2012 Calendar

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.

Cover of 2012 calendar

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.

February photo page

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/ .

Hardy Boatbuilders

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.

Stern view of Bill Connor's Didi 40cr

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.

Igor Pokusaev is building his Hout Bay 30 in

Moscow, Russia.

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.

Aluminium Boatbuilding

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 Russell's Dix 43 Pilot. The black surfaces are

insulation, which highlight the framing system of

longitudinal stringers and transverse frames.

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.

"Blue Pearl" in 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/.