Dragon Boat class paddles

We made hundreds of these to the original Dragon Boat class sizes and rules.

This one is a little damaged from the heat of battle!

Made from Honduras Red Cedar (mexicana roem) they were well within the class rules weight and made to suit the overall dimensions.

Made down to a price rather than up to a super finish and top class quality, they were probably closer to the original class rule ideas?

More can be made given a suitable order.

Shipping is no problem, these can be posted too.

Roy

We have two reconditioned ones for sale, the blades have been reinforced with GRP.

How we pack our kit orders

This can be done in a number of ways but most export kits will be packed in a suitable wooden crate.

Shown here is an Optimist that will soon be on its way by air to Zurich in Switzerland, the crate just needs the lid fitting .

Many years back we invested in the top quality steel banding tools you can see in this picture, the tool closest to the camera was imported from the USA.

With the Optimist kit secure in its steel banded crate we are now ready for collection.

This Optimist was made from one of our CNC cut kits, we supplied the North Sails sail and also the air bag floats inside the boat.
Roy

British Seagull outboard restoration

This we can offer and world wide, what we can do is make the engine look as near to new again as possible.

New parts are imported from a genuine British Seagull parts seller.

Click on the images to enlarge them

This one came in today for an idea of a quote, its only here while the estimate is prepared.

What will it look like when its finished?

This came in looking very very sorry for itself, it was taken apart as far as it was possible without stripping the motor, which is also a job we can undertake.

Roy

Optimist dinghy kit

The Optimist dinghy kit needs to be understood as the later wood/epoxy design and not the very early wood design which was far more complicated to assemble.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Please note we have changed our address and phone number since we printed the flyer.

The web address remains and you will find a section for the Optimist dinghy there.

We can ship to most places, the kit in the pictures below leaves for Zurich, Switzerland in the morning.

This is our builders jig, its free when you order six kits.

The items are stacked like a deck of cards.

The wood is supplied as an extra, the fumed silica, micro balloons and glass tape are part of the kit.

The booklet is a painting guide by International Paints, that is free.

The silica and micro balloons are mixed around 50/50 to make a filler paste and bog to do fillets in the corners of the boat, we can supply the epoxy to use with the filler but only when shipped by sea.

The glass tape is the jointing tape to hold the bottom panel to the side, front and back panels.

Roy

About the Hout Bay Yacht Club

Check out the blog, it is updated quite a lot but also has many sections and information links.

http://hbycclub.blogspot.co.za/

Druma sailing in Hout Bay

A Dix 43 in wood / epoxy sailing towards Hout Bay 

The same boat on the Hout Bay Yacht Club marina.

Roy

Our wood / epoxy Optimist sailing dinghy

This started with a five boat kit order, then became an eight kit order as we progressed with the building of the first one.

Price wise we were way out in front against the very costly imported GRP boats and its said ours when fully rigged and with a North Sail as well cost half the amount other boats were costing ?

Roy

Out and about with a Hillman Imp Californian

The car is still a way off being finished but it is safe to drive on public roads and carries the correct licence disc.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

The car was built in 1967.

This is a local spot that is busy with locals and tourists daily.

The cars engine is still the original one, an export model and still on the same pistons and crank bearings the Rootes Scotland fitted the engine with, I did fit new piston rings some years back.

Hout Bay !

Roy

A transocean peddle boat, the one that got away

This one we were asked to supply the 9mm okoume marine plys and also cut the panels with a CNC machine to the design by Dudley Dix.

For some reason it never happened and the boat was built from plans instead?

I am not that sure this will find many buyers for the intended purpose but I think the design may be used to turn it into some other use, shallow water sailing comes to mind?

We are open to suggestions.

Roy

Davids pedal boat, plywood boat plans, plywood pedal boat, stitch-&-glue plywood, trans-ocean pedal boat, transocean pedal boat

Signal flare disposal in South Africa ?

This comes around every few years?

What do we do with our date expired boat flares?

I took a plastic shopping bag full to the Hout Bay fire department, they advised to take them to SAPs, (south african police service) which I did and they took them off my hands.

I wonder what they now do with them?

Even my older flares still look as they were when purchased new.

Roy

Wooden what? seen here in Hout Bay, South Africa

This came in a few days back, I thought it was another converted and German Mine sweeper, maybe it is?

We had some conversions going on here a few years back, German boats sold to Japan I think, then bought and converted in the Simonstown naval dockyard for service work in Nigeria.

http://ckdboats.blogspot.co.za/2011/02/storm-petrel-by-another-name.html

Any ideas?

Here is a well qualified comment from a master marine engineer,

Roy,

I can only assume as you did that she is an ex-minesweeper if constructed of timber. The low open deck aft is another signature feature of a minesweeper.

It’s possible that she is one of a large number of ex-naval and other craft that have been pressed into commercial service for security / anti-pirate patrols and escort duties in east and west Africa – Nigeria as you mentioned. She looks to be in good condition.

The fact that she’s in Hout Bay means that she must have already been cleared-in at Table Bay or some other SA port.

Any identification markings, flags, etc, on her? Is she shut-down and on shore-power or is she running her generators?

Roy

It was only by the next day did I find out the ship was part of a filming production ( i know the name ) and was by then flying a French national flag.

The ships markings had been DTC 8799, they had been removed for the filming , a house flag was also flying.

The ship has a really nice bronze anchor.

By 5pm a Table Bay service tug had taken the ship out into the bay and back to where ever the ship is normally berthed?

Out in the bay and on its way.

Another exciting event in the Hout Bay harbour was over.

Roy

Where is Devils Isle?

This was a question I was asked by an American cruising sailor once.

I told him that its easy to find and that you cannot miss it.

He replied I can if I dont know where it is?

I will post a map later.

The picture came to me from my good friend Notty who went there on a Fortuna 37 with his wife and son, 

Dated 1994 click on the images to enlarge them.

Devils Isle is almost not in this picture as its the spec of land to the left, part of the planes wing gear can be seen also.

The large island is Royale with St Joseph at the back, we anchored there for around a week.

Roy

Story writing or blogging?

This week I got to meet John  and was then talking to a regular blog reader who I had no idea existed .

We do have a common connection as it turns out as I knew his late dad very well and I am pleased to say I know his brother very well too.

The writing really started about ten years back and before the blog writing began, then as the blog expanded I slowed down on the actual story writing and then expanded the blog on a near daily basis.

http://forum.theimpclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=27433

The link needs to be copied and pasted into Google, you will then have to sign in as a non member to access the forum pages.

This blog slowed some around 2013 when I was asked to rebuild a 1971 Hillman Imp, that took me to an Imp Club forum, then I started the thread on the Imp and of course had less time for my own blog.

The underside of the car was stripped and refinished first.

The pictures should enlarge when you click on them.

The cars original block was bored out from the standard 875cc and then fitted with 998cc liners and pistons.

The Imps all have drum brakes all round, in the case of the 1971 Hillman Imp the owner chose to have me fit the disc brake conversion kit.

While the rebuild was happening and  it took over a year, I was able to buy back my own 1967 Hillman Imp Californian coupe, a rare car these days. This saw me working on both cars as time allowed, I then opened an Imp Club Forum page on the red Imp Californian, that is now at some sixty eight (68) pages and covers the cars rebuild in some detail.

The blue Imp is now finished and with its owner,  the red Imp coupe  can be my daily driver should I want to use it? It is fully roadworthy and is licenced and insured.

The cars interior has been re done, the carpets and head liner have still to be fitted.

There is also a set of front disc brakes ready to fit, the suspension will also be lowered 1" (25mm) by fitting the Monte Carlo competition road springs.

So with all this going on the writing stopped for places like Duckworths Magazine but I guess folk still read the stories from time to time?

http://hbycclub.blogspot.co.za/2009/10/roys-articles-in-duckworks-magazine.html

Same again, if the link does not open for you please copy and paste it into Google.

There are ten stories there, one is in two parts, so lots to read if you have the time?


Roy

Optimist kit now packing for Switzerland

Some may wonder why we have to include a packing charge when the kit you have bought is shipped by road or sea?

 in this case we used a sheet of pine 9mm ply top and bottom, the five steel bands then can be made very tight to secure the package, which probably weighs in at 80 kgs.

These pictures demonstrate the steel banding, the pack in this case is okoume marine plywood and not the Optimist kit, the images should explain the process we use?

The actual CNC cut kit will be loaded into the purpose made packing crate on monday.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

The crate is being made today.

It has a 9mm pine ply sheet top and bottom, with 6mm plys on each side and the ends, glued and nailed it will be quite secure when the 16mm steel band strapping is applied.

Pictures of the loading will be added  later.

Roy

Machining the 998cc Hillman Imp block

This was done for me by Bremco back in 1971, they used a Mk1 block with liners and pistons I sourced from the Rootes Competition Department in Coventry, England.

In more recent times I  took over a Mk2 block that a local auto engineer had converted, it looked great, its a pity it looked better than it actually was.

The new liners all had to come out, they had been installed at different hight's, so the head gasket would never seal.

Its a bit of a long story but in the end I sorted out the problem myself, Then used a general engineer who had more interest in doing the job correctly. 

He in turn knew a marine engineer with a surfacer with a magnetic deck, who faced off the top of the block and liners to perfection.

This work can now be done here in Cape Town, you need to supply your own Imp engine block though.

The engine in the pictures is now back in its original 1971 Hillman Imp, fitted with the cylinder head and a new Solex carburetor, it started first time.

Roy

Marvin Creamer and Globe Star

I mentioned meeting the man.

This was probably early in 1983?

We were both having an early morning shave,  standing at the sinks of the men's locker room at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town.


http://www.globestar.org/photos.htm

 The GLOBE STAR completed a successful circumnavigation of the globe, skippered by Professor Marvin Creamer of New Jersey. Creamer navigated without the use of compass, sextant or electronic instruments! He eschewed even a wristwatch, but took an hourglass for changes of watch! Actually, a sextant, clock, compass and radio were sealed in a locker below deck in event of an emergency, but these remained sealed for the entire journey, which was attested to and notarized by proper inspections.

The boat was equipped with a transmitter which sent signals at regular intervals so that the Coast Guard knew of the boat's whereabouts. When it malfunctioned, the media reported the crew missing. After the Globe Star reached port, Creamer called his wife, who had more confidence in her husband's abilities than in electronics!

http://www.globestar.org/feat.htm

The route.

Cape Towns RCYC berthing back then.

The man himself.

Well done Marvin!

Roy