Can it be restored?

My father just passed away and we are in a middle of a cleanup of his place. He had an old lyman that has been sitting outside for many years. I am wondering is the boat too far gone to be restored. Thanks for a great site I will be busy reading for days and any info you can help me with.
Steve

photos here

 

Sorry to hear about your Dad moosedude.

From the pics it looks like the Lyman is well beyond restoration but I may be wrong. When they get that bad they are more than likely used as a template to re-make a new boat. It doesn't appear that there's much there that's salvageable other than some of the original hardware. A true restoration takes plenty of time, tools, talent, patience and money. I don't think there's any written rule as to what constitutes a 'restored' classic vs. a new one built from an original like that. It's a shame to see her go like that.

You might want to put it up on e-Bay to see if there's any purests who'd be interested in taking a crack at it. I think there's a few up here in the Muskoka's who take them that far gone and bring them back to life.Would be an expensive proposition though.

Rick

 

I finished an extensive redo of a 25' sleeper (Lyman) a couple of years ago and started with a much better example. A couple of years of part time work and I do this sort of thing for a living.

In short anything can be fixed, but the questions you should ask yourself are: do I have the financial resources to complete the project, which will likely require more then the restored value, how much can I do myself, how much can I afford to job out, is the boat in reasonable enough a condition to consider a restoration, plus all the heart and soul searching necessary to address the multiple tasks and elements of an undertaking like this.

The photos suggest you could find a better example to work with, which will save substantial effort and money. If personal reasons require you to make this hull serviceable again, then you'll likely have to replace nearly every single element. Some things like engines and hardware can be cleaned up, rebuilt, rechromed, etc., but the structure looks baddy distorted and deteriorated. This coupled with the fact that the construction method employed, is one of the most difficult to repair, should be major qualifiers in the decision making process.

Some pieces from the boat may be of some value. These may include the hardware (cleats, lights, instrumentation, builder's plates, tanks, fittings, etc.) the engine, transmission, shaft, strut(s), stuffing box(s), rudder port, rudder, skeg, steering, controls, etc. Some of these pieces are getting had to find and folks needing a new, year specific Lyman bow light will pay reasonably for the few they can find, even if it needs considerable effort to restore.

Give Tom Koroknay a yell. He knows his Lyman's and has many parts to offer. He's also a nice guy and willing to help. His book is worth the read too, http://www.lymanboat.com/default.html. He's bailed my butt out more then once on a hard to find piece.

 

Thanks for the quick replies and what you all are saying is what my gut has been telling me. I have been searching and reading a lot the last week or so but still have not came across any way to base an estimated cost to restore it myself. If I had to guess I was thinking 5 to 8 thousand to do the wood repair. Am I in the ballpark?
Thanks again for your time and knowledge.

Steve

 

Moosedude, it is only a money problem, not a restoration problem.

Doing it yourself, you really have to decide "do I want to do this", if the answer is yes, then do it!

 

I think 8 grand will be close for the materials (very wise shopping) to do the wood, but the wooden materials is going to be the small number in the project.

The biggest problem I see is the shape (literally) of the boat, which needs to be corrected. This is a difficult task for the pro and likely imposable for the novice, with little to no experience talking a distorted hull back into it's proper shape. It may be possible that Tom has the original molds or lines for your model. If this is the case, you will have better luck, at least knowing what the shape of the boat is supposed to look like.

 

I have a slow connection and didn't see all the photos for lack of time. The one I did pay attention to showed several adjacent frames, each of which was broken or actually missing.
There is obviously a deeper connection you have to this boat than you might for just any boat you might run across.
There is a certain point when a boat would be cheaper to build new than to rebuild. At that point, a few original pieces remain of the old boat. New pieces such as planks (in this case, I believe they would be mahogany plywood) are scribed from the old. Hardware usually can be replated.
Understanding that a new boat would cost a professional perhaps 700 hours to build at his pro pace, you might do as well as 1200 hours, and possibly a lot more. Then there is the cost of materials, subcontracted work, and tooling.
There is no right or wrong to it, just knowing the facts up front. I wouldn't restore the boat, but that means nothing. Most of us had the experience of paying big money (or expending enormous efforts) to restore such things as photographs or heirloom furniture.
I hope you are getting some useful information here.

Alan

 

Thanks for all of the advice. I think Im going to clean it up and a store it inside for the winter and reevaluate it when I have a clearer mind. Thanks again
Steve