Why its cheaper to build a boat kit yourself

Building our boat kits by others.

R.O.E is R18.00 to the GBP and R10.90 to the U$.

We were asked for a building price for one of our dinghy kits recently.

This is fine but it will escalate the price on the end product and by some margin.

Lets say the dinghy kit cost R8800, a simple rule would be to say twice the cost of the kit
To cover a trades persons time, so another R17600, this is unpainted and unfinished.

So we now ask R26,400 plus Vat on the kit which will be R1232 extra, the cost is now R27,632 total, or in Pounds 1535.11 which sort of looks a whole lot better?

As it turns out, a local boat builder asked just R12,000, so a large saving over my estimate, he tells me he expected to take eight days which is some sixty four hours (64)
So he is asking just R187.50 per hour for his labour and no Vat, which is 14% locally.

As a local mechanic charges R350 an hour, the plumber and last years rate R480 an hour and last year a large VW service garage in the city was at R560 an hour, I think our local boat builder is far too cheap, what do you think?

The issue is and always will be, if we do the work ourselves the savings can be huge, just look at the numbers above and you can see the savings using your own labour is well worth the personal effort, plus of course you get that personal satisfaction of having built a boat yourself, that’s worth lots I guess?

This is just a thought but I do believe we should all be reasonably paid if not well paid for such a task as building a boat.

Roy

Herbert McWilliams, the designer of the Sprog

My thanks to Frans for sharing this with us, what a fascinating story!

 

Roy

 

 

Hallo Roy,

You might find this of interest.

It is a drawing done by Herbert McWilliams in 1945.

Herbert McWilliams was an architect in Port Elizabeth and also the designer of the Sprog and Extra dinghy (plus a few other dingies which never reached class status). Going by memory, the first Sprog was launched circa 1947 and first Extra circa 1962.

Anyway, McWilliams and his life partner lived a very upmarket life in a huge house in Amsterdamhoek, right at the mouth of the Zwartkops River. As a kid, I can remember the Rolls and Bentley standing in front of the house. The house was loaded with valuable art from Europe. Unfortunately everything was lost in a fire which destroyed the house sometime in the 70 or 80's.

After both McWilliams and his partner had passed away there was an auction of their substantial properties and remaining loose goods in PE, including the Rolls. My wife went to the auction and I asked her to buy me whatever  yachty item came up. The only yachty item was this drawing. She paid more for the drawing of this dinghy in 1995 than what my dad paid for my second hand Sprog in 1972.

 

So much for my bit of sailing history.

 

Regards,

 

Frans.

 

The Barlow Wadley XCR30 radio and a ferrite rod antenna?

This is an unusual topic and one I have yet to proove that the Barlow Wadley does have such an antenna.
I have found a posting that shows how to make an external ferrite rod anttena  that connects via a cable and plug.

I do not own one of these radios but did post a thread on them in 2009, a picture of a set has just come to light and its clear to me that on the one side of the PCB I can see a ferrite rod, I assume its an antenna?

Click on the picture to see more detail.

Check the horizontal black rod on the lower right with the four copper coils around it, is it connected to the vertical rod on the other side of the PCB?  The vertical is a tube and I have found does have a short ferrite rod in that to adjust the antenna with, the control is with a cable, check the 16mm  control wheels top and bottom.

My thanks for GRC for the use of this picture.
http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~tel00101/FotoAlbum/RadioCorner/Articles/Barlow30.htm

This is backed up by a vertical tube with a sliding ferrite bar in it, this tunes the antenna and has two micro switches connected to it, the lower switch looks to be connected to the horizontal ferrite rod.

Is this part of the antenna system?

Well, who can say yes or no?

Roy

This far I have found no proof that there is a ferrite rod antenna inside this set, I have found sites saying there are not though, so what does that long black bar with the copper coils on it do?

Note, thanks to a contact found through this blog, I have now purchased a Barlow Wadley and the later type with the FM button and tuner dial on the top of the radio.

Wooden boat building

They do take time and thats why the mid 1950s saw the instant rise of the GRP boat both in the USA and the UK.

Click on the picture for more detail. The hull and deck are in epoxy/plywood, the design is by Dudley Dix.

Given the time, not to mention the materials and the skilled labour required, it must come as no surprise to find out that wooden boats when proffesionally built are expensive when compared to GRP or pop out plastic versions?

Having said this, if you want a boat and want it bad enough, its still quite low cost if you use a CNC cut plywood kit and build it yourself!

Roy

Meet the McBride family

Some of them anyway with Barry in Hebburn on Tyne  kindly sorting out my family tree and thats bringing out some interesting facts and lost relatives, I have the oldest family picture re worked.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

The lady is my great grandmother on my dads side, the girl is his step sister Biddy and the boy is his step brother George. My great grandmother had the family name of Leech, the two children were my own grandmothers and also took the name Leach, Biddy died at the age of 16 but Uncle George went on to live to 81.

I have to assume they lived in the Tranmere / Birkenhead area on Merseyside?

The picture is dated 1918 so is now all of 96 years old!

My thanks to Norman for re working the picture for  me as it has many defects, well did do!
and my thanks to Barry who stayed up until 3am last night searching Ancestry and finding more of my past family back to 1800 ad,

Roy

Robert in Tysons of Dryden Street, Liverpool

Robert joined Tysons around the same time as myself, we were both part of the new intake of Apprentice Joiners in 1963.

A Roy McBride photo.

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2009/02/tysons-of-5-dryden-streetliverpool.html

Check out the full story in the link above.

This really is very rare picture of the inside of Tysons Joinery Shop!

Its about 49 years old now?

Roy

Caltex Extended Life Coolant 50/50 mix

That is what will be put into the 1967 Singer Chamois (hillman imp) all alloy motors cooling system this weekend.

I bought the 5ltr pack some months back but as the Imp needs 6.5 ltrs of coolant if it has a heater fitted,I have not been able to change the coolant over as I was then 1.5ltrs short.

The back of the pack clearly says DO NOT MIX WITH WATER.

Ok, so now what, buy another 5ltrs as I am told you can not get a 1 ltr pack in South Africa?
At about R270 a pack thats more than it makes sense to leave the rest on the shelf, you see this coolant is good for 200,000 kilometers or five years!

Checking the web Isee that Caltex au (Australia) clearly tell you to mix with water, so I phoned Caltex za and spoke to Barend.

Yes I can dilute but with Distilled Water, I would have done this anyway.

Barend was cautious about the lower freezing protection, as the protection will cover down to minus 40c.
Hout Bay in South Africa rarely sees plus 4c, so in my case we are still on the safe side.

Another and very IMPortant plus side is that with the Caltex Extended Life Coolant, the boiling point will rise by as much as 8c, now thats worth having!

Roy

Mirror dinghy sailing

What a great photograph!

 The photo was taken by Phil Coltman, my thanks to Phil.

Sunset in a close finish at St Mawes Social Club regatta 2007 - Emma Cosier and Emily Kitchener 2784

See photo, 9369 was built in 1967 & yellow boat is 15563 built in 1969.

This is the proof that the Mirror class of dinghy really does last and is excellent value!

 

http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/

Roy

Superform bending plywood display in Poland

FYI The exhibition conveys exactly what the products are, using very little...clever usage of the products...

Click on the images for a full sized view.

That' s nearly an understatement, the stand is near bare compared with many trade stands but the message still comes aross.

We have distributors with stocks, please contact me for details or view the link below.

http://www.ckdboats.com/plywood.html

Roy

Jaguar XK engine rebuilt

My mechanic says:

  Its getting exciting !!

 

Click on the picture to view in a larger size.

The engine is Jaguars famous 3.8 litre size, basically the winner of many a LeMans race when fitted in the D Type Jaguar racing cars. With the so called D Camshafts and three SU carbs rather than the
normal two, the increase in power was all that was needed.

This standard six cylinder engine was at 220hp output said to be the most powerful engine of its size
when it was new?

The clutch plate was checked before refitting, it was seen to be fine and the same I fitted new about thirty years ago!

Roy
 

A picture from the past

Remember when?

I have no idea what the picture was about or where it was taken?

Looks like plus thirty ladies and three men, was it a concert?
Time wise I suspect 1920s to 1930s?

Click on the picture for a larger image, what a photo!

My gran Amy McBride (leech) could well be in the picture but I can not see
which one she may be?

Gran took a year off domestic stuff once and sailed across the ocean on a liner as
a cabin girl, was this a ship board stage show?

My thanks to Norman Dunn of Hebburn on Tyne for correcting what was a very faded image.
Who took the picture, I have no idea!

Roy

Mirror dinghy kit progress?

Dismal would be a good way to put it?

Still with a new house to finish, that's doing painting, hanging doors, sanding a painting wood laid floors, the actual move and all that's involved, plus the new kitchen cupboard's to make and install, you could forgive the CNC man this time!

 

Luke watches while his parents and brothers plot is cleared with a real digger loader.

They moved into the new house yesterday!

There is progress of course, we are about to have the first Mirror dinghy kit set cut, I have asked for the pricing on the wood required, also for a packing carton.

Progress but no boat?

Soon, it will be soon!

http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/

Orders look like eight right now, so if you want a Mirror dinghy kit please let me know.

Roy

Hillman Imp, Singer Chamois or Sunbeam Sport front disc brake kits

We have done these for some years now, the kits are imported and well worth the wait, they fit and they work.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

This set is a little different, in this case the customer asked that we fit the standard 12" steel rims and 80 series tyres, so the Ford KA 240mm diameter brake disc needed 20mm taking off it.

The disc also needs the center opening out, plus the 4" PCD wheel stud holes have to be drilled.

Each kit includes a special stainless outer braid fluid line as made by Goodridge.net, one end is Imperial threaded to fit the Imps existing brake fittings, while the other end is Metric to fit the Ford Fiesta brake caliper thread.

(the stub axle is an old one)

Nice work!

I have them fitted to my own 1967 Singer Chamois with a part Sport engine but with the full size brake disc and 13" steel rims with Fiat Uno size tyres, the set up with the addition of Monte Carlo road springs makes for a sporting but comfortable daily driver.

Roy

Dave starts his Argie 10 building

On Tuesday last week we sent the Argie 10 kit by road to his address about 1000 miles away to the North East, by Friday it had arrived, nice service from our couriers!

Two of the family check out  the contents of the carton we shipped.
That epoxy, fumed silica, micro balloons, glass tapes and a book on International paints.

The CNC cut sheets of 6mm okoume marine ply were shipped between two sheets of 9mm pine ply for safety, we then steel band strap the pack for a secure package.

Davids son in front of one of the three 6mm sheets of okoume marine plywood that will soon be made into a boat.

Davids daughter inspects all the CNC shaped panels when David had them cut from the three sheets of 6mm plywood.

Watch this site for the rest! 

http://davesboatyard.wordpress.com/

 

My thanks to David for the picktures.

Roy
 

Druma looking at the sea in Hout Bay

Druma  (drumbeat charters) came to us around ten years back, he has been a regular crew member when sailing ever since.

Always fascinated  by the local sea life, which in the Hout Bay and Chapmans Bay area near Cape Town, South Africa is plentiful.

What's out there?

Well you will always see Seals but often Dolphins, Sunfish and Whales, Sharks are out there too but we have yet to see one!

Jean passes the snacks to Druma.

All pictures by Roy McBride / CKD Boats cc @ www.ckdboats.com

Looks like fun!

Roy