Boat Plans And Kits | New rig for Didi 29 Retro

Boat Plans And Kits

The Didi 29 Retro was commissioned by a client in Cape Town, to build for himself for competition in the classic yacht races in the Caribbean. He wanted a boat with modern underbody and appendages but with a large gaff rig of classic configuration, to race in the modern classic division.

Underbody of Didi 29 Retro

Last year I was asked to draw a more conservative cruising gaff rig for the design, to better suit those who have no aspirations to race with a big crew or simply want to cruise. That resulted in the cruising gaff rig with about 20% less sail area on the same foretriangle height.

Didi 29 Retro racing gaff rig at left, cruising rig at right

This year I was asked to draw a more modern rig for it, which developed into the squaretop Marconi rig. This one will better suit most sailors, being easier to handle and easier to understand for those who dont know gaff rigs. On sail area, it fits between the two gaff rigs and it will be interesting to see how the three compare on the water.

Didi 29 Retro with squaretop Marconi rig

The squaretop Marconi rig suits the aesthetics of this hull rather well. It would be my choice if I were building this boat for myself. Should be an exciting boat to sail too, able to take advantage of the power of modern stable sail fabrics.

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

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Boat Plans African Queen | Sentinel Explorers Racing

Boat Plans African Queen

I designed the Sentinel Explorer for Sentinel Boats in 1991. My client was the importer of the Drascombe range of boats built by Honnor Marine but had not been able to sell any of those boats due to the high cost of importing them into South Africa. The brief was to draw my design to a broadly similar concept to the Drascombe Lugger but with sloop gunter rig instead of the yawl gunter rig of the Lugger.

My design was for a much fuller boat, with more volume on less overall length and very different hull section shape, resulting in a boat with more stability and considerably more speed. The UK builders of the Lugger took exception to the design and tried to shut down production, claiming that the moulds for our boat had been made from an existing Lugger hull, which was patently nonsense and no more than bullying the little guy in the playground. It lasted for several years but eventually went away, leaving a very bad taste for the low standard of business ethics displayed by Honnor Marine.

Ironically, Honnor Marine went broke and the company was bought by Bob and Norma Brown. The new iteration of Honnor Marine is now builder of my Cape Cutter 19 design in UK.

Production of the Explorer has been very low key, with small numbers built over the years. I heard a few years ago that there was a fleet of Explorers gathering on Langebaan Lagoon, on the West Coast of South Africa, with owners enthusiastic over their boats. Today I have received photos of this group racing as a one-design fleet in the Sandy Bay Yacht Club Easter Regatta. I have to admit that this is the first time that I have seen more than two Explorers sailing together. The time that I did see two together, I was racing one of them in the Hout Bay Dinghy Regatta, with my late friend Bryan Ferreira as crew.

Explorer start line action. "Dawdle", on the left, won the Easter Regatta.

Explorers dicing to windward in the Easter Regatta.

Explorer #59 being chased by Challenger #20.

It is good to see a smaller sister, the Sentinel Challenger, racing in the same fleet. The Explorer is only built in GRP from moulds but the Challenger can be built from plywood to our plans.

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

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Boden Boat Plans Australia | Wickedly Accurate Didi 29 Retro Project in North Carolina

Boden Boat Plans Australia

I designed the Didi 29 Retro for Mike Kopman, a professional charter skipper who lives in my hometown of Hout Bay, South Africa. Mikes concept was to adapt the Didi 26 cruiser/racer design to a more traditional concept, with counter stern, bulwarks, boxy trunk cabin and a big gaff rig, for participation in the Caribbean classic racing circuit. Mike received the first CNC kit to this design, supplied by CKD Boats in South Africa. The second kit went to Bruce Mierke of Murphy, North Carolina, which he ordered from our list of plywood kits.

Mike Kopman has been building his workshop ahead of the boatbuilding project, so that hasnt started yet. Bruce Mierke started his boat a few months ago and is moving along very well. These photos are of Bruces build. He began with some smaller items ahead of starting the hull, so I am showing those first.

Rudder

Foil of lifting keel

Beaver-tail ballast bulb

Carbon spars for gaff rig.

Bulkheads and framework set up on building stocks.

This design has a spade rudder that is installed in a cassette so that it can be lifted out through the cockpit for trailing or shallow moorings. Bruce has added a motor well also, in which he will run a Torqueedo electric outboard. The casings that contain the outboard well and rudder cassette can be seen on the photo above and others in this series.

Bottom panels installed, rudder cassette and Torqueedo test-fitted

Radiused section of skin completed.

Aft view, with hardwood-veneered transom

Plug of engine well and rudder cassette in place.

Bruce has modified my rudder cassette design to allow some steerage with the rudder partially raised to assist when approaching shallow moorings with the keel raised.

He is very happy with the quality and accuracy of the kit that we supplied, describing it as "wicked accurate".

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

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Boat Plans And Patterns | Cape Henry 21 Professional Build in Ireland

Boat Plans And Patterns

Tiernan Roe is a professional boatbuilder in County Cork, Ireland. His company, Roeboats, specialises in building quality wooden boats. Mostly of classic styling, they build for sail, power or rowing. Roeboats recently launched a Cape Henry 21 that they built for a customer from France.Tiernan sent me these photos, which show some interesting details brought into one of our most popular small cruisers.

Cape Henry 21 ready to get wet.

Launched in a pretty setting.

First sail of the new boat.

The mainsail has still to be fully set up in these photos.

Compact sink & cooker unit, neatly executed.

Other side of the galley. Nice detailing.

Looking aft from the double forward berth.

You can follow the construction of this boat on the Roeboats news blog, from start through to launch.

After launch, Tiernan Roe sent me these comments. "She sails very nicely and I found her easy to single hand from the get go. The interior is pretty snazzy with frame and panel oak fronted drawers and a gas stove with tank fed sink.  Also the centreboard was a lot easier to operate than I thought. Its an awkward shape out of the boat to try and move alone."

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

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Small Boat Plans And Kits | Didi 29 Retro Progress

Small Boat Plans And Kits

Bruce Mierke is building a Didi 29 Retro in Murphy, North Carolina. Bruce is a professional boatbuilder, building her for himself and progressing nicely. He has now completed the hull and it will be turned over in a few weeks.

This design is based on the Didi 26, modified to create a more classic image. Carrying a choice of rigs, the squaretop Marconi rig below and two gaff rigs further down the page. It is a radius chine plywood design, round bilge from plywood and can be built from plans or a CNC kit. Although Bruce is a professional builder, I developed this construction method primarily for amateurs and they have built many boats to this range of designs.

Marconi rig of Didi 29 Retro

Here are the latest photos from Bruce, showing the beautiful standard of finish that he has achieved.

Beautiful hull finish.

Two gaff rigs, racing at left and cruising at right.

For more info on this and our other designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/

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Wooden Boat Plans And Kits | Dont Underload Your Diesel Engine

Wooden Boat Plans And Kits

I have been around boats with diesel engines for more than 40 years. In that time I have heard many times that we should not run a diesel engine under light loads for long periods because "it can glaze the cylinders". Another statement has been "diesel engines like to be loaded". Maybe you have also been told or read this but do you really understand what is going on with your diesel, why it is so important to run it with healthy loads and why you should not over-power your boat?

A turbo charger turbine wheel fouled with soot and fuel, the result of chronic underloading. This gunge also fouls your upper cylinders, exhaust valves and exhaust system. From there it is washed out with the cooling water into the water on which you enjoy your boating. Photo courtesy of Steve DAntonio.

I am a proponent of reasonable size motors in sailboats but often deal with owners who want to put much bigger motors in their boats than I recommend. My 36ft boat had 20hp, my 34 had 12hp and my 38 footer had 18hp. That 12hp could push my boat against a 40 knot wind on flat water. Sure, it was slow progress and the motor was working very hard but it could do it. In less extreme conditions the motor wasnt just ticking over to move her at reasonable speed. A 20hp motor would still be acceptable on that boat but anything bigger would be over-powering it.

Professional Boatbuilder magazine has an enlightening article on this subject on their website, written by their technical editor Steve DAntonio. Steve also works with owners and builders through his own business, Steve DAntonio Marine Consulting, Inc.

The grooves that retain oil in a cylinder wall, known as crosshatch, can be seen here. Frequent light load operation can wear away this pattern; known as cylinder glazing, it exacerbates blow-by and the issues that accompany it. Photo courtesy of Steve DAntonio.

I dont want to repeat here what Steve writes about so clearly in his article, just to point out again that you do harm to your motor, to your bank account and to the environment by over-powering your boat, which inevitably results in you running your motor at speeds that will cause problems. Those problems wont only materialise "in the long run", they can start to appear when the motor has run for no more than a few thousand hours. You will be inviting self-inflicted pain and heartache on yourself and future owners of the boat.

Please read Steves article. And for info on my designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com.

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Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum | Bash Bars

Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum

The first time I heard "Bash Bars" was the last time I called steel round bars used to cover frames edges "steel round bars used to cover frame edges".

From what I know of the origin of this description is that it came from a guy I know in Australia who is building a steel sailboat. His name is Martin ( Idlerboat is his web name) and he is one of the founders of Metalboatbuilding.org . So from this time forward I use "bash bar" .

A bash bar is built by welding round stock to a frame edge to protect that frame edge. It is much easier to get paint to stick to a 1/2 round bar vs the ground edge of a frame. When that frame gets banged into and paint chips, the stainless steel round bar will be exposed and will not rust so touch up and repair will be a breeze without the unsightly rust stain in these high wear areas. All the frames on the exterior of the boat that will not be covered up and that are subject to getting banged get treated with this bash bar. I used 1/2" stainless for my bash bars. On the foredeck of the boat I bash protected the frames, the bulwark cap edge, freeing ports, the door frame and the toe kick areas of the door. On the Portuguese bridge I treated the frames only as the cap for the Portuguese bridge will be covered with teak. On the cockpit area or aft deck, I treated the frames, door, freeing ports, and left the bulwark cap untreated as this too will be covered with teak.

On the freeing ports and hawse holes I held the bash bar flush to the outside hull sheathing. This gives the hull a great finished look, and I also like the look on the inside of the hull too. While the bash bars are held proud on the inside of the hull sheathing, it gives the hull a more finished look albeit a utilitarian look, and I like the utilitarian look for a steel hull. Ive used some effort to fair the hull and hide the welds. I dont know if this was a mistake or not as I think a good looking weld is something that does not need to be covered up. A lot of people will tell you not to fair the hull and let the welds stand proud, and with the money saved both in fairing and repairing dings, I cant say I dont dissagree with the no fairing method. Almost all commercial boats use no fairing, and I love the look of a commerical boat.

Conall

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Boat Plans Bateau | Didi 29 Retro Project Update

Boat Plans Bateau

 

Another project that hasnt seen an update on this blog for awhile is the Didi 29 Retro being built by Bruce Mierke in Murphy, North Carolina. Bruce was away cruising for awhile but is now back hard at work on his boat. He is building her mostly as a day-sailer, with minimalist accommodation in a shortened cabin. He is setting her up for easy single-handing.

The standard of Bruces work is clear in these photos that he sent me, showing the current state of his project. He is building from a CNC kit that we supplied.

Hull-turning with two gantries.

Deck stringers over bulkheads.

Deck panels ready for fitting.

Minimalist interior.

The very neat work of professional boatbuilder Bruce Mierke.

Cabin structure begins, considerably reduced from the design.

Bruce is doing sweet work on this build, I look forward to seeing the final result.

To see our full range of designs visit http://dixdesign.com/ or http://dixdesign.com/mobile.

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