1955 20′ Lyman Runabout Topsides and Bright Work Nearing the Finish Line

1955 lyman runabout topsides bright work

We are at the most enjoyable point in each of our restoration projects. Every bit of stripping and deconstuction is behind us. The lapstrake topsides and boot stripe have received their final coat of Totalboat Wet Edge polyurethane paint.

We could not be more pleased with the new-to-the-markiet paint line from Jamestown Distributiors’. Wet Edge is positioned to challenge Interlux Brightside. We have tested it on half a dozen topsides by now, and will standardize on this paint, one which trumps Brightside by every criterion, but especially in terms of gloss and a curing process that leads to a virtual complete absence of brush marks. (We roll and tip this paint, and have applied three coats over three of the primer.)

The bottom was scraped completely clean, before 3M 5200 was applied to seal every seam. She then received three coats of Pettit Tie Coat Primer, followed by three of Sandusky Lyman Tan Antifouling paint.

We have four coats of Captain’s Varnish Ultra Clear 2067 on the transom and two on the decks and covering boards as I type. The ceilings are next.

Using Captain’s grows out of conversations with several well-respected Lyman owners whose judgement I respect. Since she is a SMB-owned boat, she’s become our test vessel for purposes of bright work.

If you search back through the clips we’ve posted to this challenge, you will see the same boat being stripped of what ended up being 95 pounds of paint from the topsides alone. She was just as “crusty” below the waterline, but collecting and weighing those “leavings” proved impossible.

Stay tuned for more updates. Once we have the ceilings installed, her completely rebuilt Chrysler Crown engine will be installed, followed by her floor panels, which have been updated with new Nautolex in natural.

We are racing against the onslaught of winter, and it looks like winter will win. The sea trials we hoped to run this fall will likely wait until the ice leaves Lake Champlain next spring.

1955 20′ Lyman Runabout Deconstruction Continues

1955 lyman runabout deconstruction

She is a 1955, 20′ Lyman Runabout, Hull #1028 that we are told was at one time used as a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Maine. The intriguing aft steering mechanism supports that contention.

If you have ever seen a steering unit like that detailed in this video, please let me know! We have everything but whatever protruded through the floor and functioned as either a tiller or a steering wheel.

But she had been in Vermont for almost 20 years when we found her; at least 10 of which were spent sitting on a wood cradle crammed into a barn.

She is the Lyman introduced in an earlier clip that reported us having stripped over 85 pounds of paint from her topsides.

That was then. We are well into the deconstruction phase of her preservation, what with another 18 pounds of paint having been removed and virtually everything having been stripped from the hull’s interior.

We will offer periodic updates as the preservation project continues.

1955 Lyman Utility C-1028 Please Strip the Old Paint First!!!

Maintaining and preserving antique and classic wood boats can be hyper-expensive. Doing it correctly improves performance and saves money and anguish over the long run.

Lapstrake boats are an excellent case in point. The topsides have a huge amount of surface area, which makes stripping and repainting them on the recommended five-year cycle both time-consuming and expensive.

I understand constraining cost wherever is possible without compromising the outcome. Painting topsides is not a candidate for doing it without proper preparation.

Yes, if the existing paint is in excellent condition, and if it was not applied on top of layer after layer of paint, sanding it flat, priming it and applying several coats of topside paint is fine.

This video offers an up close and personal view of what happens when correct procedures are sloughed aside in favor of “Just tossing on a couple more coats.”

As of April 19, I have removed 80 pounds of topside paint from the strakes. Yes, 80 pounds! And we are about 80% of the way to clean wood.

Please, please, please. Strip it long before there are 10+ layers of paint on the hull. Your performance, as in speed and acceleration, will improve. And, stripping the paint completely off every third round of repainting will expose emerging issues before they become serious, and before addressing them involves a major structural as well as cosmetic repair.