One of our well known yacht designers ,Angelo Lavranos,arrived in Cape Town this past weekend,he has been based in Auckland,New Zealand for some years but his background is very much a Cape Town story.Angelo has many boats on the build here in South Africa still and he makes sure he maintains regular contact with the various boat yards building his designs.
In this case he will also be meeting up with Rob, our boat kit customer,who has just taken delivery of his 'Proteus 106' catermaran boat kit,thats 35ft long to those who do not work with metric! Angelo and Rob will be meeting at our factory later this week,to discuss the design and its building,this has not started yet in its designated build factory but Rob has taken delivery of the CNC parts and has already begun to glue sections together,ready to deliver to his factory and start the build proper.
We are lucky to have this build here in Cape Town,the last kit went to Caracas,Venezuela,so not so easy to follow the builders program,here we can be at the boat yard in a half hour or so,you can expect regular updates and pictures on our web site when the build gets underway.
Roy
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Monday, 19 November 2007
Digicut CNC service
Times running out to get all the news out before close of play,work is play?
Those of you who have kept tabs with us and our progress this past year will have noticed a new name crop up on our web pages 'DIGICUT' this came out of a joint venture between Janet Mc Bride and Nigel Ormond,they both took a rather large leap,bought their own CNC machine and started business themselves,this is no small venture or indeed machine,the table bed of which is a full sized 4mtrs x 2.1mtrs,so just about any sheet material will fit the bed.
CNC? what do those letters mean,we see them writen and used all the time,try
'Computerized Numerical Control ',what it in turn means is, that once your design is down and on file,it can be retrieved at any future time and simply recut,or changed to suit what ever design progress may have been made since conception, if no changes are made,then each new unit cut will always be the exact copy of what came before. For this reason any boat that came from the same CNC shop files,will always be the same as the others,this in itself makes for a very inexpensive way of creating a 'One Design Class' boat and without the need for pages of measurement rules either!
The new company is fully writen up and a stand alone team,the members moved their machine from the CKD Boats cc work shops some months back and can now be found at the following address and contact numbers:
Unit 20a, Heron Park,Kommetiie,Cape Town. phone and fax number +27 21 7855892 or on the Cell number 082 554448
Contact them direct for all none boat design work,such as shop and office works,all other can come direct to +27 21 510 7206 and http://www.ckdboats.com/ as normal.
Roy
Saturday, 17 November 2007
Price Increases are due?
Time to add to the Blog,stuff is changing week by week,not month by month anymore,the big news is we will close for 2007 on Friday 14th December next,so any orders you may have on your mind had best be placed soon.
Prices,we have seen quite large materials price increases in the past six months,some are fuel realated and we have not seen the end of this yet,SA Ports put up their handling fees by 8% a few months back,add that to shipping fuel surcharges and you can imagine the knock ons.Its very much the same with inbound deliveries by road,fuel prices have risen eight times this year,with a large one to follow just in time for the Christmas holidays,so rates per Kg have gone from around R2.65 and will soon head for R4.00 per kg.
Log/veneer prices are rising also,plus our suppliers often buy in Euros but pay in U$,with the demise of the U$ currency,our imports will also cost more,add to that the normal year on year rent increases and you should have no bother understanding why our prices will be higher next year,in fact our next shipment of Superform bendable plys,arriving soon,will cost more from this month anyway.
To offset a lot of the increases in costs we have now moved all our CNC boat kits to Chinese Ockume plys,its a quality replacement and saves a stack of money but for those who want a Lloyds certificated ply,we can still supply from our french plywood source , you will see a large increase in price to cover Lloyds BS 1088 certification though.
Countries we have sold to.
We added another one this month,with a confirmed order to a Didi 38 boat kit,so I think we have fourteen countries as customers now,this new order is much the same as the one sent to Johnston Athol,close to Honnolulu,Pacific Ocean,the client can buy zilch boat parts where he is (they dont even have a marina!) so we will ship the entire boat out to him as a container load,thats the boat kit,sails,mast,engine,deck gear,interior fittings,everything right down to hose clamps, screws and paints.We have agencies for most marine equipment suppliers,we split our trade discount,or agree on a fixed mark up on cost,so the buyer/customer buys at less than he normally would anyway,he/she also recieves our in depth knowledge on what ever is purchased.
All for now!
Roy
Prices,we have seen quite large materials price increases in the past six months,some are fuel realated and we have not seen the end of this yet,SA Ports put up their handling fees by 8% a few months back,add that to shipping fuel surcharges and you can imagine the knock ons.Its very much the same with inbound deliveries by road,fuel prices have risen eight times this year,with a large one to follow just in time for the Christmas holidays,so rates per Kg have gone from around R2.65 and will soon head for R4.00 per kg.
Log/veneer prices are rising also,plus our suppliers often buy in Euros but pay in U$,with the demise of the U$ currency,our imports will also cost more,add to that the normal year on year rent increases and you should have no bother understanding why our prices will be higher next year,in fact our next shipment of Superform bendable plys,arriving soon,will cost more from this month anyway.
To offset a lot of the increases in costs we have now moved all our CNC boat kits to Chinese Ockume plys,its a quality replacement and saves a stack of money but for those who want a Lloyds certificated ply,we can still supply from our french plywood source , you will see a large increase in price to cover Lloyds BS 1088 certification though.
Countries we have sold to.
We added another one this month,with a confirmed order to a Didi 38 boat kit,so I think we have fourteen countries as customers now,this new order is much the same as the one sent to Johnston Athol,close to Honnolulu,Pacific Ocean,the client can buy zilch boat parts where he is (they dont even have a marina!) so we will ship the entire boat out to him as a container load,thats the boat kit,sails,mast,engine,deck gear,interior fittings,everything right down to hose clamps, screws and paints.We have agencies for most marine equipment suppliers,we split our trade discount,or agree on a fixed mark up on cost,so the buyer/customer buys at less than he normally would anyway,he/she also recieves our in depth knowledge on what ever is purchased.
All for now!
Roy
Saturday, 10 November 2007
CKD Kit- Nick Fairly's DD34 Launched in October 07
Nick Fairly launched his DD34 today(11-10-07) in Hout Bay and what a perfect day too.
He took two years to build his boat which is one of our kits, the finish inside and out is A1, very few pro shops would do better, if as good.
The boat's name, Nandi, means "nice" in English. Which seems to be well suited!
Nick takes part in the local club races so watch out for this "nice" boat come sailing by.... because he sure won't be behind you for long! We are expecting to see some rather Glum faces as this boat is sure to be one of the fastest!
Splish Splash CONGRATULATIONS!!!
He took two years to build his boat which is one of our kits, the finish inside and out is A1, very few pro shops would do better, if as good.
The boat's name, Nandi, means "nice" in English. Which seems to be well suited!
Nick takes part in the local club races so watch out for this "nice" boat come sailing by.... because he sure won't be behind you for long! We are expecting to see some rather Glum faces as this boat is sure to be one of the fastest!
Splish Splash CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Late April 2008 news,Nick Fairly is now the HBYC Rear Commodore Sailing Officer,well done on your appointment Nick!
WHERE HAS 2007 GONE?
Hello,Roy here again,we started this in May,now its November,where has our year gone to again! No complaints its nice to be busy all year.
We are now better stocked with plywoods than ever before and have just stacked the shippment of Superform bending plywoods that arrived last week.We also have a new line of plys from http://www.toubois.com/ a top french plywood maker.
We are very busy on our kit boats side too,a 'Proteus 106' catermaran is being cut right now and the owner has been taking production away in parcels as we cut them,he will assemble panels at his home then move them to his building factory in Philipi.The designer,Angelo Lavranos, will be here in a week or so to check progress.
The Didi 38 design kit by Dudley Dix,that we are working on, is very close to becoming a final order,this is a special,we have done them before,one shipment to a far flung place,open the container and you find a wholeboat inside,just in parts!
Our 6.6mtr power boat design by Angelo Lavranos,has also started to become an order,it will either happen late this year or early into the next one.
Designers,we would like to welcome Mr Michael Storer aboard as the new addition to our design team, Micheal is from Austraila and has a whole new concept on river boat designs,they move in very thin water! We have asked Mike to look at designing a Canal boat for Britains 7000 miles of canal waterways.
Didi Mini Transat kits,we have one ready for delivery ex stock,Dudley tells me he has sold about 80 sets of plans,we have sold many of these kits, built two in our factory,with two more being built in Cape Town,one of which has just sailed to England,UK.
Busy? yes I told you we have been busy!
Best Regards for the festive season and all the best for 2008!
RegardsRoy
We are now better stocked with plywoods than ever before and have just stacked the shippment of Superform bending plywoods that arrived last week.We also have a new line of plys from http://www.toubois.com/ a top french plywood maker.
We are very busy on our kit boats side too,a 'Proteus 106' catermaran is being cut right now and the owner has been taking production away in parcels as we cut them,he will assemble panels at his home then move them to his building factory in Philipi.The designer,Angelo Lavranos, will be here in a week or so to check progress.
The Didi 38 design kit by Dudley Dix,that we are working on, is very close to becoming a final order,this is a special,we have done them before,one shipment to a far flung place,open the container and you find a wholeboat inside,just in parts!
Our 6.6mtr power boat design by Angelo Lavranos,has also started to become an order,it will either happen late this year or early into the next one.
Designers,we would like to welcome Mr Michael Storer aboard as the new addition to our design team, Micheal is from Austraila and has a whole new concept on river boat designs,they move in very thin water! We have asked Mike to look at designing a Canal boat for Britains 7000 miles of canal waterways.
Didi Mini Transat kits,we have one ready for delivery ex stock,Dudley tells me he has sold about 80 sets of plans,we have sold many of these kits, built two in our factory,with two more being built in Cape Town,one of which has just sailed to England,UK.
Busy? yes I told you we have been busy!
Best Regards for the festive season and all the best for 2008!
RegardsRoy
Thursday, 24 May 2007
For our Customers!
The Blog page has been posted for those who may read our many pages on other sites,plus our web pages on our own site.
The intention is to find out what readers think of both what we say and what we do,you may want other designs from what we already carry,one offs from your approoved plans are fine by us,it will just cost more to develop our CNC cut files for your single build.
So,its now over to you our readers and customers,have fun!
The intention is to find out what readers think of both what we say and what we do,you may want other designs from what we already carry,one offs from your approoved plans are fine by us,it will just cost more to develop our CNC cut files for your single build.
So,its now over to you our readers and customers,have fun!
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
WELCOME TO OUR NEW BLOG!
I hope you enjoy keeping up to date with our industry news and other interesting happenings!
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