Great Story Bob! You should put together an article for the many other Lyle Hess deveotees and get them published in Crusing World, Lats&Atts, & Good Old Boat. Hope this economy situation is short term and not impacting too much. Joe Seafrog M-17 #651 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob From California" <ocean37@hotmail.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:47 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Our Lapstrake heritage
Hi Mark..
I still want to see your Flush Deck 17 when I get a chance...
Some trivia for us Lyle Hess buffs..........
The BCC28 and Falmouth Cutter 22 were smooth hulls. I was there when Lyle and Ernie Gyrie were long boarding the 22 plug. I watched them lay up the first Nor'Sea 22. (which is what the first 10 or so boats were called back in 1978-79)
Previously Sam and Betty Morse hired my friend Bruce Meyers, the inventor of the Dune Buggy in the 1960s...(now 82 years old; I attended a recent birthday party at his shop) Bruce will tell you he made and lost 6 million dollars back in the late 60s....hahaha. but he was a master mold maker...not as good as Jerry Montgomery, but close.. Bruce tooled the SamMorseCompany BCC 28 for Sam.
When Heritage Marine sold the Nor'Sea 27 and Nor'Sea 22 at auction, Sam, Lyle and I went together.
I bought the Nor'Sea molds and tooling and Sam agreed to buy the Nor'Sea 22 molds. Sam changed the name to the Falmouth 22. This was in April 1980.
Bruce Meyers tooled my Nor'Sea 37 for me in the late 80s. (bad back and all......) Lyle drew the lines on the plywood floor we built for the stations......
Sam ran out of work in 1992-93 and sold the company to George Hickama..(sp?) George had it for about 2 months and ran out of money and took Roger Olsen in as a half owner. Roger moved George out a couple of months later. Tom and Dick, the two craftsman who worked for Sam since the beginning stayed on with Roger.
Sam passed away 6 months after retiring in 1993. (NEVER RETIRE. DIE AT WORK!)
They built boats up thru about 2002 when Dick retired and Sumio took over from Roger. Sumio was a Japanese investor who actually moved to California to promote a Japanese market for the BCC. But Japan went thru a large recession and that idea fell by the wayside. Sumio, while a nice guy, just couldn't speak enough english to sell anything. He built a few boats only.
2 (?) years ago at the Annapolis Boatshow, I was over at friends Bernie and Kate (of Roguewave Yacht sales) along with Sumio, friend and fellow wine drinker Bob Perry and several others including former Nor'Sea 27 owner and new M_17 owner Joe Murphy. (Hi Joe)....It was apparent that Sumio was selling the Sam Morse Company and production would cease. A sad story. Roger Olsen was also at the boatshow promoting his book.....Roger told me when he bought the Sam Morse Company, he had $200,000 in his savings account. When Sumio took over (for money he had invested) Roger said he was broke but did get a new BCC 28 to take with him.
Bernie had a beautiful BCC28 in the show that year. The lines were long. Nobody bought one. That about ended the company for Sumio. No orders were forthcoming.
Sumio wanted 50K for the molds and tooling.....I don't know if he got that but he did sell the 28 and 22 to Cape George Cutter Marine Works in Port Townsend, Washington.
At the end, Tommy (the other 28 year craftsman) retired as well. I doubt the market for a new BCC 28 or BCC 22 exists anymore. To many man hours.
But it was fun seeing Lyle with that longboard, his hair full of grey primer dust......his big smile.
It didn't get much better than that for Lyle.
Bob
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 12:51:16 -0700> From: m17flushdeck_amy@yahoo.com> To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: M_Boats: Our Lapstrake heritage> > Hello> Both the Bristol Channel Cutter (28ft on deck) and the Falmouth Cutter (22ft on deck) > were Lapstrake Hull design boats, they were made of fiberglass just like the Montgomery boats.> I had the pleasure of touring the builders yard back in the early 90s. The construction and pride of> workmanship on these examples of Lyle Hess designs was exceptional.> They even had there own foundry to produce the bronze hardware used on the boats.> It has always been a dream to make one part of my life one day.> To bad Bob couldn't acquire the molds for these two fine designs when the manufacturer went belly up.> It would be truly awesome if the BCC were added to the Montgomery line, she would be the Grand Dame> of the design fleet.> > But I have to say that I'm very happy to be sailing a Lyle Hess hull design. It's comforting to know > Montgomery's have such a solid maritime heritage, we have much to be proud of.> > Mark Escovedo> M17F/D> #103> AMY> > > > > > > _______________________________________________> http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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