Between 1957 and 1970 Cheoy Lee produced approximatley 133 folkboats originaly sold as the the Offshore 25, better known as the Frisco Flyer.

There were three versions of this small blue-water boat. 91 in all wood and 42 in Fiberglass with wood. There were 55 Type I's and II's and 78 of the Type III's. The Type I (aka the Pacific Clipper) was an all wood boat, had a mast that was stepped through the deck, a traditional folkboat fractional rig and a smaller cabin. The Type II's had a larger teak trunk cabin and a masthead rig. The Type III's had a larger teak dog-house cabin, some "standing" headroom and a masthead rig stepped on deck. The earlier Type III's were solid teak built onto a fiberglass hull and the later Type III’s (1966-1970) were made entirely out of fiberglass with teak paneling.

This boat, Yard # 1507 is one of approximatley only 30 Type III's left. It was out of the water for the previous 16 years when I got it and then about another 5 more while I rebuilt it. It was an empty, cracked hull when given to me and needed a complete restoration/refit. It took about five years of long nights and weekends of working outside under a tarp, in the garage or in the boat during cold winter nights, wet rainy afternoons and everything in between. The occasionally eager assistant on the project was my four (now ten) year old daughter who can have this boat as soon as I convince her mother to get another one. This blog is the record of all the work that "we" have done to the boat as well as some other somewhat related events with friends and family. Eventually, this will be put together in a book which will stay with the boat.

She still has plenty more to go but for now, Jackaroe has been in the water for a couple years now and thats all that matters...

To see past projects, use the links below.



Questions and comments to Matthewearlgarthwait@gmail.com





Saturday, August 11, 2007

Another Volvo part 2.....

I've been a little too busy this past week to get a lot done on the boat itself and missed last weekend all together because of sailing, so I'm feeling a little behind on the project. Today was the first real chance I've had to work on the boat, although over the course of the last week, I managed to do some other boat related things such as driving up to Portland to look at another Volvo Motor.

It's a 2001 model, made somewhere around 1990 from what I can tell. Its a 9HP diesel with electric start and a hand crank. Supposedly its in great shape and used for one season. That part seems unrealistic, but the price is right so I'm interested. I went up to see the motor, I had to find the seller's little place at the end of a downtown wharf. The place was kind of run down and made me think of Cannery Row. I half expect to see some kids throwing dice up against one of buildings and guys drinking ripple. The seller drives a 65 Volvo sedan and I showed up with the Volvo wagon so I try to use the Volvo angle a little bit. He tells me the motor actually belongs to a friend of his (who he says is a felon but still a nice guy) who was given a boat. The boat was no good but the motor was. They surgically removed the motor from the boat with a chainsaw and some parts of the boat are still attached...

While I was talking to him, some wooden masts outside caught my eye. He noticed this and asks if I want to see his boat and his old motor. We start down over the edge of the wharf and I see a tired but strong looking Colin Archer, about 35 feet. Once we're down below its obvious this place is his full time home. It reminds me of when I was sleeping in my Volkswagen bus as a kid. He starts cranking on the old diesel flywheel that looks like it hasn't run for 20 years. When its going fast enough he lets it go and it starts right up and runs quiet.


Anyways we make our way back to the Volvo and I tell him I'm still interested. I ask if my friend who works in Portland can check it out for me before I buy it and that's where it stands now.

It would have been nice to restore the 1965 Volvo MD1 and I still may, but probably not by the time I want this boat in the water. It might make more sense to get one that runs, that's " a little newer" and that I can get parts for. Part of me just wants to launch the boat with an outboard on the back and get the MD1 in there when I can. We'll see.

As far as today's work on the boat, I finished glassing in the knees, cabinets and sheer clamp. It feels good to have that part behind me. Today was a beautiful day and I passed up another sail in Booth Bay to stay behind and work on the boat. I've been waiting for a nice enough day to do all that epoxy/glass work with the tarp off of the boat so I could get the ventilation. No sense in killing the braincells that survived a friends going away party last night either. If I can get some time tomorrow, I'll be able to do a little sanding and put some white paint on there. I'll post the pictures from today's work with those ones hopefully tomorrow.
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