guide to make boat

Nick Kulenkampff, of Cape Town, bought plans from us in November 2013 for the Cape Cutter 19, to be built in lapstrake plywood. I only received one question from him and that was on choice of plywood for the build. A few days ago I received another email from him, with launch photos attached. He launched his boat, named "Mimi", at Royal Cape Yacht Club, in February.

In his email, Nick said "thank you for a beautiful design and also for a set of plans that were spot on. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process." From the photos it appears that he made a pretty good job of the build, which was also quicker than most at about 15 months.

This boat is available in GRP from Cape Cutter Yachts in UK. It is the smaller sister to our popular Cape Henry 21 design.

Here are some of Nick's build photos, with explanations

Making bulkheads. These are cut from full-size Mylar patterns, included in the plans.

Transom, laminated from multiple layers of plywood.

Bulkheads and transom set up on building stocks.

Bottom skin going on. Plenty of clamps needed.

Bilge panel gong on. Keel deadwood and wood bilge keels fitted. This bilge keel is to protect the hull when aground, serving purely as a support to keep the hull skin clear of pebbles.

Forward bottom panel. Fitting this panel is the most difficult part of the build, due to the amount of twist in the panel. The twist is what forms the fine bow for good performance.

Hull epoxy-coated, primed and ready for paint.

Building the cockpit. Nick's work is very neat.

Interior, looking forward, built  before fitting the deck.

Interior, looking aft. Painting in progress.

Deck stringers glued into pre-cut slots

Painted and brightwork being done. Almost ready to get wet.

This view shows why these little boats are so quick. That fine bow works vvery well.

Launch day. The yellow boat below the bow is "Black Cat", the Didi 38 that I built.

Afloat and waiting for her rig to be set up.

Thank you, Nick, for the set of photos. She looks good and I am sure you will have many good times sailing her.

To see more of this and out other designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/.

I was surprised a few weeks ago to hear that a photo of a Cape Henry 21 is on the front cover of the June issue of Sailing magazine. It was another week before I had a copy in my hands to see for myself . It really is a beautiful Billy Black photo of "Mehala" in drifting conditions on Long Island Sound. It was taken while we were waiting for some breeze to do a sail test for Wooden Boat magazine in June 2009.

I contacted the staff of Sailing to thank them and have also sent them all that is needed for a design review. Watch for that in an upcoming issue.

"Mehala" was owner-built by South African Mike Smith, who lives in Darien, Connecticut. He berths her at Norwalk Yacht Club on Long Island Sound, where he is a past commodore.


Mike did a very nice job of building "Mehala". She is very pretty and sails well (not that I was able to experience her sailing ability, the breeze never did excede about 2 knots).

I was on "Mehala" with Dan Segal, who was commissioned by Wooden Boat to author their sail test. He gave her an excellent review, which covers 6 full pages of the July/August issue of Wooden Boat, currently on the shelves. My thanks go to Dan Segal and the staff at Wooden Boat for such a wonderful review and to Mike Smith for allowing us the use of "Mehala".