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When we lost him to a heart attack, John had just finished his initial pass at fabricating and installing the new starboard helm station seating and locker.

Save for the copious notes he kept, using the starboard components as templates, and all of the time he spent teaching his methods and skills to his step-son, RJ had precious little to go by. “I’m not nearly as good as John, but I am comfortable doing this.”

The last thing he needed was having me stand looking over his shoulder, so I just worked elsewhere and doing other things like winterizing engines – not my favorite task for sure!

He may not be John’s equal yet, but RJ combined his native talent with all he learned from John to fabricate port helm station seating and locker components that are indistinguishable from John’s on starboard.

Soon we will have a complete set, at which time the fun truly begins. Every bit of her interior must be released, sanded a final time, stained and sealed with three coats of Clear Penetration Epoxy Sealer and scuffed with Scotch Brite pads, before we can begin applying 16-20 coats of Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish.

As her owner shared with me, “The grieving process is neither linear nor predictable.” At least RJ and I feel as though we can begin thinking of and remembering John and smile, not grimace!

John has continued living with his “furniture-to-be.” That he’s made great progress is evident from what you will see in the clip.

The helm and passenger seats, and their accompanying lockers will be identical to one another and also as close to being identical to Lyman’s “pass-through” seating configuration as he can get.

He’s matched the radii along the edges, carved an exact copy of the Lyman anchor in the door that are found in original pass-through seating arrangements. We’ve managed to source sufficient OEM Lyman hinges for all moving components, all of which were transformed into jewelry by Mickey Dupuis and his team at D & S Custom Metal Restoration in Holyoke, MA.

But then there are the additional “John” touches, two weep channels in each locker top, additional framing and cleats that are both invisible and add sturdiness to each unit.

Her owners requested that John supply a lip, sort of a toe rail, running along the two outer edges of the locker tops, but only if he could envision and then create profiles that melded with other cockpit components. John did it and the result is both functional and elegant.

And we are working with Pattern Grade genuine mahogany planks that were sawed out of logs that had been graded veneer quality, save for the sides and back, which are ribbon-cut mahogany.

The starboard set should be fabricated and ready for disassembly and finishing by late today or midday tomorrow.

The port unit is next, but John has the starboard unit as his guide, so his “only” challenge is to match what he created there, which he will.

Her owners challenged John to design, fabricate and install a pair of boarding steps that are also comfortable jump seat – units for our 1957 23’ Lyman Runabout preservation project.

Sourcing stainless brackets that were strong and worked simply proved to challenging, but Google sent us to www.boatoutfitters.com, who stock stainless steel folding seat brackets that are perfect for this purpose.

We caught up with John about halfway through this challenge. Today’s video celebrates another milestone facing into our wake.

I will allow John to fill in the details and demonstrate his units’ utility and versatility. Now it’s on to the helm station.

John is in the process of doing his magic with wood once again.

Her owners challenged him to design and fabricate a pair of folding boarding steps that doubles as jump seats mounted to the 1957 23’ Lyman Runabout’s port and starboard hullsides just aft of the engine box.

As with mocking up the new pass-through helm seating and locker configuration, John reached for cardboard. We left him alone.

That the hullsides are somewhat concave both vertically and horizontally, meant that he could not simply fabricate a matched pair of mahogany wall mounts. The aft mount is thinner; its shape is different, as is the required bevel needed so the mount lands flush against the hullsides. John attacked the port mount early this morning, and by late this afternoon had roughed out a structure that works.

But, rather than steal his fire, I will hand it off to John ….