Andrews progress,

We have posted info and pictures on Andrews yacht hull build before,since he bought all his Ockume marine hull skin plys and epoxies from us late last year,he has moved at a remarkable pace when its all down to part time labour (he took time off to fix friends house too)this is where he is at now.Roy

Things are progressing well at the moment and planning and preparation for the turning are already afoot. Filling and finishing of all the joints and holes should be completed by the end of next week, and I have already started stripping and removing parts of the building stocks, some of which will be used to make the cradle and also skids for the turning. All that then remains after the filling is completed is to fit the packing blocks for the keel and skeg and then seal the hull.

Roy and his trainee managers in the Sudan

I spent an eventfull year in the bush,it was a new farm in the center of no place,I went out to train local college graduates the required skills of building construction,my twelve months tour of duty was cut short when I fell off the 200cc Agg Bike,a Yamaha,you can just see to the right of the picture,I was found knocked out cold and with a broken coller bone, I was sent back to Cape Town to have,it reset and return later.

Fire in the Sudan

This was the kind of instant breakaway fire we used to see in the summer at the camp on a farm I was a building manager on.

Frank Brooks as a school boy

Many thanks to Frank for the many hours he worked on Brer Terrapin,he was our 'boat boy'and a very fine one too,we are still great friends all these years after the event and final departure for St Helena and Ascension islands,then Salvador,Bahia,Brasil.

Brer Terrapin,the leaving of Cape Town

It is said that the departure and the arrival are the best part of any voyage,while I can understand the feelings behind this thought,its probably true that as long as when your leaving,its because you want to,the entire voyage is just as important as the rest,its been this way for myself anyway.

In this picture taken by myself in 1977 and at the RCYC,in Cape Town,Frank with the red hair and the Sea Point High School top,is being said goodbye to by Clair,I suspect Frank was a little upset to see us depart,as it was Frank who cycled from his Green Point home on most days after school to help us prepare the boat for our coming atlantic crossing.

Watching on is the boats skipper/owner Dennis,he is holding his son Ryan,with fellow crewmember Trixi and her dad watching on,it was a moving experiance.
Picture the property of Roy McBride

1966 Jaguar 3.8S type 3.8 rear coil springs correct colour codes

when ever original car parts are stripped,we mark each correct colour code (if it exists) for later re application when the parts are bead blasted and re painted,while it will not add to the cars performance it will add to points when any decent concours judge has a look under your car!

Salvador,a village on the river,early morning

Left click on the picture to view in a larger size.


This was taken on a trip up the river from Salvador,Bahia,Brasil one early morning,we had anchored close in to the river bank for the night,then gone in to the local village on our Avon Redcrest rubber dinghy,the village was just waking up?
Picture was taken with a Canon FT film camera and is copyright to Roy McBride.

Paramaribo,Surinam,a little lad at the door

A picture I took when cruising,copyright,Roy McBride

Racer, a 1877 Thames Barge number LO 262

This is a picture I can credit to my good friend the late Rob Johnson,being a picture scanned from one of his negatives he left in my care.The boat carries no visible name but a web site named 'Mariners' lists a whole load of boats and LO262 is named as Racer and from London,the boat has an NRT of 54 (net registered tonnage) the picture has never been published before and is copyright and to Rob Johnson,please contact me for permission to use it.

The Optimist is revisited

This is a series of pictures taken of a 'in house' build of one of our Optimist kits,boat number fourteen (14)at that time,the boat was built by Janet and Nigel in our garage at home,the idea being to replicate a self built kit boat by a customer,when the basic tub was glued together,I then took it to the CKD Boats factory and finished the trims and painting,the picture below shows a thin saturation epoxy coating being applied,prior to epoxy paint primers and polyurethane top coats.

Unlike some kit suppliers,our base kit includes all materials to make the boat up to the stage of the painting,its an all inclusive price and the materials list includes,plywoods CNC cut to size,wood to the class dimensions with shaping of the bow and transom stiffeners,rub rails and mast step block,all of which will require special tools otherwise.We also include the epoxy,glass tapes and screws.The required builders jig shown is sold seperatley,it can be used to build more than one boat,so try and find others to share the cost?


















We again have export orders for more Optimists,two for this order,the more we ship the cheaper it costs for shipping due to a minimum charge hitting smaller loads,so bulking up the order,either with a second or more boat,that or adding the mast,sail,deck package,floats,bailer etc,makes it a far better value over all.Our kits are complete with a fourteen page illustrated assembly guide,we also supply a free CD for International Paints guide on paint application.At the end of the day,our pictures are the most help?

The Schooner America,replica under full sail

This is a nice picture,taken in San Francisco I think.

Yachts America and Victoria in Norfolk,Virginia,USA ,1977

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

Lucky as I was to get a delivery trip of a yacht sailing from the Annapolis Boat Show,I hit jackpot when a fellow crew member,Charlie, offered to motor me around the waterside area of Norfolk,I could hardly believe my eyes to see these two beauties.

Moving a Didi Mini Transat part built kit boat

Turned over and ready to install the boats interior.

Arrival at our new larger premises




One of our customers may have to relocate due to a change of employment,was it safe to move his part built boat he asked? as with many such questions we can reply having done just about every job on our boats,this time we could supply pictures too,they are often worth far more than words I think?

Roy

Falcon,a converted life boat proposal sketch

We had a talented guy named Rob in Hout Bay some years back,while shop fitting design was his thing commercialy,he could envisage and sketch boats interiors and even do sketches of the same craft sailing,this is probably the first time the sketch has been published?

Bronze sea cock servicing

One thing I have always used is genuine cast bronze sea cocks on any of my own boats,this may not be the lowest cost option but for peace of mind its unbeatable.Service of these is a fairly simple affair,you undo a couple of nuts,remove the center cone,re apply grease and replace the cone and refit the nuts,I normally do this when I slip the boat for an antifoul job every few years.

I used to use what ever grease was to hand,which in my case was normally Shells multi purpose Retinax A,which is a do it all type of grease used on wheel bearings and the like.This I found to work but after a year or so,the sea cock would start to tighten up,then I discoverd Duckhams waterproof grease! I bought a 500mm tub and its lasted decades,it also works over a much long period and I have never had a seized sea cock since changing to Duckhams,that has all been used up now and I have moved to Wynns water proof grease,time will tell how long that lasts?

Removal of the center cone is easy when on the hard but what about when the boat is in the water? not a good idea but when a sea cock starts to drip and a normally dry bilge is wet,what then,slipping just for a sea cock sounds expensive.In my case it also means traveling to Cape Town to use a slip,so its a big job all of a sudden.I finally decided to attempt an In the water Service,removal of the center cone was easy,the rush of incoming sea water was stopped with a rag of towling,it still leaked but not much,I then cleaned the bronze cone and lightly sanded it,applying water proof grease I then refitted it.I then had the idea to try the mandatory wooden taper plug that all boats should carry,mine are tied to each sea cock for ease of finding it in an emergency.

In this case I thought that the lanyard may hinder the plug as I had drilled through the larger end of the taper plug,removal of the lanyard and trying the plug in the sea cock prooved this to be correct and had I left the lanyard in place the plug would have stopped short of full entry and of course the water would have poured in.I now found that in this case the taper of the wooden plug was exactly the same of the sea cock body,we had a perfect match and not a drop of water now entered the boat!

I now started to consider service of all of the boats bronze sea cocks,normally a full days work in my case,this has worked well,I have now done four more and made other dicoveries as I worked.Tapers are not standard,some plugs worked to a point but did allow some entry of water,other plugs were too small in diameter and length and would not have done the job at all.

I am servicing in stages and making a note of what sea cock requires which size of wood taper plug,I also now realize that this should have been done prior to installation of the sea cocks in the first place,not as an after thought as was the case,all lanyards will be fastened to the end of the plug with a stainless steel saddle.

Options to solid bronze? They exist but use them with caution,the old type brass Gate Valve is a firm favorite with some but gate valves can block where the gate enters its internal slot,loo paper or other semi solids will do this.Others are Ball Valves,either brass,stainless or plastics,none of which are service friendly without removal of the plastic pipe that is attatched to it,plus full removal from the boats skin fitting.

Caution,never use brass as a skin fitting or sea cock,it will with time corrode and fall off one day when you try and close or open it.At the end of the day we get what we pay for,just check out the quality machine work in the selection of sea cocks I have.

Roy