guide to make boat

Introducing the first of what we hope will become an annual feature. It is the "Boats of Dudley Dix Yacht Design - 2012" calendar, with photos of a wide selection of our boats. This was a project that happened very quickly, under considerable time pressure because it started so late in 2011. The photos selected came mostly from those that have been sent to me by owners and builders over many years.


There are only 12 months and 1 cover available, so there is a limit to what we could include. I have shown as many boats as I could fit in, so some readers will be lucky enough to be included this year. We have many beautiful photos but most were automatically excluded by being of low resolution.


If you are interested in buying the calendar, go to Lulu.com . You can view before buying. Current price is US$17 but if you register on the Lulu website, you will receive regular discount offers by email to get it or other publications at a reduced price. They are printed by suppliers in many countries, so yours will come from your closest supplier for reduced shipping cost.

I invite all owners and builders of our boats to send me your best hi-res photos for consideration to be included in future calendars. They must be at least 300dpi resolution, the higher the better.

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

I have built all of my big boats outside, sometimes with temporary shelters over them to allow me to work through the winter rainy season or to protect new materials that were sentitive to moisture. I built a 36 footer (not my design) when in my 20s, a 34 footer (CW975) when in my 30s and a 38 footer (Didi 38) when in my 40s, all of them from plywood.

I had it easy, compared to many builders of our boats. A few days ago, Bill Connor in Boulder Colorado sent me this photo after an early winter blizzard. Doesn't look like a boat but under all that cold white stuff is a Didi 40cr  hull and deck.


Bill writes the following. "As you know, building ourside requires an understanding of local weather, cooperation with the weather you are given (as opposed to forecast), perseverance, and a sense of humor, not unlike sailing itself. Local weather in Boulder means Chinooks, cold, and snow. The winds came early this year with 85kts. at the house mid-October, so the tent had to come down for the season. I finished glassing the deck and cabin, but the cockpit coamings were in progress so they'll have to wait under plastic until an Indian Summer or until Spring rolls around - so it goes. Meanwhile, I'll work on assemblies in the shop with an eye towards next Summer's goal: painting the exterior and decking."

Bill highlights something that I mention in various places on my website and documentation supplied with our designs. It is important with a large project like this to always have a few sub-projects on the go or being planned so that you can carry on with other work inside the workshop or inside the covered boat. If you are going to sit and wait out the rain or snow then the boat might never be finished.

So, almost wherever you are, you should be able to build a boat. You must make allowances in your planning for your local conditions and you might have to seek premises that will allow you to build indoors. However, by making suitable choices, you will be able to successfully build a boat.

This post was prompted by me receiving the photo below from a client who is building one of my aluminium designs. I have posted about him before, his name is Brian Russell and he is building in Tennessee. The reason for the post? Well, the photo is just so gorgeous in its composition and shows up the framing system of the boat so nicely. And, of course, there is his pretty wife right in the middle of it as well, to add interest.

Brian is a professional sculptor, so he obviously does beautiful work and has a great eye for aesthetics to show it all off. Brian's website is at http://www.odysseyyachts.com/ .

This design is the Dix 43 Pilot, originally drawn for steel construction. Many have been built by professional and amateur builders from steel and a few have been built by professionals from aluminium. One of them, "Blue Pearl" was built by Jacobs Brothers in Cape Town and has cruised many thousands of miles, including voyages to both the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Aluminium is a great boatbuilding material and well-proven in use. It is also a much nicer material with which to work than steel. It is relatively light, so it is easier to manhandle pieces by yourself than with steel, with less need for heavy-lifting equipment. It is also easily worked with woodworking machinery like power saws, power planes etc and it is a lot quieter to work than steel. It also has the advantage that it is not necessary to paint it above the waterline, so the increased cost of the material is offset to large extent by the savings in fairing and painting.

OK, so what is the problem with it that blocks most amateur builders from using it? Aluminium is a material that can result in an unsafe boat if the builder does not properly educate himself before starting construction. That education is needed in two areas, which are proper choice of alloys and correct welding techniques. Get these two things right and you will have a good boat.

Proper choice of alloys is important because incorrect alloys will result in corrosion problems that will seriously shorten the safe life of the boat. The aluminium must be marine grade, from the 5000 and 6000 series of alloys and they must be selected for their strength, welding and corrosion characteristics.

Correct welding technique is much more important for aluminium than for steel because it is a more difficult material to weld successfully. Correct preparation of the weld zone and cleanliness of the work area are needed because any contamination in the weld will adversely affect weld adhesion and strength. Aluminium welding is also badly affected if the inert gas is blown away, allowing oxidation of the molten metal. That means that there must be no wind or other air movement where the welding is going on.

So, any amateur who is prepared to take courses at the nearest Community College should be able to build a good boat in aluminium. You don't want to find out in 60 knots of wind and 50ft seas in the Southern Ocean that your welding techniques were not up to scratch. Do it right and you will have a boat that can take you anywhere in the world that you want to go.

See our full range of designs and much info on boatbuilding at http://dixdesign.com/.

Winter is coming fast and the weatherman says that it will be another cold one, much like last year. If you are into winter sports, this is a great time of year. If you are like me, you prefer the warmer months. Despite that, I don't let the cold trap me inside, you will often find me out on the ocean, surfing in air and water temperatures that are not many degrees above freezing. I will be covered head to toe in black neoprene, with only my face exposed to the elements. If the surf is good, that is where I will be.

When I am not surfing or working, I keep myself busy in the workshop with projects. My current project is rebuilding a 40 year old British sportscar, a Lotus Europa S2. It was given to me by a friend, in a very sad state. This project will keep me busy for a few winters.


Now is the time to plan what you will do this winter. Building a small boat is a great project that will keep you busy, in a warm shop or garage. It will also result in a product of your own hands, of which you will be proud and which will give you lots of fun when the warmer weather returns.

Nomatter what your age, you can benefit from building a small boat. As a schoolboy, you can build it for yourself. As a father or grandfather, you can build it for yourself and your children or grandchildren. Whether you are into fishing, sailing or the exercise of rowing or paddling, there are boats that you can build with basic woodworking skills.

Some designs need boatbuilding skills but most can be built by people with only basic woodworking skills and no prior boatbuilding experience. You should choose a design that you are sure that you will be able to complete. It is good to challenge yourself but don't aim so high that your project will get the better of you.

We have a few designs that are suitable for winter builds. At the lower end of the skills scale are the 3:1 dinghies that are built by the stitch & glue method. They can be built by almost anyone and can be propelled by oars, sails or a small outboard motor. Use them for sailing, fishing, teaching boating skills or simply lazing around on the water, with or without a fishing rod.


At the other end of the skills scale are the lapstrake Challenger and the Paper Jet. A completed Challenger is also a 3:1 multi-purpose dinghy. The Paper Jet is very different, being only a sailing dinghy. But it is a sailing dinghy with a difference in that it has 3 sailing configurations that make it suitable for sailing at all skill levels.

Whatever, your boating preferences you can find a boat to build in our Winter Projects. If you get started now, you can be having fun "messing about in boats" when the warm summer months come again.

See all of our designs at http://dixdesign.com/ .

Radek Kowalczyk is sailing his little boat "Calbud" in the Mini-Transat single-handed race that is currently being sailed between France and Brazil. He is the third Polish sailor to sail in this event. His boat is built from radius chine plywood, to the first version of our Didi Mini design. Radek is proving to be a resilient sailor.

Radek was unlucky, on the first leg, to hit a whale. The inpact damaged his keel, necessitating heading into a small harbour in Portugal to make repairs. The damage appears to have been primarily delamination of the carbon skin that he applied over the outside of my aluminium keel design. The repair kept him in port for a few days before he could resume his voyage.

Radek and "Calbud" arrived in Madeira yesterday to a massive welcome from fellow competitors, family and friends. He and his boat were both given a clean bill of health by doctors and the Mini 650 class inspectors respectively. Today they set off on the second leg of the race, more than 3000 miles to Brazil.


Radek is a great example of what this race is all about. He is resilient in the face of adversity and does whatever is needed to achieve his goal of sailing this race. He is part of an ever-growing group of single-handed sailors who treat each other with great respect. They support each other like family, to help each other through these events.

Radek, you have earned our respect and I wish you the best of sailing for the rest of this race.

We have a new small sailboat taking shape in a remote workshop in rural North Carolina. It is a performance dinghy with a twist. It will be an exciting boat with a trapeze or two, or a ballast bulb can be added to the daggerboard to make a more docile small sportboat or family funboat. This is the first time that we are showing it anywhere public because it is not yet ready for plans sales. The design has taken a backseat due to pressure from other designs, so it has gone rather slowly