February 2, 2013. Bill Obermeyer brought this 1964 27' LOA, aft cabin boat to our attention. We were interested because it has a Dolphin leading its cove stripe, it was sold by US Yachts, and its lines (except transom) are similar to the Dolphin 24. She was for sale on Ebay in Annapolis, Maryland. We are checking our historical sources for its connections, if any, to the Dolphin 24. Click here for the Ebay link

US Yachts was formed by original O'Day investors in part to represent George O'Day in sales and marketing for the Dolphin 24. They had no production facilities and distributed boats built by others. Grampian Yachts had a very close connection to US Yachts and O'Day, and at one point O'Day tried to buy Grampian. They began building boats for US Yachts in the early 1960's which were sold under the name US Yachts. Strickly speculation at this point but this boat was probably built by Grampian (see below)

	Apologies for the grainy photos. Note the familiar lines, the aft cabin, the front portlight and That is a Dolphin but there are no dots between it and the cove stripe. The ebay link above has a clearer images. Our Dolphin

	Note the tiller post location above
	Note offset main hatch Below - it appears the head compartment has been moved?

	Now this is a pretty transom - Yankee #104

The Grampian Yachts Connection

From the website http://www.grampianowners.com/History/gstory.html

The Start Up

It was in the late 1950’s that Jim Bisiker’s construction company encountered troubledtimes. New jobs were scarce and those upon which he bid were awarded to his competitors who soon found that, by underbidding, they were on the path to bankruptcy.

At this time, the use of fibreglass for the boat building industry was in its infancy. Dyer Yachts in Rhode Island were pioneering the techniques and building offshore powerboats in this new material. It was here that Jim, in company with Dirk Kneulman and John Burn, went to learn how to work with fibreglass. They paid Dyer Yachts for this privilege and came home with the required knowledge to begin boat building in Ontario.

Grampian Marine is Born

Grampian Marine Limited was born in the early sixties. The name came from the Grampian Mountains in Scotland where Jim Bisiker’s grandmother lived in Aberdeen. Jim’s construction company owned property on Woody Road in Oakville where a fibreglass plant was built in the back and the construction of Dyer designed boats begun under license. At first they made ten-foot sailing dinghies and small powerboats - the plant grew like topsy.

There was a brief period when they imported and sold Sheerwater catamarans that were built by Fairey Marine in Hamble, England. Fairey was known for their building of Motor Torpedo Boats during WW 11.

The Triangle, US Yachts and O'Day Connection

Then along came a group from the US wanting Grampian to build boats for them. They included Chuck Angel from Rochester, NY, who had designed the Triangle 20 and Triangle 32, a spacious centre cockpit cruising yacht, and later the US 42 which later became the 46. Marketing was done by US Yachts, whose principals included Bob Larsen (from the Time Life Magazine family) and Warren Dellenbaugh. Both Bob and Warren were from Connecticut, and were in turn also associated with the formation (in Fall River, Mass.) of O’Day Yachts, with George O’Day and the O’Day company president, Lyman Bullard.

Thus Grampian commenced building not only the US Yachts line, but also (for the Canadian market only) the O’Day line of day-sailers. Also at this time O’Day was introducing the new Ray Hunt designed offshore powerboats and Grampian helped with some of the initial production and tooling, but chose not to continue into the full production phase. Jim says that these business relationships developed into very friendly and compatible meetings of the minds.

The sixties were heady times in the boat building business. Mass production of fibreglass boats made sailing a sport that many could enjoy. Unlike to day, there were no used fibreglass boats for sale - everyone bought new.

During the late-sixties, O’Day approached Grampian Marine with an offer to buy them but Jim Bisiker turned them down. However O’Day did purchase US Yachts and Triangle Marine and four months later, much to Jim’s chagrin, went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Grampian Marine continued to build boats for O’Day but they were not part of the NYSE Package.

Stay tuned

February 18, 2013 We have solved this mystery. Here is an email from Bill Obermeyer.

Ron,

Mystery solved. Went yesterday to look at the boat. It is not a dolphin on the front of the cove stripe, but an eagle head. Apparently Grampian (thanks for that hint to look there) made the Eagle 27 for US Yachts from 1963-67. It's also the same boat as the Triangle 27, but based on the cove stripe it's the Eagle.

Some nice features on the boat. Would make a nice coastal cruiser. This particular boat is in cosmetically rough shape but could easily be restored. We have more pics that we took if interested.

The Eagle beak and tail at either end of the cove stripe

Eagle 27

From http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=5429

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