"Thought you'd like the latest photo on the I-14 I'm building in Nova Scotia. It's an exact copy of one I bought at the Royal St Lawrence Yacht Club (MontreaL)in 1955. The original was probably built (lapstrake) by W.J.Malette in Ontario about 1937. I suspect the lines were derived from Uffa Fox's Alarm. The old boat is beyond economical repair so I built new. The project will be featured in WB magazine (if I live that long) and I plan to publish plans and a building manual.It will be the sixth and final design in the Six Classic Boats series--you'll find it on Google. All good wishes," Simon
Simon asks for some information. Here is what my research has pulled up.
There were at least 15 International 14's registered as being built at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in the 1938 - 1939 time frame. I talked to Ian Bruce and he feels that they were probably built by the boatwright that Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club employed. (This was not unusual, particularly for the richer Canadian yacht clubs, to sponsor dinghy builds over the winter using their employees.) I also talked to Bruce Kirby and he remembers the first Montreal fleet as being home grown and not as fast as the Toronto Bourke 14's. As far as a Mallette 14, Emmett Smith of the Antique Boat Museum, who has one in their collection, has a record of only four Mallette's being built. My guess is this may be a Montreal copy of the Uffa RIP model that was introduced to jump start the International 14 in North America. It would be interesting for historical purposes to see the lines of the 14 as Simon has drawn up. They may give us a hint at the origin of this 14 design.
Pictures (Simon builds them upright, which I hear is the real way of doing a lapstrake boat):
If you have any more information about the Montreal 14's, add a comment to this post or drop Simon an email:
simonawatts (with our good friends at) earthlink.net
I would be most interested in your Montreal dinghy attributed to Jack Malette. The four "G" boats (for Gananoque) were the only ones he built, just prior to his death.
ReplyDeleteThe I-14 mentioned was completed and launched in August, 2014. It will be the subject of a major article in WoodenBoat, March/April issue 2015. I have a lines drawing and will have construction plans, rig and spar details available by March. See my website at for details.
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Great build! Does anyone know the paint color of the hull? I'd love to replicate this on my 60's-era Hampton One Design.
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