[chorchonga]

Whether you're a classic wooden boat enthusiast, a Denison, TX alum, a Roy Rogers fan, or a Yellow Jacket owner, you'll find lots of interesting reading on this site. more

[Acro]

Yellow Jacket Boats was founded in 1949 as the McDerby-Conatser Boat Company of Denison, TX. By the time the operation closed in 1959, there were thousands of fast, affordable molded-hull Yellow Jacket boats skimming across the lakes and coastal waters of the country. Stories abound of baby boomers who learned to ski behind a Yellow Jacket. There are equally fond memories of kids who napped under the foredeck while their dad fished from his Yellow Jacket. here

[jondavis468]

Hundreds of Yellow Jackets survive. Many have been restored to original condition. Others are languishing in sheds and barns and deserve to be brought back to life.

[ikie]

Roy Rogers
Yellow Jacket Partner and Spokesman more

[marycaouette]

File this one in your “Probably Didn’t Know That About Roy Rogers” file: The famous movie and television cowboy not only put his name behind the Double R-Bar burger and the Fixins Bars at Roy Rogers fast-food restaurants, he was part owner in the Yellow Jacket Boat Company in Denison, TX. And as it turns out, he was an avid powerboat racer, too.

[friendsofkim]

There were more than 35 outboard- and inboard-powered boats in the Yellow Jacket lineup including 12-, 14-, and 16-foot models with names such as Riviera, Catalina, Monterey, and Capri. Yes, there was even a Trigger model, named after Roy Rogers’ famous equine sidekick.

[bokaeruh]

Roy Rogers tests out a Mercury outboard in this 1951 photo. He was the vice president and co-owner of Yellow Jacket Boats in the 1950s. more

[michelles]

Richard "Mac" McDerby, previous to founding Yellow Jacket Boat Company in 1949, had been a test engineer for Higgins Boat Company out of New Orleans. After participating in the "mock invasion" on the shores of Lake Texoma in 1945, Mac met a lot of the local people and saw an opportunity for boat sales.

[beatfocus]

Mac McDerby helped set up a dealership for Yellow Jacket Boats in Denison with Cy Breen, a former camerman for Republic Studios and acquaintance of Roy Rogers. Mr. Breen mentioned to Mac that Roy Rogers was an avid boatsman and asked if Mac would be willing to supply him a boat in exchange for using Roy's name to promote the line of boats. At that time Roy Rogers was one of the best known western movie starts. As a result of sending Roy a Yellow Jacket boat in which he won many race, he became interested in the firm as an investment. After visiting the Denison company, Roy purchased a major interest in it.

[juliahollis89]

Yellow Jacket Lane at Northern Hills is where the Main boat company was located.
The one across from JM was the Hornet Factory, also part of Yellow Jacket Boat Company. more