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While rebuilding this boat, one of the projects I've set for myself is to find out as much as possible about who's owned it, worked on it, it's history etc. So far, this has been hard as this boat seems to have changed hands a couple of times with little to no documentation.
Going back to 1965, when #1507 left the Cheoy Lee Shipyard, I wonder who bought it and what it looked like. I've been talking to Jonathan Cannon of Cheoy Lee in Hong Kong to see what info if any they still have. He says they don't have too much on boats this old, but is sure they still have the General Arrangement drawings and Sail Plan. So I sent a check to him and am waiting for that info. Hopefully, there be more to come from them.
As far as who has had the boat more recently... I know the names of the last two owners and that's it. One of them, the most recent, essentially just stored the boat. The one before him, started this second restoration but unfortunately, neither of them ever got the boat in the water. Going back before them, I know (by the bow numbers) it was last registered in York Harbor in 1991. I've been trying to find out who this person was. I've been told that he owns an Inn in York, but that could be anyone. It seems like very other house in York is an Inn or a B& B or hotel. I've been calling the Maine DMV and the town clerk in York to have them run the numbers, but because this was 16 years ago and they only keep records for 5-7 years they don't have much. Unfortunately, theres no serial number in the boat. I was hoping Jonathan could help with this in Hong Kong but I received this Email from him today.."There is no other serial number. Yard #1507 was one of a batch of 24 Frisco Flyers, entered in our order book as being built "for stock". We do not have a record of who the boat was subsequently sold to." After some more looking around I discovered that Hull Identification Numbers (HIN) which are found on most boats somewhere on the transom, are not on all boats. Only boats manufactured or imported on or after November 1, 1972 must display a HIN.
There is still a chance that if a submit something a little more formal in writing the Maine DMV be able to look for hard copies in the "vault". I've also called Maine re mooring field records, but they keep records by the owner's name only. Maybe the Coast Guard inspected the boat and have records? We'll see.
One piece of history I do have is a small builder's plaque which says Rebuilt by Gary Weisenburger, Noank Shipyard 1977-78. I did some research on the Internet and found out that Gary was a well respected boat builder in the Noank, Mystic area. In addition to building and rebuilding boats, he was instrumental in the creation of the Mystic Seaport Boat Barn.
(The boat barn in Mystic is kind of a combination of a boat museum, burial ground and nautical holy land. They open it to the public one day a year and my dad and I visited it not too long ago during the John Gardner small craft weekend and it was incredible. They have a collection of boats in a barn that is the size of two football fields. They have every kind of boat in the from every era. Make the pilgrimage... http://www.mysticseaport.org/).
I found Gary's current wood working website which describes his past experiences as.. "a professional woodworker for thirty years. I spent the first half of my career as a wooden boat builder in Connecticut, while occasionally writing for WoodenBoat magazine, and culminated those years teaching the craft at Mystic Seaport Museum. After a short gig editing Fine WoodWorking magazine in the late ‘80s, I began building cabinets and furniture, and opened my shop here in Palo Alto, California in 1995." Not a bad resume to say the least. After finding all this out, I emailed Gary, included a picture of the boat and asked for him to write/call me back. I also called the Noank Shipyard and sent an email to their yard manager asking for any information regarding this boat that was rebuilt there 30 years ago. I know it's been a long time, but I was/ I am hoping to get some old pictures of it, some leads on past owners and some idea as to the kind of work that was done on it then.
I haven't heard from the shipyard yet, but Gary was kind enough to call today. He said that people have occasionally contacted him over the years to talk to him regarding boats he's built and rebuilt. (While looking for information re him on the net, I came across an old post in the Woodenboat Forum dated 1993, where someone was trying to track him down. ) He said he remembers the Frisco Flyer. That a young couple initially asked to have some small amount of work done but as is often the case, the small amount of work grew and grew. After working on the boat for some time, he became good friends with the owners. He said that he actually stayed on board while working on it and that at one point, it was as it is now, gutted. He stated that he teaked the decks, rebuilt the bulkheads, furniture, cockpit seats and even made a new spar/boom for it. I'm not sure if any of that work remains, I believe the cockpit seats have been rebuilt since then, and the bulkheads are new (ish) but the furniture that came out looks to be 30 years old that's for sure.
He said it was disappointing to see the Flyer in its present condition after having but so much work into it. This boat was only 12 years old when he rebuilt it from 1977-78. It then seemingly had a good run for about 13 years after the rebuild and was sailed until about 1991. Since then however, for the last 16 years, it has clearly been neglected. I hope to find out more from him as this project progresses and he has been nice enough to say he'll answer questions as I go. He has now the link to this blog and hopefully, as he sees these pictures it'll help him remember this old boat. While I keep looking to other sources for information about this boat's history, its nice to know that the guy who brought this boat back to life once before is still around to offer advice.
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