Sunday, December 11, 2016
Optimist kit now packing for Switzerland
Some may wonder why we have to include a packing charge when the kit you have bought is shipped by road or sea?
in this case we used a sheet of pine 9mm ply top and bottom, the five steel bands then can be made very tight to secure the package, which probably weighs in at 80 kgs.
These pictures demonstrate the steel banding, the pack in this case is okoume marine plywood and not the Optimist kit, the images should explain the process we use?
The actual CNC cut kit will be loaded into the purpose made packing crate on monday.
The crate is being made today.
It has a 9mm pine ply sheet top and bottom, with 6mm plys on each side and the ends, glued and nailed it will be quite secure when the 16mm steel band strapping is applied.
Pictures of the loading will be added later.
Roy
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Building Basils Optimist kit
The progress is very good, just check on the finish on the Gunnels.
Back from Spain and Skiing in the mountains I made progres and glued the gunnels.
Wish you and your family a good start in 2016 and all the best.
Basil
There was even time for a holiday!
We supplied the CNC plywood kit and also the selected and machined meranti hardwood for this order.
Roy
Friday, December 9, 2016
Working on a July Launch Date for the Optimist
My brothers and I have slowed our building of the Optimist down to a crawl. However, my brother Darren has taken the lead and wants the first boat to launch on July 4th.
He has purchased sail, tiller and extension, blades (rudder, centerboard), gudgeons from APS - Annapolis Performance Sailing.
To protect the chine he has laid down a 2 inch strip of fiberglass cloth in simple-clear polyester resin. It should provide a bit of resistance to any "hard blows" on rocks that make up the shore of our part of Lake Ontario.
Polyester resin is quick to harden and very easy to sand. It costs about half the price of shipping epoxy to us. It's just a short drive to the auto parts to pick up a quart.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Optimist dinghy sail for sale
It can be purchased for R1500 ( about U$100) and is supplied complete with its North Sails bag.

The picture shows a similar sail and on an Optimist that was built from one of our CNC kits..
The sail is in Hout Bay, South Africa and can be posted to most places?
Roy
Friday, December 2, 2016
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Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Basil builds his Optimist kit
Each kit we supply has a fourteen page builders guide and fourteen more with the Optimist class plans and dimensions on them.
Hi Roy
I managed to figure out my questions, studying the plan. It was good advice from you!
Thank you for your patience.
From Basil.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Optimist Pram Project Starting Back
After an exciting summer of sailing and sailboat racing, we are returning to the Optimist project. In the effort to make these boats as inexpensive as possible we have purchased luan plywood to sheath the hull of our boats.
Our decision to use luan was based on information given to us by John Bridges who has been building Optimists since the 1960s. He has built Optimists of luan and they have been in service for over 5 years. That is longer than we will probably need the boats.
We will also be stacking these hulls after sailing them - leaving no water in them to cause problems. Additionally, we will be priming our hulls with CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer) as a way to be sure that the absorption of water is slow.
Today, we worked on the hull sides.
- Working on three boats requires 5 sheets of plywood to complete all the hull skins.
- We ripped two full sheets on 16 inches the long way. This gave us 6 strips to use as hull sides.
- Temporarily attaching one side to trace the contour, we removed the piece and cut a bit proud of the pencil line.
- We checked to see if the template piece fit all three hulls - it did.
- Using Locktite PL Construction adhesive, we laid a bead of glue along the chine and bow/transom about half way down the hull.
- Starting at the transom we worked forward placing screws about 5 inches apart.
- We worked in a zig-zag pattern of top then bottom as we worked forward to be sure not to pucker or buckle the plywood.
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| Starting aft and working the plank forward. |
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| One side of the hull secured and curing. |
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| Three hulls with starboard sides attached. |


