Zambia World Wide

Needless to say, we are still into stock-car racing which has greatly improved during the past year or so. The track and clubhouse have both been completed, and there is enough income to pay a small amount in prize money. The racing has also improved, most of the drivers had never driven a stock-car until now, and therefore credit must go to them for the greater number of spectators now attending the race meetings. Probably the greatest asset the club has are the members, who spend hours continually improving the grounds, clubhouse and track. Life at the moment is hectic, as we are now getting on quite well with our attempts to water-ski and this combined with the stock-car club is keeping us all quite busy. We have now got the 40hp. Evinrude outboard engine, this means we can now ski whenever we wish, which is one of the reasons we are improving much quicker than we were. Unfortunately ski equipment is not available in Zambia, so everything we needed had to be made. The first item we needed was a trace which would fit across the transom of the boat. We would then need a pulley to fit on the trace and a float to prevent the trace becoming tangled in the propeller. The pulley and pin were made in the machine shop and the pulley bracket and the swivel were made in the fitting shop. These were then fitted to the trace which we made from a length of 15mm. nylon rope with an eye-splice at each end. The float we made from a cistern ball, which we drilled at each end, then fitted a length of polythene tube through the ball and glued in place at each end. The ski-handle we made from a section of a broom handle, drilled at each end. We then spliced two lengths of rope together to form a “Y” shape, which we then fitted to the ski-handle. We also fitted one of our floats just in front of the “Y” to support the ski-rope when it was on the surface of the water to prevent the rope from sinking. Apart from water-ski’s this was all the equipment we needed to start ski-ing, it may sound basic but it worked and was strong enough to be safe.

For the first few weeks we were lucky to be able to borrow skis’ from other club members, but knew we would have to get our own as soon as we could. One Sunday evening after we had packed away and were outside the front of the clubhouse having our usual natter and braai, Ron mentioned that the powerboat section had a ski former but he was not sure who had it. Another member whose name was frank overheard us talking and said the former was at his house, Ron had made the former and the club had agreed it should be kept at Frank’s for reason of safety. It was agreed that we would borrow the former which they assured us worked as they had both used it in the past. The ski former was made of 12mm plate and curved in the shape of a water ski. At 50mm intervals along both sides it had been drilled and tapped to take 6mm set screws, there were also wooden slats to clamp the layers of plywood in place using the slats and 6mm screws. Our one remaining obstacle was to find a sheet of plywood, one sheet of plywood cut into 150mm strips would be enough to make two flat skis’. We would also need waterproof glue to laminate the strips of plywood. Having obtained the plywood and glue we could now make a pair of flat skis’. First we cut the wood into strips and placed four strips onto the plate with glue between each sheet. Next we clamped the wood to the plate using the wooden slats and 6mm screws, these were pulled down evenly to prevent any deformities occurring. The laminated ski was then left in the former for 48hrs to set. Next we had to shape the ski, this we did by placing an old ski on top of the laminated strip and drawing round it. Having marked out the shape we then cut the ski out using a jigsaw, finally the ski was sanded and varnished. We then repeated the whole process over again for the second ski. It took time but we did get a lot of satisfaction once they were made. We now needed fins and bindings for the skis’ without which they would be of no use. Once again Ron came to our aid, apparently he and others had suffered with the same problem in the past. Because of this he had spoken to the foundry manager who had agreed to make moulds and caste fins and the plates needed for the bindings. After one or two attempts they got it right and were then in a position to make them in larger quantities. There is now only one item preventing us completing the manufacture of the skis’ which is the rubber for the actual foot bindings. This needs to be a type of latex rubber which is comfortable and yet extremely pliable, once again Ron came to our assistance and obtain the rubber we needed. Now we were in a position to fit the fins, shape the rubber and fit the bindings to the skis’ the skis’ were well made and varnished to a mirror like finish. All our efforts were worthwhile and we were determined to take good care of the skis’ and put them to good use. We now had all the equipment we needed for water ski-ing, they might not have carried a brand name but they were well made and serviceable. Gary who was only six decided he wanted to have a go at ski-ing, however our skis’ were much too large for him. Laurie came to our rescue, his son Jeffrey had learnt to ski a few months earlier and since Jeffrey and Gary were of a similar age Gary could use his skis’. Laurie had made a pair of children’s skis’ for Jeffrey. The skis’ were not just smaller but also tied together with two wooden slats, one at each end to prevent them from opening out when the boy’s were ski-ing. After some time both Gary and Jeffrey were ski-ing with the ties removed. It is quite amazing how quickly children can learn to do things that seem to take us adults ages. I have spent some time on the boating aspect of our lives and need to move on, however before I do, we had one last problem to overcome. The boat is quite small and flat bottomed and with a 40hp outboard on the stern it ploughed through the water rather than skimmed over the surface. This slows the boat and is also not safe, we gave some thought to the problem and decided to fit trim tabs to the stern level with the bottom of the hull. Since we had no way of gauging the right angle for optimum performance, we decided to make them adjustable. With four pieces of stainless sheet and four hinges plus two turnbuckles we made the trim tabs. After some experimenting we found the optimum position and locked the turnbuckles in position. The difference was amazing, the boat now planed across the water with the hull remaining level. There was also quite an improvement in the speed. We were so busy at this time with our boating activities and the stock-car club, we had little time to do anything else. With so much time spent on our holidays and sporting activities it would seem that we do not have a job or any work to do.