From sales info Feb 2013:

The documentation to this yacht before 1942 is lost, so she is the mystery boat as no one has found a sister ship. There is no identification anywhere on the boat as to her designer or builder. She is officially listed as a 1940 Patterson (the owner in 1940). But she is built in the style of a boat from the 1920's or earlier.  There are many scenarios as to who possibly designed and built her (see the Historical section of this webpage.) With her varnished mahogany raised panels and curved corners, to her chromed bronze steering wheel and her chromed adornments, she is a delight to look at as her craftsmanship is the finest.

Pied a Mer  is listed as a 36ft double trunk wooden cruiser. Her beam is 8'6" and she has a 3'4" draft. She has a rumble seat on the forward deck and her bench seats are ventilated with rattan. Her dining salon can seat 6 people. She can sleep four.

• Hull Framing: Kant frames Fw'd, steam bent & sawn 1 1/4" on 9" centers tied by oak floor timbers. Shear and bilge clamps copper riveted to frames.
• Hull Planking: 1 1/8 sawn carvel planking of Port Orfard cedar.  Silicone riveted fasteners.
• The decks are wood covered with cotton canvas ( redone in 2008 .)
• Cabin construction is raised mahogany panels, tongue, and grove pine ceiling with oak ribs.
• The engine is a 1940 Chrysler Crown gas engine, with two tanks (75 and 96  gals.) A new Spitfire block was installed in the mid-80's.
• Rewired in 2005 from 6 volts to 12 volts with a 110 circuit breaker. Each salon has 110 volt outlets.
• Installed fresh water electric head with a 20 gal holding tank.

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History

Pied a Mer, a French idiomatic expression that in fact means - the other residence on the ocean; a name given to her by her longest owner of 37 years.

The oldest piece of documentation we have is a Treasury Department/United States Coast Guard document, 'Application for License to operate the vessel in territorial waters of the United States or to depart there from'. Under the owner/operator section, it states that her owner was an Edward Albert Patterson of Berkeley California, and dated 20 April 1942. At this time, her name was EDROE.

The Pied a Mer came with two logbooks.  The earliest notation in the book is on May 17, 1946, which we believe Patterson wrote. Danny Dauenhauer writes the next interesting entry in the book on May 21, 1958, and it says, "Purchased C.Q. from Lloyd Machson." The next change of hands listed in the log is on  Mar 4, 1967 when it says, "Are in the process of purchasing The Queen" which was written by Clarence Cullimore who subsequently changed her name to Pied a Mer, and who sold her to Diana Holmes in November 2004.

We also have some of the original registration receipts, the first one from 1943 when she was owned by Edward Patterson., and called Edroe. The next one is dated 1960 when she was owned by William Dauenhauer when she was named C.Q., and  one from 1961 when she was named Delta Duchess, and owned by Robert D. Bedwell..

The Pied a Mer is obviously not a 1940's designed yacht, but somewhere because she did not have documentation to prove her year built nor her designer, she was listed as a 1940 Patterson, the documented owner in the 1940s.  It was during this time that she was overhauled, had a new engine put in (Chrysler Crown), and had remodeling done to the Galley and the Head.  When you look at the picture of her galley when it was taken apart to remove the paint, you can see the original tongue and groove wall behind the new wall.

Her previous owner spent many hours in the Sacramento library going through about 30 copies of the Pacific Motor Boat magazines dated from the 1920s through 1950s.  He was never able to find a picture of a yacht like her.  However, he did find a story in a late 1950's magazine illustrated with two sketches that he wrote "knocked my eye out." He said there were two sketches of a boat identical to Pied a Mer.  The sheared decks were the same, the wheelhouse was the same as were the double trunks, portholes, front rumble seat, after deck, straight up and down bow etc. Even the location of two life preservers just aft of the side doors.  The text indicated that the boat was built on Lake Union in 1925, designed by Brenton-Lee, and that it was 36' long, hard chined, with a single engine , 22" prop that was fully skegged.  The point of the story was that she had gone over a single layer of logs with virtually no damage. He subsequently lost the magazine in a house burglary, and when he went back to the library, they had disposed of all of the magazines.

Cullimore had three possible scenarios, none of them proven.  1925 Brenton-Lee, designed and built in a yard at Lake Union.  Twigg or other built in San Francisco.  Fellows Stewart, (which one of the earlier owners believed  was her designer.)

There is nothing on the Pied a Mer to help us prove any of this.  However the Brenton-Lee trademarks are quite evident many seen subsequently on both Edwin Monk designs and Fellows Stewart products. Monk worked for Brenton-Lee in the 20's and Fellows Stewart reflected the same influence.  The round window corners, the extreme tumble home and the full keel/skeg are similarities.  The boat reeks of quality and class, typical of boats built by those designers.

Her hull has been covered in the West System which will give her many years of minimal maintenance.

The Pied a Mer can handle the worst sound or bay chop, and has a quick recovery, which is great for quartering chop. She performs best in inland waterways. (With all the glass it would not be good for her to fight large seas.)   Since the 1970's she has always been under cover to protect her mahogany bright work from sun and rain.  She has a smooth s table ride cruising at 12 knots and topping out at 16 knots.

She has many of her original items such as the light fixtures, icebox (50 lbs of ice per side.) and pump faucets.  One of the treasures  are the logbooks and documentation going back to 1942.