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The Power–Cruiser Idler II
by Melodie and Grant Blundell with John MacFarlane2018
The Idler II (Photo from the Melodie and Grant Blundell collection.)
The Idler II was built in 1919 by F.C. Jones in Victoria BC. She was 9.08m x 3.6m x 1.31m (29.9' x 11.8' x 4.3') with a wooden-hull 9.66gt 8.57rt. She was powered by aa 72hp gas engine.
The Idler II (Photo from the Melodie and Grant Blundell collection.)
In 1949 she was owned by Bessie Norton, Victoria BC. In 1958 she was owned by Ole C. Petersen, Glen Lake BC. In 1961–1989 she was owned by John T. Dobson, Dundas BC. In 2003–2010 she was owned by Melvyn J. Butler, Richmond BC.
Grant Blundell states that "A vessel that we hauled and maintained was the Idler II. The Cowichan Bay Shipyard handled many vessels of this size on our two marine slipways. Typically a vessel like this one had to be hauled out at peak high tide. The Spring season was a busy one for yachts whose owners were preparing for a summer cruising season. We used to do this in the evening to coincide with the tide tables and then undertake the work the next morning."
To quote from this article please cite:
Blundell, Melodie and Grant Blundell with John MacFarlane (2018) The Power–Cruiser Idler II. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Idler II.php
Site News: April 15, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,123 vessel histories (with 15,628 images and 13,098 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.