Jason Brochure (Marathon Yachts - 1977?)
draco
I just uploaded a copy of an original Marathon Yachts brochure for the
Jason 35 to the Files section. I think I got this brochure in 1977.
Compare the prices to what you can get today! (And if anyone wants, I
can probably find my original costs - but that may take some Lewis and
Clarking up in the attic.)
I'm only presenting this for whatever original information it may
have. I believe - and someone may correct me on this - that Marathon
Yachts was trying to position itself as Miller's sales point for the
Jasons . If that's true, apparently it didn't work out because I
bought Draco directly from Miller a few months later, with no mention
of Marathon.
OK - onward - the files...
The original brochure is printed in brown ink on both sides of a large
17" X 22" sheet of heavy cream-colored paper. (Sorry there are some
of my notes here and there - perhaps they won't show up in these
copies.)
Apologies in advance - my scanner only does letter-size, so I had to
scan it in 8 files, 4 for each side. I also had to make some
compromises on resolution and color-depth to meet. Google's file size
limits, so it's only 200 DPI and 16 colors. If anyone needs better
for some reason, I can do that but Google Groups probably won't allow
it to be uploaded and you'll have to provide me with another site to
upload it to.
The files are in two groups of 4, with files 1A-1D for the first side
and files 2A-2D for the second side.
If you want to print them all out and tape them together to reassemble
it all like the original brochure, file 1A goes in the top-left and
turned so the print is facing away from you, file 1B in the top-right,
also turned so the print is facing away from you. File 1C goes in the
bottom left and 1D in the bottom right, both turned so the print is
facing toward you. It then gets folded in half so 1A and 1B are
behind 1C and 1D, then in half again so 1D is on the front and 1C is
on the back (with 1A and 1B inside).
The files for the second side all face in one direction (you'll see
that as you position them). File 2A goes in the top left, 2B in the
top right, 2C in the bottom left and 2D in the bottom right.
Assembling the second side may be a bit difficult because the drawing
lines continue across the folds, so it might be difficult getting them
to line up properly when positioning each of the pages. (If there's
anything critical that got lost in a fold, let me know and I can make
copies centered on the folds.)
The positioning and folding sound weird, but are done to make the 4
pages of the first side read somewhat like a book when you begin to
unfold it. Then, unfolded completely, the 4 parts of the second side
all fit together to display one large set of drawings of the boat.
OK, hope this helps. If anyone needs it done differently, let me know
and I'll try.
Have fun -
Frank
S/V Draco
Alan
afternoon in the autumn of 1976, when most of the original 10 owners
of Miller 34 sailboats were at the Miller yard in the woods of
Bainbridge Island, either working on their own boats or checking up on
work that was being done for them by Earl Miller's crew. Earl came
around and announced that some "guys from Pioneer Square" thought they
could market the boat better than he was doing and wanted to change
the name to Jason 35. He solicited opinions, but in the end I suspect
the name-change decision was his own.
At that time, the Pioneer Square neighborhood had just undergone urban
renewal and was considered for the first time in a very long time to
be a "trendy" area. Identifying people as being from Pioneer Square
did more than simply indicate where the office was. It implied that
these were yuppies and might be able to tap into a yuppie market.
The owner of Argent, a Jason 35 that is moored on the same dock at
Shilshole Bay Marina as my boat, told me that he is the relative or in-
law of one those marketeers from Pioneer Square. The relative takes
credit for having come up with the name Jason, but I know that to be
only partially correct. Jason is the name that Alan Pertner intended
to put on his boat. Pertner was the man who had Ted Brewer design the
boat in the first place, and Jason is the name that Brewer put on his
design. The man from Pioneer Square can only take credit for
convincing Earl Miller to change the name of the model from Miller 34
to Jason 35.
So Earl cut Marathon of the deal! Not surprised, given what I
remember of Earl's personality. Perhaps he was justified. Did you
first approach Earl Miller about a boat or did you first approach
Marathon?
Alan Westhagen
S/V Norwegian Steam
draco
Miller, Marathon, Jason... It's a bit of a tangled web!
- First, the original 1974 Brewer design for Pertner set the LOA at
34' 6-1/4". I would like to assume (but with no real conviction) that
Miller built at least Pertner's boat according Brewer's numbers.
- Second, I ran across Salacia, (#24) in Bequia, and backtracking her
documentation shows her LOA as 34' 9" (and my photos of her don't show
whether that might include an anchor roller, or such). Her
documentation record lists her as a Miller-34.
- Third, Draco is a Jason 35 (#31) and the fiberglass hull alone, as
molded, is an "honest" 35' LOA to the top of the stem.
From this, it appears that at least the first group of hulls were less
than 35' (whether 34' 6" or 34' 9"), and that there was a change at
sometime to a full 35'. So I think the change from Miller 34 to Jason
35 was more than just a new name - it appears to correspond to a
actual length change too. (One possibility is that, after turning
out 24+ hulls from the first mold, that mold was shot and replacing it
provided the opportunity to increase the LOA and change the name to
"<something> 35". That's just a guess... and it doesn't address the
origin of "Jason".)
To add a point to the name story, there is no mention of the name
"Jason" on the copies of the original Pertner drawings Brewer sent
me. The design is simply titled "27' 4" W.L. Aux Cutter for A.
Pertner Esq." and dated May '74. I also have a single sheet (sail
plan) titled "27' 4" W.L. Aux Cutter for Miller Marine" dated Oct. '77
- also no mention of "Jason". (But of note, it shows some differences
from the original Pertner sail plan, including moving the mast 11"
forward - part of an ongoing story. The LOA scales out at 34' 7+" to
the stem, and 35' to the end of the anchor roller. Caution - it's on
paper so scaling probably isn't accurate enough to base any decisions
on.)
OK - my chain of contacts is also a bit tangled. I originally saw the
design in a '76 (?) issue of Yachting Magazine (where it was already
called the Jason 35), which gave Robert Franks, near Annapolis, as the
person to contact. I met with Mr. Franks (who was then completing a
Jason 35 in the water behind his house) in the winter of '77. He said
back when the article was written he was trying to become the East
coast rep for the Jason 35, but that wasn't working out, and gave me
his blessings to go directly to Brewer. I called Brewer to talk about
construction methods (strip-plank, C-Flex, plug, etc.) and Brewer told
me Miller already had a mold (and also sent me a set of inspection
drawings for the original 34' 6-1/4" Pertner design). I met with Earl
Miller in the summer of '77 and sent him the order for a hull and deck
early that fall. Hull and deck #31 arrived in my back yard in the
early spring of '78. Somewhere along the line I got the brochure from
Marathon, but I never had any discussion with them about buying a
Jason. (And I don't even recall if the price Miller charged me was
the same as in the Marathon brochure.)
Hope this helps.
P.S. - If anyone has a better way to display the Marathon brochure,
please let me know.
Roland
draco
Sorry for the delay in answering your question.
If you log in as a member, above the list of discussions you should
see a brief paragraph about a deadline for downloading pages and
files. Select the link for downloading files, download and save
the .zip file on your computer. Then unzip it (WinZIP or similar
utility) and you will find 8 files titled Jason35Brochure_1A through
_2D. These are scans of the original brochure - it was too large to
scan in one pass. The original discussion about the brochure contains
some info on how to reassemble these scans into the original brochure.
Hope this helps.
Have fun -
Frank
S/V Draco (#31)
Roland
draco
I'm using Foxfire at the moment, but I just checked with my IE7, and I
see the same thing with both browsers.
Let me just take a minute to describe what I do and what I see, and
perhaps that will help you.
First, I go to the Jason-35 group at the following address:
http://groups.google.com/group/jason-35-sailboats
Next I log in (actually, I have it set to automatically log me in, but
you can do it manually - you do have to be logged in).
Then I get a Google Groups page that starts with a light blue stripe
that says "Jason 35 Sailboats."
Below that is a dark blue stripe that says "Home."
Below the "Home" stripe is a brief paragraph in red that says the
following:
"Zipped versions of the pages and files associated with this group
will be available for download until August 31, 2011. After this date,
this feature and the zip file downloads will be turned off
permanently. Download pages | Download Files." (the last two items
are underlined links to the files area).
Below that is a grey stripe that says "Discussions 8 of 90
messages" (at the time I looked at it)
And below that is a list of message threads in blue.
At the very bottom is another grey stripe that says "Members 27
members" and underneath is a number of member icons (the one for Alan
is an actual photo).
If this is the same as you see, click on the underlined link "download
files" at the end of the red paragraph.
(When I click on this link, it takes me to "http://groups.google.com/
jason-35-sailboats/download?s=files")
Give this a try and let me know if you see the same things, or if
something is missing.