far south,he had hit a berg,Bertie was on his yacht Grinaker,he heard Johns call for help and went on to find him and transfer John to his boat,Allied Bank then sank.

Vootreker,the SA Navy boat that Bertie sailed to such success.


Bertie Reed
The late Bertie Reed, one of South Africa's most loved single-handed sailors, was honoured at the V&A Waterfront on the 22 November 2009 when a brass bust was unveiled by Sir Robin Knox-Johnson at the Clocktower Square at the Waterfront. Cape Town sculptor Charles Frank cast the brass bust of Bertie which has been sponsored by friends and ex colleagues of Bertie Reed.
wilkins@gem.co.za
Trevor Wilkins

Tommy Walker collects his 3mm Superform bending plywood order

Yacht Vootreker 2 seen here in Knysna,Eastern Cape.

We get many who place an order for our Superform bending plys and arrive in the family car,thats ok,the plys will roll up quite small,especially on the 3mm thickness.
Tommy is doing work on South Africas national treasure (marine) Vorrtrekker 2,a Lavranos design that was campained with great success by John Martin of the SA Navy,the boat had sponsership at one time and was re named Tuna Marine after the sponsers name.

Assembly of Henrys Guillemot Kayak pictures

Any boats build is a matter of process,you could be making anything,a dolls house or a wheel barrow,the fact that you end up with a boat is due to the quality of the plans of course,your learning a number of new things with each step and eventually you will be out on the water!









Its nice when a full set of assembly pictures are taken and kept on file,pictures do much for those who follow with a similar build.

Oil on the water,Yanmar GM10,ground control do we have trouble?

Yanmar GM10 genset picture,the air box is the round tin with a tube sticking out of its side.

The internal mesh cone that supports the black foam air filter membrane,I advise this is retained even if you do not fit a new filter?

No not Carlos Santanas great music,rather black spots of oil coming out of the exhaust on our Yanamar GM10 genset diesel engine,it needs to run at around 3000 rpm to get the right voltage reading,so its doing a bit of work and runs at a good temprature,recently I noticed black spots on the surface of the water around the exhaust exit,for sure a sign of injector troubles,except I fitted a new one about 200hours back,so now what? This had happened twice now so very much a worry for me,then on running the engine a third time,no black spots,why?

I decided to check the engines air filter and see if it was blocked,it was not,it was missing! on the Yanmar GM10 the filter,is just a bit of thin black foam mounted on to a cone of metal mesh,the air box is clad inside with a thick felt about 6mm thick,I think both are more a sound sheild than an air filter,in my case with the engine tucked out of the way and under the floor,no air filter is required but that cone should be refitted to stop ingress of any rag,or even the sound deadening in the filter housing.

What was happening was as the foam fell apart,it went into the engine,was part cooked then thrown out of the exhaust,hence the black spots,this is a new one to me!I can imagine this has happened before?

Roy

Yachts Teak Cockpit Tables

A cockpit with no table is a very empty place when your entertaining or having a meal,all those days with plates of food on your knees will soon be gone,the table hinges down when not in use,its removable too.



We have made these for a very long time and supply them complete with a 316 stainless support bracket and special back flap table hinges,the method of fixing to your steering pedestal is open to discussion,this table has alloy back flap hinges,which we pushed out the center pins,so to fasten to the wheel pedestal we just push in a long stainless rod,simple and works well.

Dans Eureka canoe.

We have sold Eureka plans and suitable materials to build this really nice boat but never the CNC cut panels making it a kit,now we have an order from Dan for such a kit we can offer it in our ever growing range of kit boats,this is from 8ft to 55ft,size is no problem,smaller or larger if you have the design.

Michael Storer Wooden Boat Design

Eureka 155 - Light plywood touring canoe - another launching.
Length - 15'6" (4.73m)
Beam - 34" (0.86m)
Weight - 44lbs (20kg) - Gaboon (Okoume) Ply
Can be built down to weights of 34lbs (15.5kg)

Simple to Build
Great Paddling Boats
Half the weight of most fibreglass Canoes
Comprehensive Plan Pack with step by step instructions and many illustrations

Plans U$75 plus postage also can be ordered online on these sites
Duckflat Wooden Boats - Australia
Duckworks Magazine - USA
Seawing Boats - UK
CKD Boats cc South Africa

Ians Cape Cutter 19 continues to brite work

Well nearly,he is setting himself up for a bit of varnish and thats not a bad idea as it really brings a boat of any size to life.

One of our Cape Cutter 19 kit builds,this one is in Picton,South Island,New Zealand.
Note,due to a licence issue,we may no longer cut the Cape Cutter 19 as a kit but we can offer its larger sister,the Cape Henry 21,its the same boat but sized 10% larger but has a 30% greater volume,which sounds like a good idea.




Mail in today from ian.

Hi guys,
Just a couple of piccies as an excuse to stop work. The hatches are beginning to look like hatches. The toerail bases are all glued in place and I decided to use them with plastic sheeting down to laminate the curved toerails in situ. I'll glue and bolt those in place after painting and probably oil them or use some Siccens or similar - got to succumb to a teensy bit of brightwork, what?
Cheers,
Ian

TMP gear boxes (thamesway marine products)

The Henry Meadows logo.

Trivia,Jaguar bought out Henry Meadows,the gearbox and engine manufacturers,it seems its the same gear box that TMP still manufactures?

Henry Meadows

In December 1964 Jaguar acquired Henry Meadows Ltd, a company that specialised in producing both engines and transmissions, and whose factory was conveniently located next to that of Guy Motors – of which full advantage was taken by Jaguar as one of Meadows activities was the build-up of engine/gearbox assemblies for the ‘Big J’ trucks produced by Guy Motors. It was the marine aspect of Henry Meadows Ltd that was largely concentrated on by Jaguar, although the company continued to undertake machining and assembly work for other firms – both within the Jaguar group and on “outside contract"

Does your TMP / Henry Meadows gear box leak oil?
The alloy facings of the various casings are mated using only a sealant,no gaskets,after a rebuild about seven years back mine always leaked a little oil,nothing so bad you would worry but it was there.Recently the leak has got worse,again,not so bad you would remove the box but a drip tray was requirecd to contain the oil.Yesteday I fitted a new spin on oil filter,GUD Z93 type,ran the engine in gear for around 3/4 of an hour,the leak has stopped! I can only assume that as the filter became blocked,it was causing a back pressure and the oil gallery passes through a casing joint,the 90 to 100 pounds pressure was enough to cause the leak,with a new filter and I assume no back pressure,the oil runs free and has no need to find a route that in my case was a leak,its at the bottom of the casing by the way.

Note,I have felt under the bottom of the gear box casing,there is an external section that feels like a half section of a tube,about 50mm long and 10mm diameter, it has a fitting on the engine side,it feels like a sump or drain plug,has anyone ever removed this? I assume this is an oil gallery in the alloy casing?

reply to roy@comlumber.com

Bronze nipple with a B SP 3/4" thread (British standard pipe thread)

The cause of the problem?

TMP gearbox,the engine is running,the shaft is in gear,left click the picture for a larger size and more detail.

This TMP box is mounted on the back of a Perkins 4108 diesel,with less than 2000 hours on the clock,its in good condition still,even better as we stripped and refitted it with new bearings and seals around five years back,I have some notes to consider with a TMP gear box though,the box was also branded as a Henry Meadows box too.

Thames Marine Products are in Weybridge,Surrey,England,new boxes are still made and repairs to old ones undertaken,a very good webb site with lots of info can be found at http://www.thameswaymarineproducts.co.uk/ the address is below,ask for Kevin,the owner.

Thamesway Marine Products
96 Thames St Weybridge, Surrey,KT13 8NH.
Tel & Fax No 01932-843072

The picture shows the gearbox fitted with a reduction gear,thats it at the back of the main box and hanging lower than the main box,beware! the reduction box has its own oil gallery,checking the main box with its provided dip stick does not check the oil in the reduction box,for which no dip stick is given,to check the oil level you must remove the bronze plug that is visible low down on the side (it may be on the other side too) then fill with a 20 grade oil (20/50 grade is ok) untill the oil comes out of the hole,then its full,replace the plug and close off the top filler plug,which has a breather hole,make sure its open,over filling will cause leaks.

There can be a problem with corrosion of the main housing due to the raw water (sea) cooling system,this is compounded by the factory originally using large bronze nipples where you see the pipes fit to the back of the gearbox,the box being alloy,mixed with bronze and sea water basically makes a battery solution,the result is corrosion,in our case bad enough to have a leak on the top of the casings where they are joned together.

TMPs web site suggests on some boxes you can run with no water cooling as long as you use no more than 2000 rpm,this was tried but we nearly cooked the box,so in our case we had to revert to water cooling.The leak area was opened out,mechanically cleaned, dried 100%, then sealed and closed with our 816 epoxy and 205 (thin) cure agent,when dried it repaired the box as you can see,Hammerite paint to the correct Perkins colour was used as the finish,the bronze nipples were removed and a pair of nylon ones (3/4"BSP threads)fitted instead,the box now runs at a normal temprature and is repaired without a very dificult removal,as the box and reduction gear weigh 50kgs!

How does it work? (There really is no easy way of explaining this)
The gearbox incorporates an epicyclic gear train for ‘Astern’ running and the input and output shafts are locked together in ahead to
give a direct through drive. There is a small reduction in output speed in ‘Astern gear’. In ‘Neutral’, when the engine is running, the
output shaft is prevented from rotating by a hydraulically-actuated automatic brake. When the engine is stopped, the brake retracts,
so that the propeller shaft is free to rotate. Gear selection is achieved hydraulically by moving the control lever located on top of the
main box. The gearbox contains its own oil pump and oil reservoir. All bearings in the direct drive version are force lubricated and a
renewable element filter is fitted. In the case of the ‘Reduction’ model the bearings are bath lubricated although bearings in the main
box are force lubricated as in the case of the ‘Direct Drive’ version.