Toylander loading for Lukes 1st birthday

It just so happens that our second grandson,Luke, is one year old today,as the Toylander is ready to roll,it may as well go home for a trial run with him in it later today.Loading into our truck was easy,there is no motor or battery fitted as yet,when thats done we will need either two pesons to load,that or use the motive power and up a suitable wide plank.

P.L.U.T.O (pipe lines under the ocean)

More technical stuff today,it was Toylander steering geometry yesterday,today its an amazing story sent to me by a good friend Notty in England,its news to me about miles of lead pipes under the English Channel to serve as fuel supply to the WW2 forces.Check this link out for more detailed info on this amazing story.


http://www.combinedops.com/pluto.htm


P.L.U.T.O

Pipeline under the Ocean

To many of those consulted it seemed a preposterous idea... an undersea pipe-line laid across the bed of the English Channel to fuel the advance of the Allied armies from the Normandy beaches. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before. It would have to be done in the utmost secrecy - concealed from the eyes of friend and foe alike. The experts shook their heads. It was surely impossible.

Fortunately, not everyone shared that view. First suggested by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Britain's Chief of Combined Operations, the project called for the highest levels of engineering prowess and ingenuity -and an abundance of endeavour, enthusiasm and energy.It needed a flair for the unorthodox and a determination to succeed against the odds.

That there were people who were both able and willing to fulfil such a formidable mixture of requirements, and turn Mountbatten's 'impossible' plan into astonishing reality, speaks volumes for the indomitable British wartime spirit The plan evolved into Operation PLUTO, the Pipe-Line Under The Ocean. It ran - initially, at least - for 70 miles along the Channel seabed from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg, and then on the shorter route between Dungeness, in Kent, and Boulogne. The Germans failed to detect it And it worked!

PLUTO was one of the greatest of Britain's wartime secrets and - in the words of Eisenhower - it was "second in daring only to the artificial (Mulberry) harbours."

Published in paperback by Shanklin Chine and incorporating 50 illustrations.

Price £7.99+ £1.51 P&P.

This sounds like one of those must read books to have on your book shelves.

Steering set ups on our works Toylander kit car

The natty black steering wheel is not part of our kit as yet,its one I happened to have off a go kart,I expect they can be sourced,we will supply pre cut plywood steering wheels as found in a drawing at the back of the builders guide.

After fitting the front and rear wheel axles with tempoary chip board screws,I found it best to have the Toylander on its side for drilling of the required 6mm hole to allow the correct bolts to be fitted.

The builders manual tells you how to centralise the front wheels,its not a bad system,hard to left and mark the steering link,then hard to right,mark that,then remove the lower bar you have marked,find the center between each mark and drill a 6mm hole,its as simple as that!

Toylander engineering and fitting of wheels

The day went well,the engineering package works and once a few things are understood,was quite easy to install too,we have wheels on now and the steering is connected and works,we made a temporary wheel from some spare MDF,from now on the kits will have steering wheels precut in 12mm ply,its this kind of work we need to do to understand whats required,the car will launch at Lukes first birthday party on saturday next!

Toylander engineering part sets

One set is closest to the camera,there are three sets on the table.

For those of you with firm orders, it will be good news for you to read that we now have the first three sets of specially made engineering parts,all sold but another three sets is on order.We can now move to the next stage and fit the parts to learn what goes where and also discover what our nuts and bolts kit will look like,all apart of our Toylander kit offer.

Didi Mini Transat hull build

Size is not a problem when making one of the Dix Design hulls,this is Greg standing on his hull,its mega strong even with a 6mm thick hull skin (five ply) I built two of these boats to order,the hulls took me just twelve (12) days each to build,to proove it was no fluke,I built  a Didi 26 in the same year in fifteen days,a Dix 43 hull took me six weeks,all boats were done by basically one man alone,thats myself.

Yachting magazines for sale

<>

Add caption

The amount of magazines we have in relation to the amount of shelving space has now reached the stage,when we should move some back issues on to make way for the new ones,there are Cruising World,Sail,Sailing,Yachting Monthly,Yachting World,Wooden Boat,Practical Boat Magazine,Classic Boat and others,all are imports and mostly in fine condition.Selling at R10 each,thats about U$1.35 plus postage if you can not collect,they are a fraction of the bookstore prices,shipping local or world wide is no problem.
Terms & conditions apply.

Chains for sale

The longer length on the left,it reaches the far wall,will cost you just R1050!

Roys chain bin is having a bit of a clear out,its all used galvanised 3/8" (9mm) some is short link,being the longest length,which looks to be around 21 meters long,cash price and no Vat is R50 a  meter.

Competition air box for a Hillman Imp

Our Hillman Imp manifold,as fitted on a Sport 180 series cylinder head.

This neat air box was designed by Alex,one of our full race Hillman Imp manifold customers,he says we may have a copy of the drawing he made.Fitted here,its made to miss the side rails on a Ginetta G15 but I think it may suit the standard Hillman Imp,Sunbeam Sport,Stilletto or Singer Chamois Sport as well,we can make the air boxes to order I should think.

Cape Towns places to sail into

Club Mykonos

Gordons Bay

Royal Cape Yacht Club(cape town)

Hout Bay Yacht Club(hout bay)

False Bay Yacht Club (simonstown)

Thank you to Google Earth for their wonderfull pictures!

Ok,its not really just Cape Town but all of these marinas are within a days sail and the furthest is 62 miles from the city,there are other places to but these are the main ones.

Adrians Argie 15 build progress pictures

Alonso  is sailing,Adrian is just starting his build,how long it takes to complete is really not the issue,I say that from the time you start the project your voyage has begun anyway.Dudley supplys good plans and build instructions with each plans set sold,we supply you the materials and info on how to use them when required when we can,it looks to me as if Adrian as found a neat way to tighten his copper wires on the chines,he is using a wooden Carpenters Mallet and a blunt Bricklayer chisel to neaten them up and pull the joints nice and tight.

A first message from Adrian is bellow:

Hi Guys


Here are my photos of progress to date. I am really enjoying this project so far (although I suspect I am just getting to the more difficult bits...!).

Best

Adrian

Alonsos Argie 15 kit in Kenya

We shipped a full boat kit out to Kenya for Alonso,progress looks very good to myself,thats a good looking sail boat I think.

Roy

The kit before unpacking and starting the build

A message just in from Alonso.

Dear Friends


It is with great joy that I share the following photos with you.

Starting the project 20 months ago, our wooden boat is now finished !!!

I learned valuable woodwork lessons, but more important I leaned many life- enriching lessons, it sure was not an easy project to tackle in Kenya.

I put the boat on top of our luggage trailer and tied it down. If you do wonder if we were stopped, yes, just once, but we had no problems. the boat is left at Lake Naivasha some 80 km from us.

It sails wonderfully in light winds and handled well in a stronger breeze, will have to learn as we sail more.

Now what, well Adri has a list of things to fix around the house and well maybe I will make some oars next year to get some exercise in on the sailing weekends.

If you are interested in more details about the boat, have a look at http://www.dixdesign.com/amateurs-dinghy2.htm or http://www.ckdboats.com/



Blessings

Alfonso

Email connection problems

Note, a day later and we are back on a recieve mode (thanks Ivan) the 220 or so hidden mails had many who needed information,thanks for waiting as you did.

Regards

Roy  phone on 021 510 7206  or kits@comlumber.com

Over the last week and more I have noticed a large decline in incoming emails,even junk mails,which simply do not arrive now, our normal email addresses  roy@comlumber.com  the address on our web pages and kits@comlumber.com ,both  of these have been used the last seven years or so.

The only email address that seems to be working is roy@ckdboats.com  the other addresses have not worked since around July 12th,so if you have been trying to make contact using one of those addresses and never recieved a reply,its because I never recieved your mails,please use roy@comlumber.com for now,sorry about the lack of service on our side.

Regards

Roy

phone Cape Town 021 510 7206  and 021 790 3859

Bombaloza Scull

The plans are on a PDF and ready for release,we can supply them or you can buy them direct from Dave at Hartwanger Rowing,Dave will also build you a completed boat,fitted out and ready to row.CKD Boats will supply you a kit,or a ready built boat for local or export.