GP14 International Class in CNC kits

We have just received a request to cost a GP14 kit,designed by Jack Holt some fifty years ago,there are hundreds of yacht clubs in the UK using this design and I find the class is active in South Africa too,we will have a kit price on the latest Mk3 design shortly.
Roy

The GP14 is another boat that resulted from the collaboration between the drawing board of Jack Holt, the eye for practicality from Bell Woodworking’s Dusty Pollock and the inspired vision of Group Captain E.F. Haylock, the then Editor of Yachting World Magazine. Having already had the foresight that ‘youth’ would be the future of sailing and commissioned the Cadet, Haylock now pursued another of his groundbreaking ideas, that as that leisure time grew, dinghy sailing would need to involve all of the members of the family. In these early post war years, none of the dinghies that were available were suitable for this purpose, as they were almost exclusively boats from the development classes, fast, with limited space cockpit space and ‘tippy’.

At Haylock’s instigation, Yachting World published a call for designers to submit plans for a multi purpose dinghy that would be stable and seaworthy, yet fast enough to offer competitive and exciting racing. The boat would have to be light enough to make for easy handling on and off a trailer and would need to be capable of being rowed or of being driven by an outboard motor and to cap it all, would have to be simple enough to allow for home construction from a kit of parts. This requirement for a single boat that could fill so many roles was so new that none of the designs submitted were acceptable. One of the best designs had come from Jack Holt, who at Haylock’s request increased the freeboard of his planned 14 ft dinghy. As with the Cadet, the design Jack finally settled on was simple, but remarkably effective. Again, it utilised a single hard chine hull that would offer a high degree of initial stability, yet the simple ‘box’ approach to the hull form meant that the boat could be easily constructed by an amateur builder in plywood. The other advantage of the Holt design was that it resulted in a large cockpit, that Jack equipped with seats, a thwart and floorboards!






Class: GP14

Status: International


Website:


Designer: Jack Holt


Year of design: 1949


Length: 4.27m


Beam: 1.54m


Weight: 133kg


Sail Area (M²): 12.85


Spinnaker: 8.4


Sitting out Aids: n/a


Construction Notes:


Wood/GRP/FRP

Toylander bonnet buck

The front bonnet buck as required to take the two layers of thin Superform bending plys,I have not worked out how we will do the next step,follow the blog to find out!

Our in house demonstrator Toylander is about to be glued together,it will need a front bonnet and some closing radius pieces to go on the top of the front wings,as two Toylander kits have been collected recently its time to make the front bonnets and close pieces jigs.

Our Ockume marine plywoods

Marine plys cost a good bit more than lower grade hardwood exterior plys but why? well in marine plys both faces are clear of repairs and the internal veneers are full faced and have no damage either.With marine ply the finsh is smoother and the weight is as much as 30% lighter than exterior plys,you get what you pay for,so use the right ply when you build your boat,you will never regret it.
Left click the picture to see more detail.

We have always supplied the right quality marine plys,stamped and made to the BS 1088grade,this is what a stack of 30 sheets of 9mm plys look like,you can see the high quality.

The commitment

The Mc Brides family yacht,Ocean Cloud arrives in Punta Pargo,Venezuela,
Left click the picture for a larger image,the camera was my Canon FT with a 50mm 1.4 lens and Kodaks Ektachrome pro slide film.

Some times the larger picture is best left unseen,I have built a number of boats for myself,stopping while you work,to ponder just how you will ever mangage to finish what you have started is a very backward move,the last time I thought like that I said to myself 'Roy never ask your self that again',I never did and I finished the boat just fine.

I think its important to only attempt to build what you can handle build size wise,both physically and finance wise,recently we had a sometimes caller visit to say he just had to have a 40ft yacht,any other size was too small,he wanted the Didi 38 as the stretched 40ft option,there is no bother in that but as the Didi 34ft is still a lot of boat for he and his wife,it would have been a good option as well,costs rise as size grows,the guy never came back,he was maybe asking out of his pocket book allowance,better to build small than not build at all.

Also never sit with a blank page and add up all the items needed to finish your new build,the numbers can look massive but what happens as we build is deals and offers just arrive,free adverts in Sailing Magazine here in RSA have worked wonders for me,they will for you too.

Bending or flexible plywood in Cape Town

We are the direct importers of Superform bending plywood,with distributors in and around Cape Town we are now looking for other retailers in other centers.
Superform is made in 3mm,5mm and 8mm thicknesses,the sheet size is 1220mm x 2440mm in cross grain or 2440mm x 1220mm in long grain,it is waterproof.Contact roy@comlumber.com for prices.

Some use ideas with our bending plywoods:
Curved desks and counters,columns,concrete shutters,boats,soffits on buildings and any curved structure that requires a stable form.
we also have flexible veneers,which are very thin and in a twin ply,around ten species are availablle ex stock.We can also supply a flexible thin ply in a 1.2mm thickness and a stiffer thin ply in a 1.8mm thickness.

Didi mini cruise hull finishing

These pictures were sent to me by Dave who is building one of our Didi mini cruise kits down in Freemantle,Australia,while its not required in the plans,David has decided to put a layer of glass cloth and epoxy over his hull skin,looks like he made a very good job of it too.

Thin Plywood in Cape Town,a new product from CKD Boats cc

This thin ply sheet is in African Mahogany,we also have white and pink beech,white maple,cherry,white oak,teak and american walnut,we can post anywhere pending the size of your order.




We are asked now and again for thin plywood,now we have stocks of our own flexible wood on wood veneers I decided to make a sample sheet of laminated plywood with it,glued up on friday with water proof pva wood glue I find we have a very acceptable sheet of thin ply this monday morning! The thickness looks to be just 1.2mm only,there is some tension in the panel,this could be designed out by adding another layer inside as a balancer,we then have a 1.8mm thick plywood,at this time sheet size is 610mm x 610mm we can make to 1220mm x 2440mm if required? the face finish is outstanding.

We make yachts expensive?

Black Cat at the start of a South Atlantic Race,she did two of them,the design is named Didi 38 and was the first radius chine development by Dudley Dix,he has since sold hundreds of sets of plans to yachts of many sizes using the same ideas,we can sell you the plans as well as a kit,on the Didi 38 we cut bulkheads,hull and decks,also the cockpit and coachroof,building is easy.

Some news on plans sales from Dudley:

Hi Roy. It is a few hundred now. The Didi 26 leads the numbers at over 250, followed by Didi Mini with 110. Didi 38/40 is more than 60 also. In lapstrake plywood, the CC19 and CH21 have both passed 50 boats.


A Skype message from boat designer Dudley Dix:

[2010/02/27 07:28:17 PM] Dudley Dix says: While looking for an email address on-line for Neil Rusch today, I happened across your Duckworks article on reducing the cost of yachts. I had read it long ago and reread most of it again now. Great article.

The basis of the artical is that in real terms yachts and boat are not so expensive,I am assuming you do have some disposable income of course,its the add ons that raise the cost to yachts,electronics being number one and who needs an engine anyway? you can find my words in the web site at www.ckdboats.com
Roy

Yacht Allied Bank by Angelo Lavranos

The arrival of a sponser to fund John Martins attempt on the BOC Race saw Angelo Lavranos design a world beating boat,it looked more like a space ship when compared to Voortrekker 2,it was sleek and very fast,for John it was a leg two class winner,only to loose the boat on the last leg when he hit an ice growler,he was rescued by a very tallented sailor and friend named Bertie Reed,who was in the same race on his yacht named Grinaker.

Roy

With Allied Bank (1990) John Martin & his brother Ian (who project managed the build of Allied Bank with the expertise of Phil Sharp) won the Transatlantic Two hander. On leg 1 of the BOC he got 2nd (after leading most of the leg but got a bit tangled in the SA high) , won leg 2 convincingly and hit the ice growler near Cape Horn on leg 3. Bertie and that amazing rescue. See photos attached.

Regards,
Angelo

Allied Bank at speed in Table Bay




Allied Bank BOC 60
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Allied Bank” open class BOC 60. Winner & Monohull recordbreaker of 1990 “Twostar” doublehanded transatlantic race E-W 15.3 Days.
Winner & recordbreaker of Cape Town–Sydney leg of 1991 BOC single handed round the world race. She held 17 hour accumulated overall lead in 1991 BOC when she had an ice collision on leg 3 near Cape Horn, putting her out of the race. She is the only carbon prepreg & Nomex boat in Africa. She was innovative and conceptually ahead of the French boats of the time.

LOA 18.280
BEAM 6.000
DISPLACEMENT 11700 kg
SA 220sqm

Tuna Marine,a design by Angelo Lavranos

I am always surprised when information of importance can not be found on the web and so it was with the boat Voortrekker 2,  a boat designed by Angelo Lavranos (who does our own Proteus 106 kit design)and built by the SA Navy for Bertie Reed and John Martin to compete in. The boat was a success in many ways, when it became Tuna Marine,I was told at the time by Angelo that this was now a new boat, its performance was to be far greater than it was as first launched, some words from Angelo follow.

Hello Roy,

Voortekker II was designed as both a crewed boat and as a single hander. When she was new 1980 she came second over the line in the (crewed) Uraguay race ( Bertie Reed) and won the monohull division of the Round Britain Two hander ( Bertie Reed & John Martin ). For subsequent single handed races she was being "pipped" by water ballasted boats ( which is not allowed in "normal" racing ). For the 1986/87 BOC we took out all the crew amenties and put in waterballast tanks. I also took off the ( bulbless) IOR keel and put a much deeper thinner keel with a bulb at the bottom (about half the weight of the old keel.) We added mainsail area. John Martin & Rob Sharp won the Transatlantic Two hander, then John Martin won legs 1 & 4 in that BOC race, leg two the mainsal tore & he burnt out all his autopilots, leg three his 6 year old runners gave in.

Regards Angelo

Left click any picture to view full size and see more details.

Cape Henry 21 bulkhead set

This is actually the last Cape Cutter 19 kit we exported,its now a built up boat and in Picton,South Island,New Zealand,it has only the top coats of paints to apply and Ian can launch his boat.We now sell the 10% larger Cape Henry 21 as a kit,the shape is the same and all panels are pre cut for you,this includes the hull and deck skins,coach roof and the cockpit.

Yacht Vixen built circa 1952

Vixen arrived in Durban on her first circumnavigation,the place is Durban in 1958,the original owner,Jim Stark was aboard.

Vixen on a chain mooring in Durban in 1958,these black and white pictures were supplied by David Cox,he tells me the late Norman Oliver took them.

Vixen arrives at HBYC on sunday 14,02,2010,it was 6.16pm and they had just sailed around from FBYC past Cape Point,Vixen is now 58 years old.She and her crew sailed off to St Helena isle on wedensday 24th February,2010,Bon Voyage!


Inside Vixen,the next two pictures are from the web site of Les,the guy who spent five years restoring Vixen,well done Les,you did a good job.





Some words from Les (schinck?) at Design Kraft,USA.

VIXEN is a 1950 design by John Atkin; 34’7” on deck, 32’ waterline, 43’ overall, 13 tons, gaff cutter, 1950. She was built by Joel Johnson at Black Rock, Connecticut in 1952 of eastern white cedar on oak frames. Her original owners, James and Jean Stark, circumnavigated 38,000 miles taking five years. William and John Atkin based the hull shape on the Colin Archer lifeboats from Norway. There were a handful of prior owners, the last brought her thru the canal and took her up to Alaska. They brought VIXEN to Port Townsend in 1989 where I saw her for sale at Point Hudson.

In 1990 I pulled the boat and started her rebuild. Five years later she was re-launched with new engine, gear, fuel and water tanks; 100 % re-framed, 50 % re-planked, new floor timbers, major stem and stern post repairs; all new interior, new cuddy cabin, new bow sprit, all new wiring, lights, new running rigging…”on and on” as they say.

VIXEN was in the 1995, 1997, and 2002 Wooden Boat Festivals. We sold her in 2003 but bought a 45’ salmon troller, Sockeye, in 2002, which was also in the 2002 Festival…what were we thinking?

Hout Bays own water feature

There has been a rumour that Cape Towns village of Hout Bay has the highest water pressure in the whole of South Africa,looking at this picture I think its true?

Left click to view full screen,warning,you may get wet.

Our estate at Northshore has a new water feature the Joneses may struggle to keep up with.

The last boat to Hebburn

Regular readers of this blog may remember my distant (very) connection with Hebburn on Tyne,my grandad on my fathers side used to work in the shipyards there,I only started to get curious about the place after my dad passed away,as often happens,it was by then too late to ask him the questions about Hebburn that I now want to.I check into www.hebburn.org on a fairly regular basis,a regular contributor,mainly shipping, is Kevin Blair,this was posted by him 18,02,2010.

The Last Boat To Hebburn

Words by Kevin Blair
This is a postcard i recently got and is postmarked March 20th 1908.

Another Toylander kit is collected

As featured in the November 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics,find that issue,its a great read.

Pierre with our demonstrator Toylander,when the CNC cut engineering parts are welded together,we will continue the build right up to it being fully painted and drivable.
Left click the pictures to view full size and see more detail.

Pierre bought his plans late last year,then placed his order for the Toylander base kit,it comes out of two sheets of high quality 12mm ockume marine plys,plus we supply epoxy,micro balloons,screws and battens,plus we laminate the bonnet and front wing curves in two layers of 3mm Superform bending plys.