guide to make boat

OkoumeFest is only a few days away, on May 18th. If you want to see or sail the Paper Jet and live within reach of the Annapolis area, this could be your opportunity. We will have two boats there, the prototype #001 and  #007, generously loaned to me by my friend, Howdy Bailey, for the occasion. My boat will have the turbo rig for experienced performance dinghy sailors to test and #007 will have the standard rig for those who don't feel up to the challenges of a powered-up skiff. See more info on this blog in my posts of April 21st and April 29th.

Paper Jet #007 - Billy Black photo.

Paper Jet #001 - Billy Black photo.

Paper Jet #007 is for sale and is in excellent condition. Come see and test her if you want a good boat but don't have the time to build. She is set up for the standard rig but can be easily upgraded to the turbo rig.

Visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/

Many people want to build a boat for themselves. Some are like me and just dive into a project, believing that we can learn how to do it properly during the process. Others are more cautious and will investigate everything about the process before taking the step of cutting the first piece of wood. Some of them will never even make that first cut, unconvinced that they will be able to complete the project.

Most boatbuilding projects that are started do get completed but there are others that the original builder is not able to complete for one reason or another. This may be for any of a number of reasons, from financial problems to illness in the family or even death of the builder.

These partially completed boats are an opportunity for those potential builders who don't have the confidence to take a project from that first cut through to launching the completed boat. If bought by someone else, such an incomplete project can knock the major part off the timescale needed for completion.

Didi 34 waiting for a new owner to complete her

 We recently sold a semi-completed project for a Dix 43 Pilot that was available in South Africa. The new owner is now completing the project to take him and his family cruising distant waters.

We have other semi-completed projects listed on our brokerage pages that wait for new owners to complete them. Listings that we have at present are for plywood Didi 26 and Didi 34 and an aluminium Dix 38 Pilot.

The Didi 34 project is particularly worthy of consideration. It became available after the builder succumbed to cancer. His wife needs to sell it and has reduced the price to a level that makes it a very viable project to get a speedy cruiser/racer afloat in a fairly short time and at low cost.

So, if you are interested in building a boat for yourself but want a head-start on the project, have a look at the semi-completed projects on our brokerage pages.

Ed Mahoney of Orland, Maine, has built a Didi 38 for himself and it looks like he has made a really nice job of it. He launched a few days ago in Belfast.

Beautiful finish on the hull of Ed Mahoney's Didi 38

Waiting for her rig

Ed Mahoney's newly launched Didi 38

Ed plans to take her for her first sail tomorrow. We wish him pleasant sailing. Ed, enjoy the wonderful feelings of bringing to life this boat that you created with your own hands.

See out full range of designs at http://dixdesign.com/

My previous post was about having my Paper Jet at OkoumeFest on Kent Island, near to Annapolis. After that I received requests for the opportunity to sail her with the Turbo rig as well. I have arranged to have another Paper Jet at the event, which will allow us to have both rigs available for sailing. My own boat, the prototype will have the Turbo rig. The 2nd boat is being loaned to me by my friend, boatbuilder Howdy Bailey, and will have the Standard rig.

PJ 007 with Standard rig and PJ 001 with Turbo rig.

The two boats in the photo are the ones that we will have at OkoumeFest. This happens from 10am on Saturday 18th May on the beach at Matapeake State Park on Kent Island, south of the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on US Route 50.

This is a boating rendezvous, so there will be many CLC boats on the water. If you have one of our plywood boats and live within reach of Kents Island, I am sure that you will be welcome to bring your boat and to join us for a day of sailing.

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

OkoumeFest is an annual event held by Chesapeake Light Craft in the Annapolis area of Chesapeake Bay. It mixes an Open Day at the Chesapeake Light Craft business premises on the Friday demonstrating products, building procedures etc and a day of opportunities to test a wide range of boats on sheltered water.

CLC recently started cutting our kits in USA and have invited us to bring our Paper Jet prototype to the Saturday part of the 2013 event. This happens on May 18th at the beach of the Matapeake State Park on Kent Island, south of the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on US Route 50.

Read more about this event and how to participate on the CLC OkoumeFest page .

Paper Jet sailing in light conditions

We will be there, weather permitting. If you want to see it or if you would like to test sail her then please come along. I think that we will have the Standard rig on her, same as in the photo above. That will give more people the opportunity to sail her than if we use the more demanding Turbo rig.

CLC have cut and shipped three Paper Jet kits since taking over cutting. One of them went to South Carolina and two to the Pacific Northwest. This brings the total of these boats in USA to 30, out of 70 world-wide.

To see sailing and build photos for the Paper Jet, go to http://dixdesign.com/paperjet.htm and to see our other designs go to http://dixdesign.com/.

In a post in May 2012 we announced the new Didi 29 Retro design. The first CNC plywood kit for this design was cut in South Africa by CKD Boats and construction will soon be started by the owner/builder.

This boat has a large gaff rig but it is very versatile, able to be reduced to much more compact proportions by sail selection and reefing. Still, it is an imposing rig that is aimed primarily at racing in the Caribbean classic style races. We are accustomed to seeing photos of gaff-riggers carrying very impressive clouds of sail but, for those who are more cruising-oriented, this big rig has way too much sail for comfort. One such builder approached me to ask if it is possible to use a smaller gaff rig on her. I have drawn a cruising gaff rig and that drawing is now included as part of the stock design.

Didi 29 Retro Cruising Gaff Rig

This one is more compact, with shorter spars all round. The inboard foretriangle and the deck hardware layout are the only parts of the rig that are unchanged. The shorter bowsprit and lower masthead have given smaller asymmetrical spinnaker and outboard headsails. These are balanced by a smaller mainsail with shorter foot and head on the same luff length.

Didi 29 Retro Gaff Rigs

For comparison, the racing rig has 24% more area in the main and Genoa, 17% more in the Yankee and 27% more in the asymmetrical. Overall, this will be an easier rig to handle and it will be able to carry each sail combination into stronger winds. That is without sacrificing any of the features and versatility of the bigger rig.

To see more of this design, watch the video of my PechaKucha presentation on how it was developed from the Didi 26 design.

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

I have good news for our supporters in Canada who would like to build one of our plywood boats. We have appointed a supplier in Nova Scotia, who will be able to supply kits for our designs. They will be cut in Nova Scotia and shipped to to wherever needed. The new kit supplier is Big Pond Boat Shop, located in Mahone Bay. Owner Keith Nelder is South African, like me, but left there long before I did. He and his shop will be available to supply kits for any of our range of plywood kits.

The first kit on offer will be for the Paper Jet. This is a versatile training boat for juniors than can be progressively upgraded from a very simple and basic Lite version with free-standing una rig that is forgiving of errors, through a sloop version to a powerful high-performance Turbo version that can be very exciting and challenging to sail.

This is all done by exchanging rig components rather than replacing the boat, so is an economical route for upgrading. It has the added advantage that when there is too much wind for the big rig, it is quick and easy to depower down to a smaller rig to suit the conditions. That extends the use of the boat into a very wide range of conditions so that it spends more time on the water instead of lying on the shore waiting for the right breeze.

Rigs and layout of Paper Jet

All of the rigs shown above use the same mast up to the hounds and the same boom. Above the hounds two different topmast lengths allow changes in overall mast height to suit the mainsail that will be used, the topmasts sliding into a socket at the top of the lower mast. The una rig has the mast free-standing in the forward mast partners and the others have it stayed in the aft partners. I also intend to add a junior mainsail option, which will have a very short topmast and be more suited to smaller juniors.

For more info and photos go to http://dixdesign.com/paperjet.htm.
To see our full range of designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/ .