Category: 1957 Lyman Runabout

After a long winter of scrubbing, scrubbing and scrubbing the bilge and the hull’s related interior surfaces; spending endless hours applying Sandusky Lyman Sand Tan Bilge paint to all those surfaces, it is time to deck.

We are installing ribbon cut mahogany plywood that matches that Lyman originally used in its Sandusky, OH factory.

We use 3M5200 to minimize the need for fasteners. In fact, in for foredeck, other than along the rub rails, where they will be covered by the toe rails, down the middle where they will be covered by the king plank and the stainless finish nails driven along the dash, there are no additional fasteners driven anywhere through the surface.

Bending the panels over the framework produces all the down pressure needed to ensure significant squeeze out, which indicates the substantial downward pressure being generated there. The covering boards are also bedded in 3M5200 and secured with stainless finish nails driven in using a pneumatic nailer, which is also consistent with Lyman’s methodology.

We employ 3M5200 in three colors. White is used along the rub rail, which produces a white seam between the top strake and rub rail.

Mahogany is used along the top of gunwale framing so that the interior seam between it and the covering board complements the stain and brite finish being applied to these components.

Tan is used atop all of the deck framing, which, along with the undersides of the deck panels, has been painted Lyman Sand Tan. The tan seam lines melt into the surrounding tan surfaces.

As will all other 3M5200 applications, we employ Interlux Brushing Liquid 333 and terrycloth shop towels to clean all squeeze out aggressively and completely. Left behind is the tiniest seam line we can attain.

Once we install the toe rails on the foredeck and the king planks, both fore and aft, her decks and covering boards will be ready for bleaching, staining and, yes, varnish!

Quite a milestone indeed!

John and RJ grow weary of me asking, “Well, is she ready to float yet?” As of today, and save for installing the strut, prop and rudder, the answer for the 1957 Lyman 23-foot old style runabout is, “Yes!”

We have broken through the exterior topside and bottom painting milestone. Four coats of Pettit EZ-Poxy Hi-Build Varnish on her transom, leaving only eight to ten to follow.

Thank you for all the great questions on this project. Here is a summary that I hope answers the vast majority of them:

In order, reaching this milestone involved

• Stripped the entire hull to bare wood from gunwales to keel and stem, including the transom planks, to stern using Circa 1850 Heavy Body Paint and Varnish Remover
• Released all fairing compound from all fastener countersinks • Refastened and/or reset strake clench and rivet nails
• Sand bottom and topsides fair
• Sealed strake seams with 3M5200
• Sealed the entire surface with three generous coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES)
• Faired above and below the waterline using 3M Marine Premium Filler – six applications with sanding between each pair
• Sanded all bottom and topsides fair again using 80 grit followed by 100 grit
• Applied another three coats of CPES
• Primed bottom with Pettit Tie Coat Primer 6627 – three coats, sanded between coats two and three
• Applied four coats of Sandusky Paint Company Lyman Copper Bronze Antifouling Paint
• Primed the topsides with four coats of Interlux Pre-Kote Primer For One-Part Finishes
• Applied four coats of fire red TotalBoat Wet Edge Topside Paint to boot stripe
• Applied three coats of semi-gloss white Interlux Premium Yacht Enamel
• Splash rails o Stripped, cleaned and sealed the rails with three coats of CPES
  • Coated the rails’ mating faces with TotalBoat Thixo 2:1 Fast Cure Epoxy and installed them temporarily against wax paper taped to the strakes – produced perfectly fitting mating surfaces
  • Installed the rails bedded in white 3M5200 and masked off from strakes o Primed – three coats of Interlux PreKote
  • Applied three coats of topside paint
• Applied three additional coats of topside paint hand-sanded with 120 grit between coats
• Transom o John fabricated two small Dutchman repairs to splits radiating from the exhaust port o Sanded fair using 80 grit
  • Stained with Wood Kote G’eld Stain o Sealed with three coats of CPES
  • Applied the first four coats of Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish, hand-sanded between coats two and three, and very lightly after coat four.

The bilge is ready for a final coat of Sandusky Lyman Sand Tan Bilge Paint. Installing her decks and covering boards are next.

Our 1957 23’ Lyman Runabout conservation project just raced past a major milestone.

• Her much needed stem, knee and gripe Dutchman repairs are complete.
• Her new quarter-sawn white oak fin keel has been fabricated, sealed with three coats of CPES and installed, bedded in 3M5200.
• Her bottom has been stripped, after re-clenching the strakes from stem to stern, which was particularly challenging as folks had just applied antifoul over and over, and over again through the years. We found upwards of 3/16” of paint on much of the hull.
• She was sanded smooth using 80 grit on our Hutchins longboard sanders.
• Fairing, using 3M Marine Premium Filler is complete, and the entire surface was sanded fair using a Festool random orbit sander and 80 grit followed by 120 grit paper.
• The ever-challenging seams between the keel and garboards were caulked.
• She was then sealed up to the waterline with three coats of CPES and primed with two coats of Pettit Special Tie Coat Primer 6627.
• RJ has stripped and polished the stone guard, prop shaft and rudder.
• The shiplap transom plank seam was caulked using Interlux Seam Compound for underwater applications.

That said she is ready for the three coats of Pettit Copper Bronze Antifouling bottom paint we will apply next.

Lyman owners have reported, and we have experienced that their round-chine hulls tend to wander when under way, especially at slower speeds. Adding the quarter-sawn white oak fin keel that is typical of many later Lymans addresses this issue simply and in a manner that is consistent with Lyman engineering.

By early next week, when her bottom will have been painted we will move to the topsides, which have been stripped, but not tightened or faired. That is the next milestone, which is now just peeking over the horizon.

Our 1957 23’ Lyman Runabout’s hull continues to impress us with her originality and condition. Since our last update, RJ and I have focused to prepping the below-waterline strakes, garboards and keel for painting.

We have previously noted the Dutchman repair work awaiting John on the stem, knee and gripe. We have now added Dutchman repair needed on the keel about amidships. And we did find many loose strake fasteners that we tightened or replaced, but we have yet to discover any rot. Our fastener work followed stripping gobs of paint from and tightening the bottom strakes and garboards.

Fairing is next, a project we have nearly completed on port with the application of the third coats of 3M Marine Premium Filler. Starboard will be next.

Then comes sanding everything fair.

John took me to task for suggesting that we will sand with our random orbit, reminding me that, for runs as long as this hull presents, we will sand with our 18” Hutchins longboard sanders. Using the random orbit risks sanding undulations into the surface. (We will use the random orbit for short runs like the below-waterline area of the transom.)

It won’t be long before we are priming the bottom with Pettit Tie Coat Primer 6627 and then applying multiple layers of Sandusky Lyman Copper Bronze Antifouling paint.

RJ and I have been challenging our shoulders, first dry-scraping all the loose bottom paint off our 1957 23’ Lyman runabout hull, and then finishing our trek down to bare wood with Jamestown Distributors’ Circa 1850 Heavy Body Paint and Varnish Remover; and yes, so much more scraping. Hours and hours, and gallons and gallons of stripper later, we have, well this video.

I swear someone applied “another couple of coats of antifoul” annually, whether the bottom needed it or not, and, after a point.

What it really needed was what we have just done. Clean it to bare wood; address any fastener, rot or other issues exposed in the process; sand it thoroughly with 80 grit; seal it with Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer; and fair the strake/nail edges with 3M Premium Marine Filler.

Now it is time for the Interlux 2000E Two Part Barrier Coat – five coats, followed by Sandusky Paint Company (SANPACO) Copper Bronze Antifouling Paint – at least three coats.

Happily, lying beneath all this “protection” is a hull that remains well-fastened, has zero rot, and that only needs relatively minor repairs. Most of those repairs will be focused on the stem, knee and gripe, with a scant bit of refastening of the garboards where someone once attempted to do so and failed miserably. (Refastening is just not well served by driving new, larger wood screws into old smaller holes. Plugging and then drilling new pilot holes is the only route to a screw that has bitten into and will hold a strake or garboard, or any other hull component in place.

Tomorrow, after we have refastened where necessary, we will begin applying Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer – three coats, which adds up to gallons on a hull of this scale. Fairing will follow.

Bottom primer and paint are not too far away!

Simply put, there is nothing sexy or exciting about stripping paint and varnish, unless building shoulders and core muscles is your thing! Happily, save for below the waterline and the myriad components we must still strip, the nastiest part of this process is a major milestone that we are thoroughly enjoying fade into our wake.

But it is done! The 1957 23-ft. Lyman runabout’s topsides and transom are bereft of paint, varnish and stain.

We’ve also stripped most of the bottom paint off the first three or so strakes from the waterline down. At the behest of a SMB YouTube Channel subscriber, who swears by a product named Ultra Strip for stripping bottom paint. I bought a gallon for testing, and…

Hmmm, I agree, there are zero VOCs, and its jelly-like consistency hangs on the vertical surface. However….

We tried applying it with a stiff wallpaper brush and with a wide putty knife, and eventually had a thick layer on starboard. After leaving it to “cook” for four hours, per the directions, I tried scraping an area.

Even though there are only two coats of ablative bottom paint below the waterline, very little of it had been softened. We tested at six and eight hours, when, finally, the glop was ready for scraping. Perhaps the worst part of this experience was the maroon-colored glop that made a mess everywhere – Tyvek suits, scrapers, gloves and shoes. As always happens, some of the scrapings dropped outside of the cardboard sheets we laid out to protect the concrete.

Here we had to use a floor scraper, but have been left with stain blotches on the concrete. We applied two successive coats of Circa 1850 Heavy Body Paint and Varnish Remover to the same strakes on starboard, allowed it to “cook” for half an hour, scraped most of the paint down to bare wood, and escaped the maroon lakes we experienced on starboard.

Guess I won’t buy any more Ultra Strip!

She’s back on her trailer until the heating component of our pressure washing system arrives next week. Then we will clean her bilge and all interior framing before we bring her back into the shop for bracing and flipping.

The condition of her hull components continues impressing!