Richards_Arthur_Piver_Mariner_25ft

Marine Division

How Richard Fraser built his Arthur Piver
Mariner 25' Trimaran in the 1960's - a
treasured photo adventure

FRASER AERO TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

n July of 1965, Richard started to built his first boat. It was an Arthur

Piver

designed Trimaran sail boat that was called a "Mariner" with a

length of 25

feet

and beam of 15 feet

Richard is fortunate that he kept a photo log of the progress that was

made over the four year building period. And, yes I (Richard) said it

took

four years......for those who want to build a boat. Most quit before

that

time, but for those who preserver, the time is rewarding. Richard

also

credits the Kodak Film Company for manufacturing a good

quality photo

film that was able to keep it's colors somewhat fresh

over these past 47

years. And, for the good little camera that took the

pictures and the

persistent use of the Kodak printing paper which

was used. Without these

things, the photos probably would have

been lost.

The building address was 834 N. Francisca Avenue in Redondo

Beach, Ca.

Other well known builders used this address as well. After

47 years and

now at the age of 75 years, Richard is collecting his

memory of the facts

and ingenuity that transpired back in those days.

This location is being

completely renovated today. Review some of

the photos for a historical

reference because the address is no longer

there.

These photos bring back great memories, not only of the boat, but the

experienced people who helped when you had a question or two or

three

or fou

Click on the
photos to
enlarge

To begin with, the trimaran was built using quality ABX (smooth, good both sides) exterior fir plywood
skins held in place by using water mixed powdered urea/formaldehyde resin glue (available at that time)
and boat bronze ring nails......lots of them, with Polyester resin and 6 ounce glass cloth sheathing. The
Epoxys were not around at that time. Epoxy paints were just introduced, but we used good quality
topside and below waterline anti-fouling yacht paints. I cannot remember the brand name but it was not
Interlux, which was also available then. All fir plywood skins were scarfed together...not butted, providing
the strongest 100% through water proof joint bond.

Most of the boat frames were fabricated at home per Pivers drawings. That saved a lot of time so it was
easy to fit them onto the building jigs that are shown in the photos. Their shapes proved to be accurate
and fair when we started installing the chines and stringers. Arthur, or who ever did Pivers drawings did
a good job.

The time line given by the photo dates gives some information as how long each portion of the building
took. One must remember though, that work was generally done on weekends and holidays. Richard still
worked in the aircraft and Aerospace Industry full time as a Laboratory Design Engineer at that time.