Johns Didi mini cruise build progress pictures

John has applied his first coat of the epoxy we supplied,he will now sand that and apply a second coating,John hopes to be turning his hull shortly.



We ask all of our kit buyers to send pictures if they can,this certainally helps others who are building our kits elsewhere,this way one builder will normally be on a different stage of the same boat and he can find out in pictures whats next?

Singer Chamois Coupe for sale,1969 model?

A similar model,this one won a prize in its class at the Imp Clubs 2007 Hop Farm annual club meeting.




We know some of the Imp class of cars are now very rare but few as rare as the Singer Chamios Coupe we now have for sale,thought to be a 1969 model but as no paper work or engine/chassis numbers exist,at the time of writing this can not be confirmed,what can be confirmed is it is a four head light Singer Chamois Coupe,the picture of the front of the car tell us that much.

For those needing more info please email me at Roy@comlumber.com ,we can ship world wide,with an engine and transaxle if required.

Some known history:

I spent about 3 years fixing up the car:

Cut rust from rear quarter panels, repaired both sides’ outer and inner panels with fibre sections
Full respray
Rewired
Retrim roof/side/door panels
Re-upholstered back seat cushions (front seats were still good)
Fit new carpet throughout
Retrim and refurbished the dash, adding a custom hardwood dash insert with full set of individual Jeager gauges from a Citroen!!
At no point did the car have decent wheels: I got it with 13 x 7 Ford “Rostyle” wheels that had the mounting holes reamed by hand to fit. I wanted to fit Minilites, but at the time could not set the money aside…The only other issues that remained were to repair the waterpump (I planned to eventualy fit an electrical pump and recore the radiator), and find a driver side window, but then I accepted a job in and relocated to the USA. The vehicle was in storage for about a year when a friend’s friend made an offer on it…



Now that I have it back the issues are:

Chassis plate (removed from position next to fuel filler before respray) missing
Engine and gearbox was sent for refurbishing by previous owner, but the shop closed down…I may be able to trace the owner of the shop, but what happened to the drivetrain no-one knows
Front seats, rear seat cushions missing
Sideshafts…one missing, one present but not fitted, thus rear hubs can not hold wheels (which are also missing) on car…
RH front brake drum and shoes missing
Front indicator/parking lights missing
two dents on right side above and below rear quarter window (but should be an easy fix)


The body is still largely straight and rust-free, but what is perhaps more important is that none of the trim went missing!!!, and all glass remains intact (except for drivers window which was never there)

If I remember correctly, the chassis number was along the lines of B722000853, but I am not absolutely sure…I do know that at the time I researched it all indications were that it was a 69 model, and propably one of the last made.



Whereas the car was a fine example to be preserved when I sold it, now it would be good for spares, donor car, or for building a coupe from an existing saloon, or (shock, horror!!!) modification/rodding/racer, or given enough resources, restoration back to spec

Toylander,the start and the end in stages

Buy your original Toylander brand plans from CKD Boats.


This is the intened end product,not one from our kits but there is no reason why this high standard of finish should not be the result.



We cut our first Toylander series 2 some while back,the customer did the build himself with the help of his son,I must say the idea of creating a project such as this and being able to have your child work with you has its attractions,there is always some work to do and when your finished your daughter or son can drive it,the learning process is a quantum leap in engineering,from building the shell,which requires a person to read and understand drawings,to the joinery and building,which of course requires the use of hand tools,both wood working, mechanical and electrical (12 volt dc).The end result will be a learing process that will give an insite ito the use of tools many years down the line.

Packing another kit,we can now supply tempered glass cut to your sizes.

In this case the toughened glass will sit inside the rebated frame it belongs to.


Mike applying shipping lables.


Whats inside the crate.

I had an enquiry as to whats happening here right now,the past few days we have packed a hard dodger kit thats going to New Zealand,this follows our development that started at least a year back,the demo unit turned out great and based on that we can now offer sized based around the first one.

The structure is very solid and has its toughened glass rebated into the 15mm marine ply walls,with 7mm deep and 15mm wide section,the 6mm glass sits well bedded in the Dow-Corning 813 silicone sealant we also supply.Toughened glass is quite low cost here,so we can now offer that in either clear or tinted,all we need are your sizes or templates,we can pack and ship anyplace?

AISWatchMate®

This is the information you will receive on each vessel.

I have been an advocate of the AIS system since I first found out about it a few years back,the basics say all vessels over 350 tons must have it installed,this then gives out a constant signal such as the boats name,heading,speed and call sign number,plus what it may carry too.The transciever is an exppensive item but for yachts persons a reciever only can be quite low cost,the lower the cost,the less you get and with the bottom end units you will need either a plotter,radar or PC to display the information.

We have been asked to source a AISWatchMate and we expect to see some arrive in this country soon,you will still require a transponder/receiver and we now recomend the Icom MXA-5000 which will work well with the Watchmate,for more info read below.

We can ship either the Watchmate or Icom MXA-5000 world wide,please contact me on pricing at roy@comlumber.com

Target Plot Provides a radar-like display of all vessels within the selected range. The display is oriented heading-up so it's very easy and natural to interpret. Dangerous and lost targets are readily identified.

Graphical Plot Shows Crossing Situations Shows the relative position of a target vs. your vessel at the closest point of approach. This provides a graphical view of the crossing situation and clearly indicates whether a target will pass ahead or behind.

CPA and TCPA Computes the closest point of approach and time until CPA. Alarms may be based on these and other factors.

Bearing and Range Computes the bearing and range to each vessel. Bearing can be displayed in magnetic to facilitate easy visual identification using your compass and binoculars (requires magnetic variation data supplied by GPS). Bearings can alternatively be displayed in true or relative to your vessel's heading.

Prioritisation Vessels and alarms are presented in priority order.

Filtering To minimize clutter and false alarms, vessels can be filtered from either display or alarms.

CPA alarm Triggers alarm if a vessel will come too close. Full control of alarm parameters.

Guard alarm Sounds alarm if any vessel comes within the specified range. Both CPA alarms and guard alarms may be used together.

External alarm trigger In addition to the internal alarm, an external buzzer, alarm, or signal light can be interfaced without requiring any additional relays (max 2A).

Consise and easy to read displays
Uncluttered easy to read display shows all available AIS data.

Class A and class B Displays AIS data received from all class A and class B transponders.

Safety messages Displays received AIS Broadcast Safety Messages. These messages may contain important safety, navigation, weather, or shipping information.

Aids to navigation Full support for AIS aids to navigation including off-position and virtual aid indicators.

GPS failure alert Alerts you if your GPS stops working.

Transponder monitoring When coupled with a transponder it will alert you if the transponder has an operational problem, such as transmission failure.

Large backlit LCD Adjustable daylight viewable backlit 125mm (5") LCD.

Easy to use Four buttons control all features. Each button is clearly labeled on-screen. Buttons are backlit for night time use and illumination brightness is controllable. Each setting has on-screen help.

Ultra-Low power consumption Designed for minimal power consumption the AISWatchMate is extremely well suited for energy conscious vessels.

External interface Easy interfacing to optional computers, chart plotters or other devices.

Banque Populaire 3 the worlds fastest sailing boat

This magnifficent craft has raised the bar to all who follow,she now has the transatlantic crossing record,in which she did 908 nm in 24 hours,thats 37.8 knots average,plus hit top speed over 47 knots,the thing is she did it and can do it again,at last they know how to make these boats stick together.

Classe Mini boat number 693 a Didi Mini Transat

Dave and Wendy are building one of our Didi Mini Transat kits out in Arizona,USA,we also supplied the alloy keel,lead ballast and alloy tiller assembly,Dave has reached the fitting out stage and is installing an NKE autopilot.



30 & 31 Aug & 01 & 02 Sep 09. Looks good, well not so fast there.
Worked on a bunch of little things. Mounted the pump reservoir. Made a spacer block for the ram. Attached the ram pivot point to the tiller. Figured out how to mount the rudder position unit. Made a block and epoxied it in place for the compass sensor. Cut the holes for the A/P head & RockBox. The RockBox is a battery powered unit and I did not think that changing the batteries at sea would have a good result. So the good guys at Detroit City Marine made up a 12vdc power supply, thanks Chris. I just had to install a connector to the back of the RockBox. All was going well, I had sealed the edges of the panel and screwed it in place. Then I mounted the nke A/P head and RockBox in place. It looked great and they could be seen anywhere in the cockpit. Then I closed the hatch, or at least tried to close it. The heads stick out a bit too far and will not allow the hatch to close. Shit! Back to the drawing board.

Pilgrim,a new John Welsford design

Designed in New Zealand




This looks like a small boat but at 5 meters long it is anything but that,a perfect size to trailer sail and with a drop keel,you can launch in shallow water too.We will be supplying plans,materials and a kit,some words from John:

Pilgrim

Family daysailer or adventure cruiser.


Length. 5.00m 16 ft 5in
Beam 2.11m 7 ft
Draft Centerboard up. 0.48m 1ft 7in
Centerboard down. 1.17m 3 ft 10in
Sail area 15.1 sq m 162 sq ft
Dry Weight Rigged 480kg 1056 lbs
Ballast 210 kg 462 lbs

In my teenage years I sailed an 18 ft gaff rigged centreboard yacht around the Hauraki Gulf near my home just north of Auckland New Zealand. This is a wonderful area for cruising a small yacht with harbours every few miles, islands and peninsulas to shelter behind and thousands of square miles of beautiful warm blue water.

That was 40 plus years ago, and its been a while since I had a chance to revisit some of those coves and bays. Recently the thought that I should plan a “Pilgrimage” to refresh the memories came to the fore and I began a project that would see me in the same area in a boat of similar character to the one I sailed all those years ago.

Davids Didi mini transat build pictures

David is working nice and clean on his build,check out the floors,spotless!



The next stage will be to laminate the radius chine,thats slower than doing the flat hull skins but a very nice job to do as each plank is closing you hull skin off.


This is the drop keel casing,its part hidden inside the boat as part of the interior when fitted.

David is in Australia,he hs been working on one of our kits,its a cruise version which uses the drop keel concept from the Didi 26,in this case we supplied the drop keel foil and lead ballast halves too.

American White Oak now in stock,

With the Rand becoming stronger we find that imported timbers and ply are becoming cheaper,which when these lower prices are passed on to our customers,makes our kits lower priced,we have some quality clear Oregon Pine on order and a batch of quality white american oak has just arrived,its stunning quality,good widths and the length is great too,11ft to 12ft (3.35mtr to 3.65mtr) and full sawn to give you
a full 1" (25mm) thickness when planed in a thicknesser.A good end use will be for solid oak furniture or flooring?

Austin seven

left click the picture to view full screen.

Picture is copyright to Notty.

Seen here at an august bank holiday in England,this wonderfull micro car defies its age and still looks (to me) stunning,just check all its features,side vents,forward opening window,slide sun roof (?)we may see a similar toy car follow our Toylander kit cars.

Toylander,series one and series two choices

We see christmas again rushing up on us and if we are to have some Toylanders ready to stick in your childs stocking we had better get started again now.The choice of either the early series one or series two Toylander was made easy by the fact we have the series two delveloped already,we will be stocking both sets of plans though,at about R585 they are good value for a toy that will last a life time.We have also decided to build a series two demonstrator,it will start this month (september 09) there are various choices in materials but we will only offer it in genuine BS 1088 marine grade ockume plywood,it is so much lighter,stronger and nicer to work with than any other sheet material,so the cost has to be worth it,both the front bonnet and the curves on the front wings will be made from our special superform bending plys.

The KD 860 catamaran by Bernd Kohler

Some words from Bernd the boats designer below,plans are very low cost at only U$340,buy direct,we can supply the boat as a kit.

Designing a catamaran in this size is a challenge if you would not end up with a floating caravan.
I used our practical experience with our Pelican to design this boat.
The maximum height in the central cabin is 1.48 m. I found the solution for a reasonable ergonomic by using 3 entrances. To step in the hulls, the port or star board entrance is used. The central entrance is very convenient to step in the central seating area. As shown in the drawing, there is amble seat height in the central cabin and standing height ( 1,95m ) in the hulls.
The trapezoid shaped hulls have a fine entrance. The length to beam ratio of the hulls is 1 : 11. This will guarantee a fast boat (see spec. for speed prediction).
The boat is relative low with good aerodynamic properties. Even with shortened sails the boat will go to windward. A factor often forgotten.
There is sufficient room for four persons for extended voyages.

CONSTRUCTION
The boat is designed in a way that even first time boat builders can build the boat without difficulties. All 32 CAD drawings are to scale (1 : 1). The can be used for direct laser cutting. A 32 page description will aid you building the boat. All our 26 years of experience designing boats for amateurs is flowing into this design. We chose again plywood as basic material for availability world wide and cost efficiency.

Lavranos design 10.5mtr power cat

This boat was deigned to do an easy twenty knots,its capable of handling our local Cape Point waters and if thats the case it will be happy most places.As a marine ply and epoxy kit it makes for a strong but yet lightweight and low maintainace build.

Clamps by the dozen!

The finished job,very nice and fair too!

Some pictures of the progress being made on building a 16.5 foot Mill Creek kayak from Cheasapeak Light Craft. www.clcboats.com




Alain bought his materials to build his canoe from us,that was marine plys,as in 6mm ockume five ply,epoxies, glass tapes and cloth,he has no progressed with the help of his dad ann small son to fitting the decks,I think he may be finished quite soon?