Saturday 12 March 2016

A new set of Optimist kits to the USA has arrived

Just in today, this picture of a three Optimist kit set that has arrived and had its packing crate opened.

The customer is a sailing school that will teach their pupils to build the boats then learn how to sail them.


We supplied the North Sails, Harken deck packs as well as the wood with CNC cut okoume plys.

The white folders with blue binders are the building instructions and Optimist dimensions with a copy of the class measurement.

Watch this space, we should see them being assembled soon.

Roy

Thursday 10 March 2016

Mirror dinghy kits in South Africa?????

I have just been phoned and asked to supply a replacement panel to a Mirror dinghy.

He was told the basics of what I have written below and made the comment 'That is bizarre '

As the ISAF rules are written the owner may not cut his own panel and must purchase from the company with the licence to cut and supply them.

Back in 2014 that was CKD Boats cc, which is a company I started about twelve years back and still run today.

We cut ten boats in 2014, that was one demo boat which we had built so that the new CNC files could be proven to work, there were few issues and the builder commented that it was the best plywood assembly he had ever worked with, the panels were a perfect fit he said.

We were paid for that kit by a member of the RSA Mirror Asso, then an order for nine more kits was issued, we cut those also.

They were issued with the required ISAF plaque numbers, the person who placed the order paid for those and also the ISAF builders licence for the year.

The nine sets of plywood panels were cut and released to the person who placed the nine kit set order, we then cut the nine sets of wood to complete the order.

We received payment to two kit sets and handed over the nine plaques, plus one set of wood to complete one kit set, since then we have not been paid and sit with a large hole in our bank account plus eight sets of the timber to complete the other eight sets of Mirrors.

Due to the above we did not renew our builders licence for the years 2015 and 2016, the cost
 is GBP 167? or around R3675 per year, not a small amount in Rands.

Today I have just been asked for a replacement Mirror plywood panel, explaining the basics of the above and knowing we cannot cut him a panel without a valid licence we declined his order.

This is not a happy state of affairs is it.

Bizarre is a good word to use.

Roy




The pictures shows the first Mirror kit set that was cut out with a CNC machine, CKD Boats cc have a world first, we also have kits available ex Cape Town, we can ship world wide.