Boden Boat Plans Australia | More Argie 15 Sailing

Boden Boat Plans Australia

John Read in Cape Town built himself an Argie 15  and has been sailing it a year or two. He has made a video of him sailing it in breezy and gusty conditions on Rietvlei, in the suburbs of Cape Town. John has learned much about his boat and is now very comfortable with her characteristics. In this video she shows some of the speed that these boats manage to achieve.

John is obviously enjoying his Argie 15, which is our most popular design.

The beautiful Table Mountain stands guard over Cape Town and is visible in the background of some of the shots.

Please visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/ for more on this and out other designs.

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Boat Plans Canada | Didi 950 Build Started

Boat Plans Canada

Michael Vermeersch of Ohio commissioned the Didi 950 design and has now started construction of his boat. He is building from a pre-cut plywood kit that was supplied by Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis. The kit arrived as 61 sheets of plywood with all components accurately cut by CNC router and packed on 2 pallets.

Michael reports that he is progressing well with the assembly of the backbone and bulkheads and that everything is fitting together beautifully. A few more bulkheads to go, then he will be ready to start setting up on the building stocks.

Michael with wife Pat & daughter Catherine.

Since adding this design to our stock design list, another three boats have been started. They are in Australia, Greece and Latvia.

The Didi 950 is drawn to the Class 950 Rule and detailed for building by the radius chine plywood construction method. It can be built from plans only or from a kit. Kits are currently available in USA but can be supplied by most of our international kit suppliers as well. Enquire with the supplier in your area and I will send the files to them for pricing. Note that for USA you must order from us, you cannot order it directly from Chesapeake Light Craft.

For our full range of designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Plywood Boat Plans Australia | Cape Henry 21 Launched in Croatia

Plywood Boat Plans Australia

Dean Ivancic lives in Porec, Croatia. He bought plans from us a few years ago for the Cape Henry 21. He has been working steadily on his boat and reported to me today that he launched her in April. He has sent me some rather nice photos of her under sail. She is still incomplete down below but has all that is needed to sail.

She is named "Scintilla", Italian for "spark", also the meaning of "Iskra", the Croatian name of Deans youngest daughter.

We wish Dean and his family lots of fun and adventures in their Cape Henry 21.

"Scintilla" on one of her first outings.

Pretty from any angle.

Dean has done a nice job of building "Scintilla".

The Cape Henry 21 is surprisingly quick and has delightful manners. These boats prove that a boat doesnt have to be ugly to be fast.

For more on this design and others in our range, go to http://dixdesign.com/.

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Boat Plans And Kits | Build a Model Sailboat !!

Boat Plans And Kits

The information used for the " Model Sail Boat Building, Making A Wooden Star45 R/C Sailing Model" includes posts found on the companion blog: The Star 45 R/C Model Sail Boat - Builders Journal


"Model Sail Boat Building, Making A Wooden Star45 R/C Sailing Model" is a start to finish, step by step, building manual. Including directions for covering a wooden star with fiberglass.

With the popularity of radio-controlled models, the number of people interested in owning a model yacht has also grown - in geometric range. As with model aircraft, the choice of sailing models runs the gamut from childs toy to sophisticated craft.

Over the past 30 years I have fielded many questions regarding the choices and considerations which go into selecting a radio-controlled sailboat.

Four questions are asked over and over by prospective skippers: How do the radio-controls work? How much do they cost? What do I look for when I buy mine? And, where can I get plans and instructions for building a sailing model?

The modern R/C model sailing craft is as different from a toy boat as a museum display model is from a childs tinker-toy creation. A model sailing craft operates with the same sophistication of design as any full-sized yacht

The AMYA STAR 45 Class discussion group is a terrific place to exchange ideas and talk about building Star 45 models for racing in AMYA regattas.

Feel free to contact me, Dave Mainwaring mainwaring @ rcn.com

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Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | A little progress

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

Spring is here for sure and I do have a little progress to report. Ive not made as much headway as I would have like to in the last few weeks, but like the song says, a  little bit is better than nada.

I think Ive taken the salon as far as I can in regards to building cabinets and furniture. The latest project completed was fabricating the end caps for the dinette benches, and a small table that will sit between the two comfy chairs we will have. I think the small table will house  the am/fm stereo for the salon, and has a drawer for stashing the remote control for the TV. The end caps for the bench, while  not a job, required a bit of time. Because of the 16" width, the end caps needed to be glued up. I had to decide  how I wanted to have the bench seat riser connect to the end cap and chose a dado which had to be plowed in to the end cap. I did not want to see end grain wood on the end caps, so I fabricated a cap that had a dado plowed in to it so it could slip over the top of the end cap. While I was building the end caps for the salon dinette, I also did the same thing for the wheel house bench seating.

I took a look at doing some work in the wheel house, but felt that it is going to be better waiting until the super structure is landed on the hull in a few months. The wheel house floor has a decent camber to it, and also falls off grade forward to aft. I dont think the super structure is going to rack when we lift it, but Im not 100% sure it wont, and theres no point fastening any finish ply to the front of the wheel house if theres a chance it could move. I did figure out the camber of the wheel  house floor, and fabricated the face frame for the bench seat drawer unit. I gave myself plenty of room to scribe the face frame to the floor and still have an inch of face frame left on the bottom once it was fit. Because I not had the face frame built, I had the drawer size in front of me, so I decided to build the three drawers that will go in the assembly.  The far port side opening in the face frame is for the air conditioner vent that supplies the wheel house.

Because I could possibly be drilling holes in the wheel house face frame and the four end caps for the bench seats, I did not put any finish on these parts. All these little odds and ends parts I"m making will make assembly at the launch site go much more quickly .

For the last four or five years, Ive been threatening myself to go and buy a real planer to build this boat. The current planer I  have is a  15 year old Delta 12" thickness planer that is really undersized for how much lumber Im running through it. I really need a 15", 240 volt machine with a three knife cutter  head. The Delta machine has seen better days, but seems to still get the job done. Having sharp knives in the machine is the only way the it has a fighting chance of keeping up with what I ask it to do. When I first bought the machine, I had a local sharpening guy do the knife sharpening work for me. The problem I had with the professional sharpening is that the blades seemed to dull quickly. The edge they produced, while sharp, did not have enough meat on the back side, so the cutting edge would fail, then dull, and begin to leave ridges on the work. As long as the knives do not have a severe nick in them, I prefer to sharpen them myself. To sharpen my jointer and planer knives, I use a jig cut in to a piece of hardwood to  hold the knife at the correct angle. The sharpening media I use is 300 grit, 2" wide adhesive sand paper wrapped around a hard wood block. Before I put the knife in the holding jig, I flatten the back of he knife using the 300 grit block. With the blades held firmly at the correct angle and the jig clamped in the vise, not much time is needed to revive the edge.  Once the edge looks good and all the shiny spots have been taken off of the edge, Ill hone it with the same block using 600 grit self adhesive paper. Sharp tools are one of my pet peeves, and having them makes the work much more enjoyable and consistent.

I still have a long list of things I want to get finished before I move her out of the barn namely: Aft deck ceiling including ceiling lights, rear steamer light, rear work lights. Paint aft deck ceiling. Pull ceiling light wiring in salon and wheel house and locate switchs. Water line from salon sink to salon 1/2 bath. Salon and wheel house doors.  Hydraulic lines from engine room to anchor winch. Hydraulic lines from engine room to bow thruster. Hydraulic reservoir install. Weld vent in salon roof for gray water holding tank that I forgot. One more coat of urethane and caulk undersides of bulwark cap. Weld "D" rings to  hull to chain hull down to dolly. This is pretty  much my punch list, and Im going to try to stick to it before she leaves the barn. Hopefully, the list wont grow to much larger and Ill have her ready to move by early Summer or late Spring. The boat yard Im bringing her to is packed full right now but after the first of May, it will begin to clear out.

Cheers

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Wooden Boat Plans Australia | A Drum style model sail winch

Wooden Boat Plans Australia

photos courtesy of "Larry Ludwig" at www.LudwigRCYachts.com, Ludwig Mfg.

==

From: "Stephen Pratt" :

"On the North Coast (Ohio), are using HiTec HS-725 or HS-785 Winches. Bob Luther developed a mechanism to work an endless loop system of sail control. Fits inside the Star 45 with plenty room to spare."

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Boat Plans Bruce Roberts | Another settee another drawer needing a notch

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts

Every morning at 5:30 or so,  I step out on to our back porch to do my wood stove duties, and while I can feel the cold, the echo of splitting kindling bouncing back from the frozen trees and earth, really announces the below zero mornings. A long stretch of  below zero nights and daytime highs in the single digits, and low teens, has finally given the Ohio river a crust of ice weve  not seen since the late 1970s. On these frozen mornings as I gather kindling, I  have recently heard a great horned owls deep, hollow calls, and I feel better knowing the earliest mating bird species in North America has begun  tending its nest. A cold winter  has lost its novelty, and Im ready for spring.

During this type of weather, "for pay" work has come to a standstill, but I continue to make progress on board. This week found me routing the six inch heat duct from the salon in to the wheel house via a galley cabinet, and the wheel house settee. Because Im getting ready to build the wheel house console, I wanted to tidy up some of the elements under the console. I connected the air line manifold under the console so I can hook  my air tools to this area vs routing  air hose from the lazarette, and also made up the air connection for the air horn. I cleaned up some of the wiring under the console and got it temporarily strapped to the  forward bulkhead, and also connected my two 30 amp shore power feeds to the smart plug inlets. I built the wheel house settee, mounted some of the galley cabinets, and all in all had a pretty decent week.

We have a settee in the salon, and now another in the wheel house. Besides having another item checked off of the list, I needed the wheel house settee built in order to verify the final position of the wheel. The final dimensions of the settee are 46" wide x 72" long.  The table will collapse down and make for a full sized berth. There are three drawers under the settee along with the 6" air conditioning  duct that feeds the wheel house.  I purchased one pedestal for the table, but Im going to have to either add another pedestal, or build some creative folding brackets to support the table when its collapsed for berthing. The settee benches have removable seats for stowing life jackets. I plan on having cushions made for the seats, but for near future the seats will be hardwood. For the seats, I used 3/4 cherry plywood, and glued on solid stock, rounded over, to finish the edge. The seats look good, and will do just fine until funds for an upholsterer can be found ( way down on the list ).  A strategic cleat and some Velcro hold the seats fast. Ill have to look at head room pretty close, but I think theres room for a small cabinet or shelf above the settee on the bulkhead wall. At least one of the drawers will have to be notched to accept the table pedestal, and two drawers if I add another pedestal. 

The layout of the console has the wheel centered on the port side fixed window. To port of the wheel is the navigation desk, to starboard is a fixed cabinet that will hold  charts and other stuff. The height of the wheel house console will be 36", and the height of the navigation desk will be 30". Right now, the wheel is 16" off of forward bulkhead. With the wheel on the port side center window, the navigation desk feels cramped. Im going to move the wheel from its current off center local,  to be on the center line of the wheel house. This  move will represents the helm pump moving 13" to starboard. Ill be able to leave the welded pedestal in place and will only have to fabricate a bracket to weld to the existing  pedestal. If I were to cut, move, and re weld the pedestal, Id be getting in to foam and paint damage to the master cabin ceiling. The distance between the wheel and the settee is 52".  Besides moving the helm pump to the center of the wheel house, Im going to push it 2" further away from the bulkhead. The additional 2" will make the console 18" deep, which makes me feel better,  and I still will have adequate room between the captains chair and the settee. The navigation desk will be 24" deep along with the cabinet to starboard of the wheel. The console will now be "notched" in to the forward array which makes the captains chair/ work, the desk work, and the space between the back of the chair and settee work. Between I pads, smart phones, and inexpensive chart plotters, I wonder if  paper charts are fast becoming a thing of the past. Technically, Im the last year of the baby boomers, and I still write checks and carry cash in my wallet, so Ill carry charts until the winds of change blow in my window. Personally, I like looking at charts and look forward to plotting our way.

Building the galley wall cabinets last summer, I had  mocked up the salon ceiling in order to get the angle for the cabinet doors. I had left plenty of meat on the port side style to fit the cabinet to port side wall along with enough wood on the top rail to scribe the cabinet to the ceiling. The only problem is that the actual ceiling angle changed a little from my mock up to the actual site built ceiling. This slight oversight, while not crazy, had me scribing the top rail of two of the doors to make the wall cabinets look good. I"m not 100% pleased having to have scribed the door rail, but I do like the way the doors look, and especially like how the angled raised panels match the camber of the ceiling. I had to cut about 3/4" from one of the microwave cabinet doors, and the same from the outbound large wall cabinet door. 

It seems like every day I show up at the boat, I bring 50 lbs of something on board, so I needed a few cabinets installed to be able to start stowing "stuff".  Between the few galley cabinets and the wheel house settee, I now have some decent topside tool stowage that helps me out  by not having to run down below to get "stuff".

Im going to continue on with the wheel house, so the next order of business is to get the console to some level of completion. Im  not going to be able to button her up as I have to leave room to land wires and run controls.

Cheers

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Yacht Boat Plans | Why Would Anyone Build a Boat

Yacht Boat Plans

Why would anyone build a boat? What kind of question is that for a boat designer to ask? I ask it because there are so many people who ask it in all seriousness. They ask it because they really cant understand why anybody would build a boat instead of buying one. There are so many boats out there that are available and can be acquired with so much less effort, new boats, good used boats, boats that have been damaged in weather events, tired boats that can be rejuvenated and almost dead boats that can be resuscitated.

There is no single answer to that question, there are many reasons why people build boats for themselves and each builder no doubt has a bunch of these reasons rolled up inside whatever it is that drives him to build his boat.

A reason that is common to all of the builders is passion. They have a passion to create a boat, to create something that would never have existed were it not for them and their desire to do this. Having been there myself many times, I can attest to the fantastic feelings that flood through when we first put that new boat into the water and then to give it life by hoisting sail or opening the throttle for the first time. If you think about how wonderful you felt when you first used a new boat that you had bought, doing the same in a boat that you have created with your own hands intensifies those feelings in ways that cant be described.

Petr Muzik built his Shearwater 39 then circumnavigated in his 70s.

It is that passion that also drives many of the decisions that are made during the build project. It drives them to do quality work because they want to feel pride in the final product. They want their creation to show well when seen by others, to be seen as a thing of beauty. Those who have never thought to build a boat themselves look at it and say "Wow, did you build that?".

Financial restraints are behind many amateur boatbuilding projects. If you need or want a new (as in not pre-owned) boat that costs double the money that you can afford to put into it, then the only route to get it is to build it yourself. I have never calculated ahead of my boatbuilding projects how much they are going to cost. Each time I have just dived right in and started, then kept going to the end. That was when I found out what the total cost was and was able to compare with what it would have cost me to buy an equivalent new pop-out production boat. Each time the cost of my fully-equipped boat was around 45% of the cost of a base-package for a production boat of similar size and concept.

Those who dont get it say "It cost you a lot more, you havent priced in your labour hours, which must be priced at your professional rate of pay". No, we dont price our labour into the project and no, we should not price it at the rate that we receive in our paying jobs, whatever they may be. The project serves as a hobby, as recreation that helps us to recover from a tough week working for someone else. It helps to keep us motivated and able to take on the world. The alternative of working very extended hours at our paying jobs to generate the funds to pay someone else to build our boat brings with it a risk of getting burned out in the process.

Andrew Morkel built his Argie 15. Now he and his family are learning to sail in it.

Many people who build big boats for long distance cruising want to build it themselves to give them confidence in the strength of the boat. They know that they will be sailing their boat on very remote waters, far from rescue services and possibly with their beloved family aboard. The safety of all depends on the quality of the build and they dont want to leave that to people whom they dont know. They have vested interest in doing everything in the best manner possible, so they want to do it themselves. In the process they garner the side benefit of knowing intimately how the boat works, where all of the important parts are, how to get to every seacock or filter in a hurry when dictated by some emergency that may develop onboard. They know exactly how to repair everything onboard because they installed it in the first place. They are likely to lay out all aspects in a very sensible and logical manner because they will have to maintain it themselves. At sea in a storm is not the best time to be trying to track down plumbing or electrical faults in systems that are overly obscure because the person who installed them before the hull liners or lockers were installed didnt consider the problems of working on them in the completed boat.

Others build their own boats because they want something different,  a boat that will stand out from the crowd on marinas, at sea and in distant anchorages. They add personal styling features to fit their own characters and they choose joinery detailing such as is not available from production boatbuilders.

Sergey Federov built his Hout Bay 33 to a very high standard.

Some people choose to build a boat purely for the hobby benefit. They enjoy the build more than using the boat, so the project will be drawn out interminably. They produce exceptional quality in the process but will probably sell the boat when completed or soon after.

It has been said many times that the happiest days of a boatowners life are when he buys and when he sells the boat. The exception to that cliche is the boatowner who has built his boat himself. There is so much of the builder wrapped up in that boat, in the form of blood, sweat and tears, to say nothing of chunks of skin and body hair, that he and the boat have an affinity and  intimacy that is unknown to those who buy their boats. I have felt very sad when selling each of the boats that I have built, far from the happiest days of my life.

It has also been said many times that boatbuilding is a disease and when you have had it, you will experience periodic relapses. I have to agree with this one, I have had numerous relapses. I cant say that I have suffered relapses, as would apply to most diseases, I have enjoyed those relapses too much to convince my wife that I have suffered in any way. And this is the way that most amateur boatbuilders feel. Visit any of the many boat shows that cater for amateur boatbuilders and you will see for yourself how much they love what they do and just how much passion they build into their projects.

To see our range of designs, for amateur or professional boatbuilding, please go to http://dixdesign.com.

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Boat Plans Aluminum | Its My Boat Radio Interview

Boat Plans Aluminum

Its My Boat Radio is a weekly online radio program that runs on Blog Talk Radio. Hosts are Barbara Jean Walsh and Ann Avary. They do interviews with people who are experienced boaters or in the boating industry, on a broadening range of subjects.

This week I was invited to participate, on the subject of kit boats. You can listen in to the program by clicking on the link below. It is about 30 minutes and you can listen while doing other stuff. Unlike live radio, if you think that you missed something then you can go back to whatever part you missed and listen again, or go back to the start and listen to the whole program again.

Kit Boats and More! online radio program

Small selection of our plywood kit designs

Plywood kits for our designs

To see our full range of designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/

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Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | Didi 950 Up and Over

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

This seems to be a period of hull-turning. About 10 days ago I posted about the Didi 26 being turned in Hood River, OR. Now I am doing the same for Mike Vermeerschs  Didi 950 in Ohio.

Mike turned his hull this weekend and it went very smoothly and safely. It is a much bigger boat, with more weight that can potentially get out of control and more height needed to successfully accommodate the hull on its side as it goes through the process. Bigger and heavier boats need more care, preparation and equipment than is the case with smaller boats.

Mike chose to turn it using the spit-roast method. This is only one of many methods that I describe in my book "Shaped by Wind & Wave".

Turning by this method is done by attaching axles to both ends of the hull to suspend it on supports (Mike used engine hoists) while it is rotated on the axles. Care must be taken to get the axles on centreline and close to the vertical centre of gravity of the hull, to keep the rotational forces small. In this case Mike asked me for the position of the VCG, which he says proved to be spot-on. Once lifted, he turned it by himself, exerting about 20lb of force to rotate the hull. These photos tell the story.

Spit-roast axles ready to be fitted.

Axle bolted to transom.

Axle bolted to bow.

Axle in chain sling attached to boom of engine hoist.

Lifted on engine hoists and turn started.

Almost over.

Cradle ready for the hull, on castors for easy moving.

Safely settled in her new cradle and ready for interior work.

Thanks Mike Vermeersch for the great photo series.

To see more of this and our other designs, please visit. http://dixdesign.com/

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Boden Boat Plans Australia | The Star45 Model Sail Boat A radio controlled R C Sailing Model

Boden Boat Plans Australia

The Star 45 is a 45" long hard chine hull; semi-scale model of the full-size Olympic Star. They weigh 12 pounds plus, have 12 inch beam. They are easy to scratch build and sail. Well suited for building by by the novice builder and by the skipper looking for a classic looking model to race.

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Boat Plans Bolger | Weighing a keel bulb while attached to a boat

Boat Plans Bolger

The Star 45 R/C Model Sail Boat - Builders Journal: Weighing a keel while attached to a boat

Weighing a keel while attached to a boat
From "Larry Ludwig"

"Weighing a keel while attached to a boat can be done with a high degree of accuracy. You can test this out on a boat with a removeable keel. Lay the boat on its side with the keelbulb on the scale with the keel parallel to the table. Then take the keel off and weight it and you will be amazed that they are nearly the same, as in within 95% or better."

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Boat Plans Aluminum | No water for a bit

Boat Plans Aluminum

When the tide goes out from under your boat you want a nice soft spot for your boat to sit on for the next 10 hours or so. Sand is great, mud is nice but muddy. Round rocks ok , but move the conchs out of the way if you can. Not for the boat but for them as 16 tons is a lot to bear for the duration of the tide.

This is our latest project boat. Its an Irwin 31 built in1968 of solid fiberglass. Nice lines , shallow draft, good sails, 800 hrs on the engine, and bought for less than the price of a used 6 hp outboard. Here she is saving us $ 400.00 on a one day haul out to put in a new stuffing box. Sheer legs made from beach wood and line straps to aft chain plate. She draws 36" . As she sits she is solid as a rock.

This boat will be our Bahamas boat to keep at our place so we will always have a boat to use when here even if we are off somewhere on Hogfish M.

A day at the beach in Abaco at Bill and Leslies on Manjack Cay.

In shallow water so we dont have to use the dinghy. This is Saddle Back Cay in the Exumas. We were caretakers there for 3 years 20 years ago. Have gone up and down on this spot twice a day ....a lot .

Kinda shallow

 

Looks like a big Heron from this angle sitting on brown sand.

Sitting on the beach in cold water to scrub the prop and bottom. 

Nothing like a nice sand beach to let the boat have a rest on. Kinda like looking at a big ole square Elephant Seal here resting from all that time at sea.

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