Showing posts with label Amateur boat building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amateur boat building. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Wickedly Accurate Didi 29 Retro Project in North Carolina
I designed the Didi 29 Retro for Mike Kopman, a professional charter skipper who lives in my hometown of Hout Bay, South Africa. Mike's 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 hasn't started yet. Bruce Mierke started his boat a few months ago and is moving along very well. These photos are of Bruce's build. He began with some smaller items ahead of starting the hull, so I am showing those first.
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Mike Kopman has been building his workshop ahead of the boatbuilding project, so that hasn't started yet. Bruce Mierke started his boat a few months ago and is moving along very well. These photos are of Bruce's build. He began with some smaller items ahead of starting the hull, so I am showing those first.
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| Rudder |
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| Foil of lifting keel |
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| Beaver-tail ballast bulb |
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| Carbon spars for gaff rig. |
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| 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.
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| Bottom panels installed, rudder cassette and Torqueedo test-fitted |
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| Radiused section of skin completed. |
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| Aft view, with hardwood-veneered transom |
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| 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/
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Why Would Anyone Build a Boat?
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 can't 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 can't be described.
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 don't get it say "It cost you a lot more, you haven't priced in your labour hours, which must be priced at your professional rate of pay". No, we don't 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.
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 don't want to leave that to people whom they don't 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 didn't 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.
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 boatowner's 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 can't 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.
Read More..
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 can't be described.
 |
| Petr Muzik built his Shearwater 39 then circumnavigated in his 70's. |
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 don't get it say "It cost you a lot more, you haven't priced in your labour hours, which must be priced at your professional rate of pay". No, we don't 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.
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| Andrew Morkel built his Argie 15. Now he and his family are learning to sail in it. |
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. |
It has been said many times that the happiest days of a boatowner's 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 can't 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.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Why do we build boats?
In the March/April 2012 issue of Wooden Boat Magazine the Editor, Matt Murphy, picks up on a discussion on the Wooden Boat Forum about whether to buy or build your own boat. This is an issue that is very close to my heart and soul. I would not go so far as to say that my life was aimless before I started to build my own boats but it certainly did change for the better from that first boat. It was the spark that took me into a string of builds and into a career in boat design.
I have responded to Wooden Boat with a letter to the editor, which I hope will be published in an upcoming issue. In the meantime, I have permission from Wooden Boat to publish it here on my blog. It makes this post a bit long, so I apologise. Please bear with me, I hope that you will read what I had to say.
Dear Matt,
Today I read your editorial "To Build or to Buy" in the March/April 2012 issue of Wooden Boat. Thank you for highlighting this issue. I know that I have a vested interest in the good health of amateur boatbuilding. I make my living primarily by designing boats that are intended more for amateur builders than their professional counterparts. With that "full disclosure" out of the way, I would like to comment as the amateur boatbuilder inside me that has always provided my main driving force.
I have built, with my own hands, almost every boat that I have ever owned. This started as a young child with tin canoes, sealed with pitch and paddled with the end pieces from wooden peach boxes. I have received such pleasure from creating all of those beautiful things myself, from "sticks and glue" bought from the hardware store, an enjoyment that is hard to put into words. There is a satisfaction that comes out of it that will never be understood by those who have not built a boat themselves. There is intense joy that is felt when that boat first floats and on the first sail, when all of it finally comes together and the dream is fulfilled.
There is a common saying that we have all heard many times. "The best days for a boat owner are the day that he buys it and the day that he sells it". I can see that it may be true for a boat that is bought. I cannot see it being true when you have created that boat with your own energy, with much sweat and and blood spilled in the process. I have felt sadness when parting ways with all of my boats but life has to move on.
I have built many small boats and three big ones (34-38ft). Most of this was building by myself with some help from friends or family when needed. I have a head-full of memories that will never leave me. I remember clearly exactly what led up to me losing my concentration and running my thumb through a spindle router when shaping a small part for my 38ft boat. That loss of control cost me much pain and loss of work but I will never forget the lesson learned.
I remember how difficult it was to lift my 34ft boat and slide it sidewards in my back garden, to remove it from its position on top of the mast with a spreader base through the bottom of the hull. It came to be there because nature is much more powerful than I am and had sent a Cape Town gale to pick the boat up bodily and dump it on top of my very new mast.
I remember how I cried when the person who had bought my 36ft boat from me destroyed her. I remember seeing hundreds of pieces of boat scattered among the boulders. To others they were just pieces of wood; I knew every piece of wood, exactly where I had built it into the boat. I felt that a big piece of me was destroyed along with that boat.
When you build a boat you have an affinity to it that cannot be easily described. You shape the character of that boat in the process and your own character grows along with it. I am currently rebuilding a classic British sports car that was given to me as a wreck. My neighbours, who have never created much with their own hands, have asked me if I knew how big a task I was taking on with this car. I reply that it is no big deal, any big project is a succession of small projects and I will get there, all in good time. This project is small compared with building a big boat but people who have not done such projects cannot comprehend it. Restoring a car or a boat that somebody else created long ago gives much satisfaction but it cannot compare with shaping a multitude of bits of wood into a new boat, creating an entirely new entity that would never have existed but for you and your passion, energy and endurance.
With my amateur boatbuilding hat replaced by my yacht designer's hat, I must comment also on a related issue. I received an email a few weeks ago from someone who had apparently considered building one of my designs but decided against it. He said that the $400 price of my plans added too much to the overall cost of building a boat when he could buy an ageing used boat of the same size for $1000. Frankly, anyone who has that mindset should rather buy than build because he will never appreciate the effort that goes into producing a good set of drawings nor what is involved in building a boat. That particular drawing set comprises more than 20 large paper drawings and two strips of costly 36" wide Mylar full-size patterns. They show very clear detailing that was drawn in a CAD program and are printed on expensive roll-media architectural plotters. They took many hundreds of hours to prepare to a standard that can be understood by people who are not trained as boatbuilders, architects or engineers. The price also includes full access to me to ask questions if needed from start to finish of the project.
I don't understand how all of that cannot be worth $400. Maybe it is all part of the mindset that has destroyed manufacturing in USA and sent it all off to China to be made by others at both lower price and quality, turning Americans into buyers instead of creators. Get up out of your computer chair and create something. It doesn't have to be a boat, just create something for yourself instead of buying it. You will be surprised what enjoyment and sense of achievement you will get out of it.
Dudley Dix
Virginia Beach, VA
Read More..
I have responded to Wooden Boat with a letter to the editor, which I hope will be published in an upcoming issue. In the meantime, I have permission from Wooden Boat to publish it here on my blog. It makes this post a bit long, so I apologise. Please bear with me, I hope that you will read what I had to say.
Dear Matt,
Today I read your editorial "To Build or to Buy" in the March/April 2012 issue of Wooden Boat. Thank you for highlighting this issue. I know that I have a vested interest in the good health of amateur boatbuilding. I make my living primarily by designing boats that are intended more for amateur builders than their professional counterparts. With that "full disclosure" out of the way, I would like to comment as the amateur boatbuilder inside me that has always provided my main driving force.
I have built, with my own hands, almost every boat that I have ever owned. This started as a young child with tin canoes, sealed with pitch and paddled with the end pieces from wooden peach boxes. I have received such pleasure from creating all of those beautiful things myself, from "sticks and glue" bought from the hardware store, an enjoyment that is hard to put into words. There is a satisfaction that comes out of it that will never be understood by those who have not built a boat themselves. There is intense joy that is felt when that boat first floats and on the first sail, when all of it finally comes together and the dream is fulfilled.
There is a common saying that we have all heard many times. "The best days for a boat owner are the day that he buys it and the day that he sells it". I can see that it may be true for a boat that is bought. I cannot see it being true when you have created that boat with your own energy, with much sweat and and blood spilled in the process. I have felt sadness when parting ways with all of my boats but life has to move on.
I have built many small boats and three big ones (34-38ft). Most of this was building by myself with some help from friends or family when needed. I have a head-full of memories that will never leave me. I remember clearly exactly what led up to me losing my concentration and running my thumb through a spindle router when shaping a small part for my 38ft boat. That loss of control cost me much pain and loss of work but I will never forget the lesson learned.
I remember how difficult it was to lift my 34ft boat and slide it sidewards in my back garden, to remove it from its position on top of the mast with a spreader base through the bottom of the hull. It came to be there because nature is much more powerful than I am and had sent a Cape Town gale to pick the boat up bodily and dump it on top of my very new mast.
I remember how I cried when the person who had bought my 36ft boat from me destroyed her. I remember seeing hundreds of pieces of boat scattered among the boulders. To others they were just pieces of wood; I knew every piece of wood, exactly where I had built it into the boat. I felt that a big piece of me was destroyed along with that boat.
When you build a boat you have an affinity to it that cannot be easily described. You shape the character of that boat in the process and your own character grows along with it. I am currently rebuilding a classic British sports car that was given to me as a wreck. My neighbours, who have never created much with their own hands, have asked me if I knew how big a task I was taking on with this car. I reply that it is no big deal, any big project is a succession of small projects and I will get there, all in good time. This project is small compared with building a big boat but people who have not done such projects cannot comprehend it. Restoring a car or a boat that somebody else created long ago gives much satisfaction but it cannot compare with shaping a multitude of bits of wood into a new boat, creating an entirely new entity that would never have existed but for you and your passion, energy and endurance.
With my amateur boatbuilding hat replaced by my yacht designer's hat, I must comment also on a related issue. I received an email a few weeks ago from someone who had apparently considered building one of my designs but decided against it. He said that the $400 price of my plans added too much to the overall cost of building a boat when he could buy an ageing used boat of the same size for $1000. Frankly, anyone who has that mindset should rather buy than build because he will never appreciate the effort that goes into producing a good set of drawings nor what is involved in building a boat. That particular drawing set comprises more than 20 large paper drawings and two strips of costly 36" wide Mylar full-size patterns. They show very clear detailing that was drawn in a CAD program and are printed on expensive roll-media architectural plotters. They took many hundreds of hours to prepare to a standard that can be understood by people who are not trained as boatbuilders, architects or engineers. The price also includes full access to me to ask questions if needed from start to finish of the project.
I don't understand how all of that cannot be worth $400. Maybe it is all part of the mindset that has destroyed manufacturing in USA and sent it all off to China to be made by others at both lower price and quality, turning Americans into buyers instead of creators. Get up out of your computer chair and create something. It doesn't have to be a boat, just create something for yourself instead of buying it. You will be surprised what enjoyment and sense of achievement you will get out of it.
Dudley Dix
Virginia Beach, VA
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Amateur Boatbuilders
We have developed a strong following among amateur boatbuilders over many years. This did not happen by accident because my own roots are deeply bedded in amateur projects of my own. I built my first boat in 1974, a 4.5m (14' 9") tortured plywood single-handed trapeze catamaran that I raced for a few years. This was also the first design that I drew, as an inexperienced amateur.
That was followed in 1975 by the 11m (36ft) "Tai-Neam" to a van de Stadt design, the 10m (34ft) "Concept Won" to our award winning CW975 design and the 11.5m (38ft) "Black Cat" to our Didi 38 design, prototype for our very successful radius chine plywood building method. There were also a few dinghies and canoes, the last being the prototype of the Paper Jet trapeze skiff design.
But this post is not about my own projects, it is about other amateurs building our boats. They number in the thousands. Most go about building their boats at their own pace, then launch and sail them without ever contacting us again.
The boat above is an Hout Bay 30, built in Germany by Christiane and Jorg Langanky. They built their boat, sent me photos and have now sailed away to cruise the world.
There are also many builders who like to show their projects, to proudly display what they have achieved. I am thankful to those builders for sending us the info, either photos or links to websites or blogs about their projects.
We have a large section of our website dedicated to amateur projects of all sizes, with photos of boats being built and completed projects. Some of them have links to websites where the owners have taken the trouble to document every step of the build with photos, posting them for others to follow.
Time pressure has prevented me from adding to that section for awhile but technology came to my rescue. Now many builders choose blogs to show their projects. When they send us the link we list them on our Amateur Builders Web Links.
If you are considering building a boat yourself and are concerned about your ability to take on such a build, take a look at the projects. The links are sorted by design to make it easier to find what you want. Most of these pages are in the language of the builder but some browsers can be set to automatically translate them into your own language.
Here are some examples from our list.
Quinn Farnes building his Paper Jet in California.
Sergey Bogdanov building his Argie 15 in Russia.
Roland Zellweger building his Didi 26 on a beach in the Philippines.
Jarl Steffanson building his Hout Bay 33 in Iceland.
Marco Gheri and Alessio Bianchi building their Vickers 45AC in Italy
.
If you are already building one of our boats and you have a blog for the project, please send me the link so that I can add it to the list.
Have a great holiday season.
Dudley Dix
Read More..
That was followed in 1975 by the 11m (36ft) "Tai-Neam" to a van de Stadt design, the 10m (34ft) "Concept Won" to our award winning CW975 design and the 11.5m (38ft) "Black Cat" to our Didi 38 design, prototype for our very successful radius chine plywood building method. There were also a few dinghies and canoes, the last being the prototype of the Paper Jet trapeze skiff design.
But this post is not about my own projects, it is about other amateurs building our boats. They number in the thousands. Most go about building their boats at their own pace, then launch and sail them without ever contacting us again.
There are also many builders who like to show their projects, to proudly display what they have achieved. I am thankful to those builders for sending us the info, either photos or links to websites or blogs about their projects.
We have a large section of our website dedicated to amateur projects of all sizes, with photos of boats being built and completed projects. Some of them have links to websites where the owners have taken the trouble to document every step of the build with photos, posting them for others to follow.
Time pressure has prevented me from adding to that section for awhile but technology came to my rescue. Now many builders choose blogs to show their projects. When they send us the link we list them on our Amateur Builders Web Links.
If you are considering building a boat yourself and are concerned about your ability to take on such a build, take a look at the projects. The links are sorted by design to make it easier to find what you want. Most of these pages are in the language of the builder but some browsers can be set to automatically translate them into your own language.
Here are some examples from our list.
Quinn Farnes building his Paper Jet in California.
Sergey Bogdanov building his Argie 15 in Russia.
Roland Zellweger building his Didi 26 on a beach in the Philippines.
Jarl Steffanson building his Hout Bay 33 in Iceland.
Marco Gheri and Alessio Bianchi building their Vickers 45AC in Italy
.
If you are already building one of our boats and you have a blog for the project, please send me the link so that I can add it to the list.
Have a great holiday season.
Dudley Dix
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