by Guest » Mon Nov 04, 2002 5:01 pm
McVay Fiberglass was a Canadian company that built many small sailboats, however..the Day Sailer was not one of them. They built the Bluenose (23'),and the Minuet (18') these were both full keel boats, the Minuet was later modified and became the Victoria 18. They also built the Falcon (16' ), The Micmac (26'), and several sailing dinghies. I suspect that what you looked at was a Falcon, the Falcon is 15' 9" LOA, and does look sort-of like a DS I, but not exactly. Look at the photo page on this Day sailer Home page and you will find pictures of a bright red Falcon. Although smaller than a Day Sailer, the Falcon is really a great little boat! My Dad owned one for 10 years before he replaced her with our present boat, a CAL 21. I was only 5 years old when he sold the Falcon, so my memories of her are mostly from photos, but my Dad says that my Day Sailer II is a lot bigger than the Falcon despite being only 1' longer. My Dad's Falcon was built by Beetle Boats in New Bedford, MA in 1956 or so, I guess McVay started building the Falcon after Beetle went out of business, their ads claim that the Falcon was designed by George McVay (founder and owner of McVay Fiberglass Yachts), but I think he slightly redesigned the Falcon after buying the molds from Beetle. Maybe he designed the boat for Beetle, then bought back the building rights after they closed?
Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)