Keel and rudder foil manufacture

The glassing stage begins,one of three layers of unidirectional woven glass


This is what came off the blank in shaping,plus more materials by the CNC machine.


Nearly finished to this stage.


Power planer work.


While most shaper work is by handheld electric tools,some detail hand tool work will always be required.


Ready to start shaping.


The Iroko wood blank ready cut by our CNC shop.

While this is not really part of our kits as such,it has become a regular add on for those who want rather to get on with which ever kit we have supplied.We normally end up completing to the finish stage but the offer of a laminated and CNC cut blank is always there too,these pictures are of a laminated Iroko wood blank,machined to size to suit a keel on a Didi mini transat cruise,we supply the 400kgs of lead ballast to the same design too.

Rudders and Foils CNC shaped

The first two Didi mini transats we built http://www.dixdesign.com/ had one pair of rudders and an aft foil each,the second of the two also had a forward foil due to the boats cant keel arrangement,this was the first ever Cant Keel Yacht launched in South Africa.We made the first rudders and foil in an old method style,shapes taken as templates from the designers drawings,this saw some three and a half days hard work to have the three blades shaped,even then they prooved to be less than perfect and we actually replaced the rudders at our own cost later on for a set we had CNC shaped.After the CNC shaping takes place,it takes one man just three and a half hours to free them off with a power planer and belt sander,time saved,is money saved of course and more to the point,they are correct! We now offer the CNC shape work,roughed out or as finished units,as part of our Didi Mini transat kits extras.Other similar work is always considered.