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





Thursday, November 8, 2007

Deck progress...

The storm wasn't really that bad. There was some rain and strong gusts but all boats made it through fine and no real damage to speak of. I think it takes a lot more than that to impress most NE Yankees. We have more than a few friends who like to go out for drinks and dinner in Portsmouth when the weather gets bad because it keeps the tourists and the otherwise meek at home which leaves the town to the rest of us. They tend to think of blizzards, 6 foot snow drifts, strong Nor' Easters and crumbling sea walls as good drinking weather. This storm didn't come close to qualifying and we ended up just going to family and friends for a few beverages. Jack a Roe made it through with no problem. A few months back the trap made it through 50+ MPH gusts and was fine. This storm supposedly had 65 MPH gusts, but it didn't seem to be a problem for the tarp which is saying something because it sits 6 feet off of the "deck" of the boat and acts like a sail in the wind.

Speaking of the decks, there was a really nice day after the storm on Sunday and I had enough time to lay out templates on the deck and then carried them over to the marine ply to cut matching pieces out that will eventually be the new deck. The templates were made using drawing paper that the kid had in her play room.


Maya's old drawings taped together to make template


traced and cut


Perfect fit.

It seems that even when the kid is in Puerto Rico and unavailable to help out I'm still able to find a way to involve her in the project. The next step will be to seal the edges of the cut pieces with epoxy, screw them down into the existing deck, fill any and all voids with epoxy, sand/fair this surface out and prep for the fiberglass. At least one layer over all and at least two layers where the hardware and stanchions are placed. Then sand and fair that out before painting.

With the weather staring to get cold and my work (real work, the kind that pays the mortgage) getting busier and busier, I having my first real concerns that the boat wont be ready for the spring. As much as I want to see it in the water, I don't want to rush any project and sacrifice the quality of the work (ie, get it wet before it's really done and done right).
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