guide to make boat

The new design is complete, aside from tying up a few loose ends. It is the Didi Mini Mk3, a very much updated version of the Didi Mini design that we have sold the past 10 years.

~ Extended cabin roof, forming protected cuddy over front of cockpit
~ Easier access between cockpit and interior
~ More power from broader and flatter stern
~ Water ballast of fixed keel version further outboard
~ Bow and stern ballast tanks in canting keel version
~ Tacking daggerboard in canting keel version
~ Redesigned foam flotation, cleaner interior
~ Inboard chainplates for tighter genoa sheeting
~ Larger square-head mainsail

Overall, these changes produce a boat that will be more powerful, faster, more weatherly and more comfortable to sail.


The underbody of this hull was developed from that of the Didi Mini, with the same profile and bottom shape but blended into a topside chine that runs from forward of the mast through to the transom. Combined with a full-beam transom, it adds more power to allow more sail to be carried for greater speed. See more info and graphics on the Didi Mini Mk3 web page.

We will continue to sell the older Didi Mini design for as long as people want it and the kit suppliers will still be able to cut kits for it.

Work has also started on our next design, a cruising oriented Didi 28 design. It will be a bigger sister to the Didi 26, with many of the same features but with considerably more beam, headroom and space. Watch for that to emerge next month.

For our full design range, go to the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.

Earlier this month I hinted at the updated version of one of our popular designs that is soon to see the light of day. I said it would be a few weeks and that would make it about now, so I should update.

The work is progressing and most of the important stuff is done. The new hull shape is sorted out and most of the structural changes have been figured. Sail plan and accommodation changes also done. I decided to update a few other aspects of the boat at the same time, so those are on the go. I guess that about another two weeks will have it complete.

Winter weather has been good for doing design work outside of work hours, rather than freezing outside. The past few days have been warmer, relatively speaking. A SE gale blew for a couple of days and brought a 15ft swell up the coast. The storm was attached to a warm front, so today was around 60F (16C). I pulled out my boards and went surfing as soon as the wind went offshore to straighten out the swell. Nice surf of 7-8ft, maybe 10ft in the biggest sets. A SE swell along a North/South beach makes strong currents, so there was much paddling involved and much walking back along the beach occasionally to get back to the start point. With water temp below 40F (4C), even my full wetsuit with gloves, boots and hood did not prevent icecream headaches every time that I had to duck under a wave.

After a good afternoon of surf I am rejuvenated, feel alive and am back at the drawings. I must get this project done because the next one has already been lined up, a new radius chine plywood small cruiser/racer. Watch this space.

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

Dudley

As always, another year has come and gone, way before I was ready for it to disappear in the spray behind us. Some dear friends and loved family have departed with 2009 and will be sorely missed. They have bolstered my resolve to live every day to the fullest because I don't know when my turn will come.

The year also gave many happy memories, of family visiting from abroad, of my big birthday and its wonderful surprises, of good friendships and family fun, of some really nice surf in the company of good friends, of exciting sailing, of meeting great people who visit us at boat shows to look at our boat and designs, of everything else that makes life worth living to the fullest possible extent. The year also made an impression on my head when my new surfboard and my forehead dinged each other, leaving us both scarred for life.

To all our family, friends, builders and owners who have supported us through 2009 I say thank you for a wonderful year. It was tough on all of us at times, in many ways. Let's all work hard toward making 2010 a better year for all of us, wherever we may be. We have supporters in all corners of the world. Wherever you are, I hope that the next year is good to you.


Here is a little piece of news about one of our designs, or rather a hint at something that will come out soon. I have been trying for about a year to figure how to update one of our most popular designs, to bring it into the next generation. I could not get my mind around a workable way to do it, so it sat stewing in my mind for a long time. I have not had time available to do a completely new design.

As is sometimes the way with these things, thinking about it and labouring at the drawings did not bring a solution. Last week, in relaxed mode between Chritmas and New Year (or was it between a beer and a glass of red wine?) the solution came to me of its own accord. So, I am now in the midst of updating this design, working on the large base of established detail drawings. This allows me to change what needs to be changed, keep what I know to work and not have to draw it all again to suit a different boat.

It also has the benefit that I will be able to develop bigger sisters to the same concept, to fit the needs of many people who have asked me over the past 2 or 3 years to do just that. I resisted all of those potential commissions because I wanted to solve this problem for myself first. The problem is solved and the work has begun.

So, watch this space in a few weeks (hopefully not longer), when I will tell you what design has been going through this transformation.

Let's all attack 2010 with gusto. Enjoy the year, have a ball.

Dudley

Please visit us at Dudley Dix Yacht Design

The financial woes of the world have had serious impact on the leisure marine industry. Many professional builders have gone under. Builders and stockists that held large inventories and expected them to sell as in past years found their yards full and order books empty. The result of shrinking or disappearing disposable income has been most families having to rethink how to spend the few spare dollars that they have.

I have noticed that this has changed the thinking of many people. Whereas previously most would buy a professionally built boat and work longer hours to earn money to pay for it, the change to less employed hours and less income has meant that many are re-discovering the joys and benefits of hand-crafting for themselves. More time is available to enjoy the satisfaction of personally building a boat that is capable of doing what we dream of doing with it, whether it be drifting down a river, lazing on a lake or lagoon, or even for crossing oceans. More people are building a wide range of boats for themselves.

When I first noticed this trend many months ago, I mentioned it to Matt Murphy of Wooden Boat Magazine. He said to me that amateur boatbuilding really came into its own during the Great Depression and that we were probably witnessing a repeat of that process. He was correct because our orders for plans have continued at a more-or-less steady pace through the past year or two. We have had flat spots at times that have caused concern but, on the whole, our supporters have stayed loyal.

It has been interesting to watch the changing trends in design choice through this period. Initially there was an almost total stop in larger boats and dinghy building increased. The dinghy orders have continued at a slightly reduced level but the trailer-sailers and small cruisers or racers followed. A few months ago the big boats seemed to kick back in, with orders for designs in the 45-60ft range but the mid-size range remained fairly flat. More recently the 30-45ft range has also come back to life.

It was also interesting to see the changes in distribution of orders, which probably followed the changes in financial fortune around the world. The first market to drop off was North America, followed by Western Europe then Eastern Europe and Australasia. The market that has stood up best throughout the process has been Russia and other ex-USSR countries. Recently we have seen an increase in orders for a wide range of designs from most parts of the world.

The designs that continue to dominate our orders are the radius chine plywood Didi range, primarily the Didi Mini and Didi 26performance designs. On the cruising side, the Cape Cutter 19 and Cape Henry 21 lapstrake plywood designs are our biggest sellers.

It seems that amateur boatbuilding is enjoying a healthy revitalisation. I think we might see this trend continue for a few years.

You can see our full range of designs at the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.

Dudley

Phil Harvey and I worked together to design the DH550 cruising catamaran. It was for a personal boat for Phil, his wife Laura and their children. Phil is a professional boatbuilder and built up a yard in Cape Town, run jointly by Phil and Laura, where they built a range of composite production monohulls and custom catamarans. Eventually they opted out of the business world and went cruising.

A growing family led to them needing a larger boat, so they approached me to design their next boat. They had seen my radius chine plywood boats for years, including racing against me and "Black Cat" on Table Bay and offshore around Cape Town. Phil wanted to build a large cat using this system. The features and level of detail that we supply for the radius chine plywood designs take a tremendous amount of time to draw, much more than an equivalent composite design. I did not have the time needed to do such a design by myself, so Phil agreed to work with me long distance, to design the boat together.

Phil built his boat in Trinidad and named her "Wild Vanilla". She is a very pretty boat with lots of space and comfort. Phil, Laura and family have cruised much of the Caribbean on her and are currently in Grenada.



Phil and I intended to continue the line of DH catamarans down into smaller sizes and started work on the DH470 as the next in the line. After long delays it became clear that Phil's life is filled up by family and other interests, so he did not have the time needed to work on the cat design projects. Reluctantly, Phil stepped out of the process and involvement in the future designs. He remains available to advise builders when needed for the DH550.

I have gone forward on my own with the 47ft smaller sister to "Wild Vanilla". The design is now named the Dix 470 and we are ready to start selling plans for her. You can see the Dix 470 here. I will continue to work on this range of designs when time permits. I think that the next in the range will be about 43-44ft.

I propose to expand the range down into the 35-40ft range as well but that will need some changes to the concept, to make it work visually. I will let the design problems work themselves out in the back of my mind and eventually a good concept will come to the surface.

View our complete range of designs at our website.

Dudley

Hi to all and welcome. I am new to blogging, so it may take some time for this to start running properly.

Our new blog will probably replace the newsletter that we used to send out. Time needed to prepare a decent newsletter has proven a problem for a long time. With a small office, just my wife Dehlia and myself, it is more important to keep customers happy with prompt and efficient service than to keep an up-to-date newsletter, so the newsletter somehow always found itself pushed into the "to do" pile and never finding its way to the top.

At the same time, it is good to keep the world informed about what we are doing. I guess that we have been lucky that so many people are prepared to dig deep in our website to look for what is new and we are thankful to all of you for doing that to keep yourselves informed about our activities.

So, from now on, I intend to post onto this blog any news of our new designs and happenings, as well as anything else that may be of interest to our followers and supporters. It may not always be about boats and sailing, it may occasionally also cover my other great passion of surfing (no, not surfing the web but surfing ocean waves). I have surfed since I was about 15, so for 45 years. It keeps me fit, wet and out of trouble (mostly).

If you don't know me or my designs, please visit us at  Dudley Dix Yacht Design .

Dudley