The DS15 racer sail boat in South Africa

We have just been asked to supply a DS15 sail boat kit.


http://www.dixdesign.com/DS15.htm

The difference with this kit order is that it will be built here in South Africa, so from a kit a new class will soon start.

This design started as a 16ft bigger sister to the Paper Jet. It was to be of similar concept but a twin trapeze skiff for two adults. When he told me that he also planned to use it as a picnic boat for four adults with cooler boxes, I told him that the Paper Jet concept really had no chance to serve all of his requirements. The concept immediately changed to what you see in the Didi Sport 15, as a ballasted sportboat.

The Didi Sport 15 design started a few years ago and has been moving along very slowly, at the pace of the prototype that is being built by a very meticulous builder. He is making a beautiful job of his new boat, hence the slow rate of building.

The Didi Sport 15 hull is a little sister to the Didi Mini Mk3 and a direct development from it. It has the waterline beam and stability to serve the picnic purpose that the builder wants, able to carry load in a relatively docile manner if reefed down to suit the breeze of the time. In this mode she is really a sportboat with a modern and powerful rig that can be reduced to be more docile if needed. With her full rig of squaretop mainsail, self-tacking jib and asymetrical spinnaker on a retractable bowsprit and launched from a chute, she will be a spirited racer for club Olympic triangle and point-to-point racing. Or just blast back-and-forth across the bay or lake until you wear yourself out from fun and excitement.

This DS15 was built from a kit.

She has a covered foredeck above a sealed rapid-draining wet deck, which creates a safe and dry storage area and shelter for small crew. These characteristics make her a good option for raid-type racing events that require carrying one's own stores, camping equipment etc over long distances between camping stops. Hanging a tarp or the mainsail over the boom turns her into a camp cruiser, with a cockpit long and wide enough for a couple of airbeds for a comfortable night anchored or nudged up onto the beach in a sheltered private cove.

But this boat is schitzophrenic, it has a very different alternative personality for those who want to have some high-performance fun. Remove the ballast bulb from the daggerboard and she morphs to what I originally intended with this design. She becomes a high performance skiff with one or two trapezes for adults.

Construction is over permanent bulkheads and a ladder-frame backbone, with stringers. Most of the hull is 6mm sheet plywood, the exception being the radius area that is done with two layers of 3mm. The topside chine uses a stitch-&-glue joint and increases the power from the stern when power-reaching. The deck and cockpit are all 6mm sheet plywood using stitch-&-glue detailing.

All information is from the designers web site.

Roy

Sunbeam Sport brake servo repair kits

These were fitted to the Sport Imps and made a nice difference to the feel of the brakes, I have used them on my two Sunbeam Stiletto's and to good effect.

This one is in stock and comes from a 1966 Singer Chamois Sport, its done 134,000 miles and has been to many places, Vic Falls, Kilimanjaro, Mozambique and even up the Sani Pass.

I have now sourced the correct service kit and will be fitting it to my 1967 Singer Chamois with its part sport engine and front disc brakes from the Ford Fiesta / Ford KA.

How easy ? I will let you know but I have the section pipe from the front to rear of the car, plus the four way union in the picture.

The early sport Imps had the servo in the front of the car, then a four way union, plus the suction pipe to the twin Stromberg carbs inlet manifold, this is the system I will use. Later Sports saw the servo move to the rear of the car and in the engine bay on the passenger side, which is more weight where its not required really?

It does seem that my idea to re sleeve the original 0.625" brake master cylinder to the larger 0.70" (sport)  master cylinder is possible, you will require the correct size piston though.

Roy

Coventry Climax silver stickers

The first batch were sold out and when we asked for more the company who did them was not to be found.

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2011/12/coventry-climax-brand-name-stickers.html

We then had to pay for new art work and the cost to sell on doubled, so now at R35 each plus postage, that's about U$3.28 and GBP1.95? so still affordable?

Postage at our cost!

Roy

Hillman Imp cylinder head valves

As you can see we have a choice.

The ones at the back are the larger Sunbeam Sport inlets, then the Mk2 versions, the smaller ones being the exhaust valves which are common to the Mk2 and the Sport engines.

The Mk2 and exhaust valves will be fitted with new valve stems to a Mk2 cylinder head later this week.

The new valve seats will be used if required?

Roy

Cruising yacht hard dodger build progress

This was posted some while back, then as a planning idea, which became an order. We supplied the jigs and materials to extend the roof on this one.

Hout Bay Marina on a fine winters day.

Open the picture by clicking on it.

The owner is doing his own assembly and works when he can, he covers each days work up with a tarpaulin at the end of each day.

Some weeks later and just look at our winter weather!

We can recommend a pro boat builder if you want the kit pre built and fitted to your own boat?

Now what we call the Mk3 version, kits have been shipped as far as New Zealand and the USA, we supply it all, the roofs building jig, front window panels precut, 6mm tempered glass, Dow Corning glazing sealant, plywoods, solids and a builders guide.

To be continued.

Roy

We are pleased to announce that a Proteus 106 sailing catamaran will be built in South Africa soon.

The order means we are now sourcing the required okoume marine plys required and should have them here in about a month?

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2013/12/proteus-106-catamaran-build-details.html

This order is the plys and MDF removable stations, plus epoxy, the customer will supply his own meranti wood and glass cloth himself, shipping as a flat pack of CNC cut plys and boxed 25ltr drums of epoxy is then easy for us.

The program will be updated as we proceed.

Plans and detailed design information can be sourced from Angelo Lavranos at www.lavranosyachtdesign.co.nz

lavranos@ihug.co.nz

Hillman Imp engine number 1574 dated 1963

Todays picture shows a very early example of the Imps overhead camshaft design as taken from the lead from Coventry Climax (stickers in stock).  At just 875cc and this motor still is on that standard bore, there was plenty of power for a car that weighed just 710kgs.

There were around 440,000 Imps made between 1963 and 1974 so this really is an early unit.

Click on the image to enlarge.

The engine was rebuilt using stock parts to underline that the engine (this one) is now fifty (50) years old, once upon a time fifty seemed to be old but that's not the case anymore? This actual motor was gifted to me but in such a dirty condition that it took two days just to wash the dirt off with water soluable cleaner. Then another two days in the bead blaster cabinet until we had the parts looking as close to new as they can be.

In truth the sum of the parts were good, new piston rings and crank bearings, gaskets and so on soon had the engine on its way to what we can see today but it was still a weeks intensive work.

This engine design was just the ticket for tuning shops, so much so that the Rootes Competitions shop started producing their own kits, then moved into the larger 998cc bored engine.

See if this link will open for you, there are a great selection of Imps in it, many I have been involved with .

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=hillman+imp+cape+town&client=firefox-a&hs=saB&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&imgil=Fwx3Aa7LxR8K2M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcSE9ERz8m3TXLZeSomGTf6bUjINm9oGkv5p0ZQG4gfNAOE1zL84UA%253B510%253B340%253BxKMVSBbJvHN6UM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fblogs.timeslive.co.za%25252Fwheeldeal%25252F2013%25252F03%25252F25%25252Fthis-hillman-imp-is-driving-from-joburg-to-coventry%25252F&source=iu&usg=__beLzrw8BjrYiO0DAPrZxXu_Qzow%3D&sa=X&ei=K9tUU-GEJqjC7Aa32YCwDg&ved=0CHcQ9QEwDA

Roy

Henry the pigeon checks out progress

Henry was a part of the family, he even slept in his own room but as we know kids and pigeons soon grow up and the lad flew off when he was fully grown.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Henry was free as long as he lived with us, with doors and windows open he could and did follow us around the house and in my case into the workshop.

He is checking out the new side window rubber just fitted, Imported and quality, worth the effort and the cost.

With the 1971 Hillman Imp Deluxe Mk3  we are now re building well on the way to a new paint job, we have a full set of window rubbers on order.

Roy

Singer Chamois Sport barn find

I am looking for such a car, ok this one is not in a barn, looks more like garage turned junk store?
This one is near complete with just one piece of stainless body trim on the engine cover missing.

This one looks quite good for its age, the licence plate tells me its from year 1967, so would be 47 years old right now. Hillman Imp versions will also be considered.

With or without engine and mechanicals!

Roy

Mirror Dinghy for sale, Cape Town, South Africa

An Easter 2014 special offer, you can collect it after Tuesday next week.

So here it its, kit # one now built and ready to be measured, after which we can apply for an ISAF plaque number and sell to the first person who wants it.

Note, we had our router fail and while a spare one allows us to access Google and the web, plus receive emails we can not reply. Please wait until our IT guy has sorted this out for us early next week!

Click on the image for a larger size.

You can take it as it is, or ask Peter the boats builder to fully fit it for you as you require.

This is a once only offer, as while we can build more to order we can never again offer the worlds first ever Mirror Dinghy that was CNC cut as a kit, this is the first such boat in the World!

Contact me for pricing.

Roy

A light weight Micro Caravan?

The Times newspaper had a story on how South Africans are turning to the camping life for their holidays.

Written by TJ Strydom and quoting  Wiza Nyondo who is FNBs (first national bank) head of tourisim, tells us that in December Statistics SA say that R79.4 million was raked in, which was mostly from domestic tourists. Camping Parks and camping sites report a 51% jump in income compared to last year.

The Micro Camper Van?

Cars are becoming smaller, so are the engines, so the pulling power has to reduce as well, its not just the power output but the actual weight of the pulling or tow car?

With the advent of new products like Deluxe Light Ply (DLP) we can now look at and design lighter trailers and camper vans around the DLP. The design has already started, one of our regular customers has the basics drawn already.

The designer is also a boat builder, so understands the use of epoxies and plywood's, the design will enable you the builder to dry assemble to allow you to understand the final assembly and gluing up process.

We hope to become the material supplier and also the company who CNC cuts and supplies the result as kits. ( the order was placed for the first 10 sheets of DLP and we expect the client to collect today)

Drive away units will be an option, either fully finished or as a home completion project, you will need a car with a tow hitch ball!

More on this as it happens.

Roy

Mirror dinghy for sale in South Africa

Subject to a final measurement certificate we have our first CNC kits set build for sale and this month .

The boat is here at a pro boat builders premises and in Cape Town, the buyer would need to collect.

With the decks and inside of the boat having three coats of waterproofing epoxy applied the final finish is up to the new owner.

The hull exterior will be finished in all white.

Note the inspection hatch to the forward compartment.

Available now and on a first come first served basis!

Other Mirror kit sets can be built to order as demand requires, contact me for a guide to pricing.

Roy

On the bay in Hout Bay

The clubs president invited me to attend the HBYC annual Closing Cruise, the weather sort of played along with things too, so off we went.

Taffy the circumnavigator and Athol with the sun hat who is still in the planning stages came along for the ride.

Athol has just joined SAS (south African sailing) and was delighted to be told that as he was now 70 his fee was waived, Taffy turned 70 this month and thinks this is a great idea!

Roy

Caltex extended life coolant

This is a dark subject that any owner of a fluid cooled engine should know about?

After seven years but with low mileage a 3.8ltr Jaguars alloy cylinder head required welding on all of the fluid transfer ports where the face of the head mates to the steel engine block, the welding repair cost was R2600 and that does not include parts and labour.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

My thanks to the filling station attendant Nommiselo Mzukisi for the LRP fuel he  put in the cars petrol tank and also to Druma for looking after the drivers seat.

Why did this happen? for sure the lack of road miles will have been a  cause but given that the engine had the best antifreeze coolant that the suppliers I use stocked, I would really not expect such damage.

Those of you who know about what happens when two metals of different ends of the corrosion chain will understand that the alloy head and steel engine block were the main cause.

This 1967 Singer Chamios has the Rootes Imp all alloy engine, thats the head and the block, I have now removed all of the green antifreeze and replaced it with Caltex extended life coolant.

Its pink in colour and when spilt onto a cement floor turned green, so much so I thought it was antifreeze.

The coolant is pre mixed,it weighs twice that of normal tap water, if you need to top up the fluid for any reason and have no more Caltex extended life coolant you can use distilled water.

The coolant raises the boiling point by 8 degrees C , thats quite an advantage,it will also handle tempratures down to minus 40C.

The life of the coolant is five years or 200,000 kms.

The 5ltr pack was sourced for me by Clive of Killarney Auto Service in Montegue Gardens, the instructions on the pack clearly say you should not water the mix down. Contact with Caltex in Johannesburg told me that adding distilled water is allowed, this will affect the cold climate protection, which is not an issue in Cape Town.

My thanks for Caltex South Africa for having the Caltex filling station in Hout Bay stocked with 1 litre packs for me, talk about good service!

Roy

Didi Mini Transat Mk3 kit set

We started the name CKD Boats cc when the very first Didi Mini Transat Mk1 bulkhead kit set was cut, that was over a decade back and the design has since moved to stage three and with chines at the rear of the hull.

With another order in, we are now starting to get the plywood's together for a Didi Mini Transat Mk3, an export order and to a new country for us, making it thirty five countries this far.

The requirement on this order is to supply all the okoume marine grade plywood, this is forty four sheets in total of which we CNC cut thirty seven sheets in total.

Added to this is the timber list for the hull and deck, we are using African Mahogany (khaya) this time, as its strong, light, nice to work with and cost effective.

This will ship by sea and probably via Singapore, we can ship world wide to most destinations.


http://dixdesign.com/didiminiMk3.htm

As I have personally built two Didi Mini Transats  from our kits I can offer plenty of advice on each stage of the building process, this applies to the other radius chine designs from Dix Design as well.

Roy