guide to make boat

We had a hacker problem a few days ago, someone hacked our main website and implanted malicious code into all of our pages on Sunday. Two of our alert supporters were very prompt in notifying me about the problem so that I could fix it. Thank you Vincent Houle and Luca Lafranchi for helping us, instead of deleting our website from your bookmarks.

I replaced all of the bad files about 1pm Eastern time but I don't have a record of the time that the hacker posted on my site on Sunday. I also replaced my password with a much more complicated one for added security. The old one was quite complicated and way out of the ordinary, so I don't know how the hacker figured it out. I guess that it is possible but not likely that someone at the hosting company stole it. In an attempt to cover all bases I am moving my website to a server that I consider to have a better level of ethics and better security controls.

I hope that the transition will go smoothly, probably later today or tomorrow. If you do notice a break in our web and/or email service, please bear with us and try again in a few hours. If you continue to have problems then please post a comment below this post.

A major reason for my decision to change service providers is that many supporters in Turkey have not been able to view our website for a year or more. It is being blocked for some reason in Turkey and I have not been able to get this corrected. I hope that the change of server will reconnect us with our Turkish supporters.

Everyone should have good security software on their computers that have access to the Internet. Your security software should have caught the malicious code if you visited our website while the code was active. If you visited Sunday or Monday and your software didn't alert you to a virus then please do a virus check on your computer for the JS/Kryptic ANQ trojan, which can compromise your computer system.

Thanks for your support and for bearing with us through the change of servers.

The Wooden Boat Show is to be held at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut again this year. This is the 22nd running of this annual show, which has settled comfortably into this beautiful location as an apparent permanent venue. Mystic Seaport is a wonderful place for a family day filled with a mixture of boats and maritime history. If you have not been there before, this is your opportunity to experience boats of today as well as how they were built and operated hundreds of years ago. Mystic Seaport is a living museum of the sea, so much of the shoreside support infrastructure and industry that went along with boatbuilding, trading, fishing etc. is represented there for visitors to experience.

Our inside exhibit at the 2012 Wooden Boat Show

 We will be there again this year. We have exhibited out Paper Jet prototype (Sail #001) on this show every year since 2007. We have booth 4B in Tent A on the Village Green, where you can see a display of a selection of our designs and buy plans or a copy of my book "Shaped by Wind & Wave". We can also take your order for a pre-cut plywood kit for many of our plywood designs. The first time that we exhibited the Paper Jet it received the "Outstanding Innovation Award" on the Concourse D'elegance. Paper Jet will be on the lawn outside Tent A and will occasionally be out sailing.
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Outstanding Innovation Award 2007

Come to Mystic Seaport to see a wide range of wooden boats, ranging from my modern little skiff to beautifully built modern classics or even to take a ride on an old steam-driven ferry. You won't be sorry that you took the time out to visit this place of yesteryear.

P.S. I hoped that we would have the prototype of the DS15  at the show as well but it will not happen this year. The builder is not yet ready to show his boat.

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

The Shearwaters are boats of which I feel proud. They are very pretty, they are capable in all weather conditions and they are fast. The Shearwater 39 has an enviable reputation as one of the most seaworthy designs ever to come out of South Africa, a country that is known to have some of the most severe sailing waters in the world. These boats turn heads wherever they go, partly because they are so pretty and partly because they sail past many boats that look faster.

Shearwater 39 "Shoestring III" on launch day.

The Shearwater 45 grew naturally out of the reputation that was earned by the 39 and was developed out of the moulds of the 39. It has more length with no freeboard increase and with very little extra beam. The resulting boat is very sleek and gracious to look at and it gained a surprising boost of speed that allows it to outsail most boats of equal size and many that are up to 25% longer. In gaining that speed it has lost nothing of the seaworthy characteristics of the smaller sister. What it did gain is greater responsiveness and fingertip steering due to the change from a semi-balanced transom-hung rudder to a balanced spade rudder.

Shearwater 45 sailing on Chesapeake Bay.

We have good examples of both of these designs available on our brokerage pages. The most recent to come available is the gorgeous 45 "Maggy May". She is lying in the Caribbean and is fully equipped, maintained in top condition and ready to cruise to anywhere that you care to go. She is only being sold due to serious illness of the owner. To view "Maggy May" and the other Shearwaters that we have listed, go to http://dixdesign.com/brokerdd.htm.

Please visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/.

In late 1988 I was commissioned by Nebe Boats in Cape Town to design a 19ft trailer-sailer of very modern image and capable of handling the very robust sailing conditions common to the Cape of Good Hope. The result was the TLC 19, a speedy and capable little boat with fractional rig, fine bow, long waterline and scoop stern. It also had transom-hung rudder and swing keel or fixed wing keel options.

TLC 19 sailing on False Bay

The TLC 19 hull plug later became the hull for Anthony Steward's boat for his circumnavigation. Anthony's epic voyage was completed in 1993 and to this day nobody else has accomplished his feat of sailing an open boat around the world. The endurance required to sail that distance and for that length of time in a tiny boat without cabin, sailing through whatever conditions nature could throw at him, is incredible to even consider.

Anthony Steward arrives home after circumnavigating.

Another version of the TLC 19 is being built in Italy and can be home-built from strip-wood construction methods. It has been developed by Christian Pilo and uses our hull but a different deck, rig and interior. It is named the Idea 19 and has proven to be a speedy and capable little cruiser/racer. More information is also available on the website of Nautikit, our Italian agents.

Idea 19 sailing in Italy.

 To see more of our designs, please visit our main website at  http://dixdesign.com/ 
or our mobile website at http://m.dixdesign.com/ .

Thirteen years ago Nick and Lindsay Voorhoeve commissioned the Cape Cutter 19 design, which they built in GRP in South Africa. They marketed it very successfully in UK for a few years before selling the company to Honnor Marine, who moved production to UK. It continues to be sold by them through Cape Yachts. We also sell plans for amateurs to build this design in plywood and it continues to be one of our popular small cruiser designs.

"Tiptoe", Cape Cutter 19 built by Ian Allen in New Zealand

Time showed that there was considerable demand for a slightly larger version of the same concept. That resulted in  a client in Australia commissioning the Cape Henry 21. To date we have sold plans for 130 plywood boats between the two designs, with a slight leaning toward the bigger boat.

Cumhur Regay built his Cape Henry 21 in Turkey

More recently I have been commissioned to design two more bigger sisters to the Cape Cutter 19 . The Cape Charles 32 has been waiting in the wings for a long time and will remain there awhile longer. The design is about half-finished and there are a few people waiting for it but there are other things getting in the way (life, sailing, surfing etc). The other one, the Cape May 25, is now complete and plans are ready for anyone who wants to build her.

The Cape May 25 is 25'3" long on deck and 24'0" on waterline, with beam of 9'8". Draft is 2ft with the centreplate up and 5'4" with the plate down. Lightship displacement is 4500lb. Her weight and beam mean that she is not really a trailer-sailer but is trailable with a large vehicle and will require special permits to be towed on public roads. Her forte will be the ability to sail into shallow areas that are inaccessible to most other sailboats of her size and to be taken home for the winter to save storage costs. Another strong point that she shares with her sisters is excellent speed, resulting from the long waterline, fine bow and generous sail area.

Cape May 25 Sail Plan

My client for this design is a tall person and needs extra long berths and ample sitting headroom, so the forward berths are 2.2m long. The cockpit is also long enough for him to sleep there on balmy nights.

Unlike the smaller sisters, the  Cape May 25 has guardrails. It also has wide cockpit coamings that are comfortable for sitting out, leaning against the guardrails.

Construction is lapstrake plywood, over stringers and permanent bulkheads. This is more challenging than basic stitch & glue construction but it does result in a gorgeous boat that really shows off the builder's achievement. The smaller sisters have shown that these boats can be successfully built by amateurs with reasonable but not expert woodworking skills.

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

To see our range of plywood designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/priceply.htm.

We are introducing a brand new design, the Trika 540. It is a pretty trimaran kayak that will be a good family boat for reasonably sheltered conditions and gives good speed. It can be built at home by almost any handyman from stitch & glue plywood and can be carried to faraway destinations on the roof of a family car.

The basis is a large two-person kayak than can be paddled by itself. To convert it to a trimaran the beams and amas are added, without tools. Aside from being demountable, the beams can also be folded aft so that the amas lie alongside the main hull to reduce overall beam for easy boarding from a dock or for accessing narrow spaces.

Length overall and on waterline are both 5.4m (17'9"). Beam sailing is 3.28m (10'9") and 1.3m (4'3") folded.

Trika 540 waiting for you to take her sailing.

Trika 540 on a standard car, with amas inside main hull.

The Trika 540 is a nice concept. Much as I would like to say that I came up with it, I didn't. It is the only design we sell that I did not draw myself. It was designed by my German agent, Klaus Metz and I have added it to our design range to expand reach for his design. We serve as his agent in selling the plans and he will supply the plans and will back up all builders himself. This is best because he knows the design and construction intimately.

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

It was a very long day but well worth the effort. We left home at 4am, arrived at the venue by 9am and had the first boat sailing by about 10:30. The two Paper Jets attracted a lot of attention and more people sailed my boat in one day than have sailed her in 6 years. Those who sailed her seemed very impressed, despite the generally light breezes and lumpy water. The lump was generated by wind elsewhere on the bay that wasn't reaching us.

Two Paper Jets nested for towing.

Paper Jet #007 rigged and ready to go.

Two happy sailors return to the beach.

 We finished the day with a visit from South Africans Terry and Greg Clarens, ex Durban but now based in Annapolis. They took the two boats out on the late afternoon breeze with flat water and possibly had the best sailing of the day.

A few people commented about the beautiful detailing and woodwork of the two boats. They have on occasion been described as works of art or sculptures. This was part of the overall design concept and is one of the aspects that make these boats so eye-catching. My aim was to create detailing that would encourage builders to be proud of their work and to strive for a higher standard. Despite being thoroughly modern in shape, the rig details include features more normally found on traditional gaff-rigged craft. These include lashings, soft-eyes and birdsmouth wooden spars that are oh so pretty.

Thanks to all who came to CLC OkoumeFest and particularly those who test-sailed our boats.

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