Not really a mystery boat, but one we do not know very much about. The 15 foot Jaeger Eastern Seaboard Seabird. Owner Michael Hyland sent us these pictures and is eager to hear from anyone who has more information about this bilge keeler. He writes:I am not able to find anyone who knows anything about my boat. I purchased her not a year ago to have a restoration project. I was told she was made on Vancouver Island, West coast of British Columbia, some twenty years ago. I found two boat restorers in Maine, they suggested it may have been a prototype. The rudder is not original, neither is the keel. The twin shoal keels appear not to be weighted. The owner was a fella (who has passed on now) apparently was a mechanical engineer who had made a centre keel, weighted. Only 4ft. 6 inches long and approximately four inches deep bolted through the bottom with stainless bolts. One of the sons (retired) had told me, that keel made quite a difference in the stability of the boat.
There is a home made bow-sprit, one of the sons said the old fella had made a jib.
A couple of pictures of the centre keel and one of the shoal keels.The holes above the keel in the cockpit. I cut as the void there was about three inches by three inches wide, and about six feet long I picked out all of the of foam that doesn`t seem to have much to do with floatation. I had been thinking of filling it with concrete? The foam was a very good sponge in that when I dried pieces out in the summer sun.I took some pieces and dropped into a bucket and they soaked water up so very fast.
Not a marine foam closed cell type at all. Since there wasn`t much weight to stabilize the boat in the first place I may just put the centre keel back on.Hope to have her in the lakes this summer.
11 comments:
I just bought one of these. I live on Vancouver Island.
Vaughn Smith
javr at shaw dot ca
I was upset to see your photos of the Jaeger 15, because it is the boat that I sold many years ago and it still sits on the Road Runner trailer that I got for it. Here is some background info on the boat that I bought at the Vancouver boat show and sold a few years later to an older man who lived out of town.
The boat was built on Hornby Island (just of the coast of Vancouver Island) and my wife and I picked it up from there. The boat was designed with a self supporting mast with a loose footed gaff sail. There was a pulley and jam cleat mounted on top of the rudder post to control the sail. The cabin was meant to be removed and we enjoyed the boat a great deal till we outgrew it as a family.
I do not own a scanner but can still have some of my old photos scanned to send to you. . I still have photos of the shop where the boat was built, as well as photos of the two men who built it.
All this being said it is indeed a regret that this wonderful boat has been changed into something it was never meant to be and I am sorry to see it in this altered state.
Regards
Fred
Fred,
I have just bought your former boat and dragged it down to White Rock last Sunday (2011 July 03). As I hope to restore it to it's former glory, I would very much appreciate any and all info you can provide. I am new to this site, so I'll now need to find out how to contact you directly.
Cheers,
Rob
Robt dot allan at gmail dot com
The Sea Scouts in Bellingham,WA have one of these boats. It does have the bilge keels, no evidence of a centerboard or a regular keel ever present.
If you Contact Ralph Neher (I believe he is listed in the whitepages) on Bancroft Road in Bellingham he us quite knowledgeable and may be able to give you more information on this boat.
We found her to be quite a sturdy little sailor often sailing in a stiff breeze on bellingham bay with her. obviously not much point out of her, but it was surprising how she handled good wind and choppy seas.
The one the Sea Scouts have was old in 1997, so I think it is much more than 20years old now.
We thought the design was from europe, (,aube just because we thought it was a german name and bilge keelboats are much more common there)
I have one of these, and it's a wonderful little boat. If anyone's interested, I have the original brochure. E-mail me at toby(dot)gadd(at)dogknows(dot)com if you'd like a copy of it!
I found a 15 foot Jaeger, in very good shape with everthing original as per manufacturing and has the motor mount aft and canopy attached, will send pictures in a few days.
Lance
ps Toby Gadd thanks for the brochure, much appreciated
Lance Ritter
Edgewood BC, CANADA
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