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





Sunday, August 12, 2007

The boat's history...

Recently, I've been trying to contact some of the past owners to learn more about the boats history. There are still a couple of people I need to hear from but I'm able to start piecing together a basic timeline. The dates are only approximates and I may correct some of this as I get clearer information but at least its a start.


Yard # 1507


(1965-….) Built in Kowloon China By Cheoy Lee. Unsure of who bought it.

(1965-....) My guess is that it was sold here in the States by Lion Yachts in Conn. As they were the only East Coast Importer/Distributor for CL which was started in 1960. I've been in touch with them to see if they can help with this project. Unfortunatley, they sent this...."In 1984 the office building we shared burned to the ground all all previous information lost. We salvaged a
couple of original brochures only. Our gal would have to make a trip to the dead file and copy what we have and for this service we charge $25 to covers costs. No files on any boats before that date survived. Regards, LION YACHTS Dave Toombs".

(….-1980) Owned by a young couple named Ed and Julie Burgraff. They were teachers from the Tarrytown NY area.

(1977-1978) Rebuilt for the Burgraffs by Boat builder Gary Weisenberger at the Noank Shipyard, Conn.

(1980-1985) Dean Peschel of Dover, NH bought the boat from the Wooden Boat School in Rockport Harbor Maine. David Ott (who later bought the boat and was the last to register it) was with Dean when he went to get it and they took it out for a shake down cruise. Dean then had it for approximately 5/6 years.
When it came time to sell it, David already knew the boat and Dean wanted him to have it but there was another man named Reed Blute looking at it as well.

(1985-1991) Reed and David went in on it together and owned it for other 5 or so years. David still lives and sails in Maine although he now owns a 77 Cape Dory named Spirit.

(1991-2001) It was then sold to a couple of guys , Glenn Gobeille and Robbie (Thomas Robert Jr.), that owned the Cape Neddick restaurant in Maine.
They did quite a bit of work to fix it up and restored it but unfortunately never sailed it and it sat behind the restaurant for the next 10 years or so.
According to one person who was at the resturaunt at the time, the boat was never really sold to the owners but rather it was just left there and sat unused.

(2001-2004) Glen from Rye then bought it (from the resturaunt owners?) with the intention of restoring it and carefuly took it apart. Some of my friends from town remember seeing it in his back yard for a couple years.

(2004-2007) He then he gave it to Glen Walker of Dover, NH who also had aspirations of restoring it but didnt have the time and then moved away from the area.

(2007-….) Glen Walker of Dover meets me in a bar in Portsmouth NH and gives the boat to me to restore.

What I'm hoping for is to get some old stories and photos of the boat when she was in her prime. as I get them I'll post them here.
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