Restoration of This Boat, Hull #246:
Beware of the “free” boat.
Hull number 246 was past its useful life when it came into my possession. Large sections of planking had rotted along with the keel beam around the centerboard trunk. Despite cracked deck skin there was something compelling about the boat.
I initially resisted the offer to take this “free” boat, recognizing at once the massive undertaking required to bring it back to life. If it were not for the pleading of my son, of high school age at the time, “wouldn’t it be a great project for us to work on together,” the boat would never have found its way into my garage. For a while, my son helped me, but then he moved away to college. The project boat remained.
Occasionally I would furiously practice my woodworking on hull number 246, but life and career kept getting in the way. My son graduated and took a job in another city. The project boat remained.
Fifteen years later, having retired from my paying career, I realized that hull number 246 still sat unfinished in the north half of the garage. I needed motivation or this derelict would never be gone. At the time, the city of Seattle was struggling with a massive tunnel construction project for our local Highway 99. The tunnel was suffering delay after delay. I thought “surely I can finish this boat before the tunnel digging machine, called Bertha, finishes the tunnel.”
It was a race. Bertha and I became a close match. Sometimes I would get ahead and sometimes Bertha was ahead. In the end, I applied the last coats of varnish shortly after the final signage was installed in the tunnel.
We now call Hull number 246, “Bertha” and she looks great for a boat originally constructed in 1957. My son made a special journey home for successful sea-trials on Lake Washington.
It can be done, but “beware of the ‘free’ project boat.”
Jet-14 Class Association and History:
The Jet-14 design has a 65+ year history and has an active Class Association. The boat seems rare on the West Coast, but there are several active fleets throughout the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast.
The Jet-14 Class Association started in 1955 and produces a quarterly newsletter “JetBlasts” and an informative website, www.jet14.com.
The Jet-14 was originally created by a New Jersey skipper, Howard V. Siddons along with Harry Sindle, who combined the sail plan and hull shape from other designs to create a one-design with good performance, minimum cost, low maintenance, and is easy to transport.
The design includes elements to make it easy for do-it-yourself construction. These include solid wood spars and a solid plate iron centerboard.
Fiberglass versions of the boat entered competition in the 1960s, some of which were built in the Netherlands. As technology advanced, the Class approved further changes such as aluminum spars, use of spinnakers, a mid-boom traveler and jib furling gear.
The Jet-14 has seen varying degrees of popularity over the years. In 1965 there were 888 boats registered with the class association from 37 chartered fleets. The November 1999 issue of Sailing World included a feature about Jet-14s. Although Jet racing seems to have decreased since those days, after 65 years, these boats are still used in organized competition!