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





Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Kolibri, 1966 Type III

Well, I was going to put up a post about how much work I got done today on the boat but then I saw this....

"Kolibri" a 1966 Frisco Flyer III in Chicago.




What a great looking boat and restoration job! This boat looks exactly like Jack-a-roe in just about every way. Every single thing you see on Kolibri is in my workshop, varnished and waiting to go back in Jack-a-roe. This boat is so close to mine, I'm surprised I haven't seen it before. It doesn't look like there was any difference between the 66 and 65's and I can use these pictures as a road map in putting mine back together. The only exception or difference I can see between the two so far is that at some point Kolibri had her dog house rebuilt over the years and in doing so lost the beams over head in the cabin, her chainplates were also placed on knees rather than being layed up in the hull ( a change I'll probably make too, although I'm tempted to just move them to the outside) and there is a opening light over the forward hatch.

Since getting Jack-a-roe, I've seen more Flyers than anyone should ever have to, but this is the only one I've seen one with all the original gear like mine (that was together). This is about as close as you get to a perfectly restored Flyer as there is.

In additional to two slide shows on the boat, there's even a small movie,

http://homepage.mac.com/davidcella/PhotoAlbum13.html

http://homepage.mac.com/davidcella/PhotoAlbum10.html

http://homepage.mac.com/davidcella/iMovieTheater12.html


I was able to talk to the guy who put up the website, David. He says he's the past owner, he has since sold Kolibri to another guy in Chicago but still checks on it and says its in good hands. David's now restoring another 65 Cheoy Lee. This "new" one is a Lion and is also on his website.
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