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The Unofficial Newsletter of Lyman–Morse Boatbuilding - SPRING/SUMMER 2004
You’d think after 87 boats and cruising over 155,000 miles, he’d have something to say!
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MARCH 6th 2004 OPEN HOUSE:
A DAY TO REMEMBER |
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John Snyder and Bruce Cole from Ocean Navigator, Dan Fales from Motorboating, Bill Ando from Showboats International, George Sass of Yachting, John Hansen from Maine Boats & Harbors, Paul Lazarus of Professional Boatbuilder, Tim Murphy and Jim Walsh from Cruising World, Dennis Caprio and Nigel Calder were all here with a myriad of questions that kept everyone on their toes. All in all a great time!
After a lunch of great sandwiches we adjourned to the fiberglass shop to witness a panel infusion process using carbon fiber and epoxy. From there we all headed to the new metals fabrication shop and reviewed the unique demands we are facing as we start production for RANGER, a 58’ aluminum boat designed by Chuck Paine.
The best part of the day was listening to the tour guides -- all Lyman-Morse employees donating their Saturday to show off their skills -- and the pride in their work was justifiably obvious. |
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 ACADIA
- Launched in July, this spectacular boat has proved to be the
kind of project we expected from Burt. It is not often that an owner can
work as closely with our yard as Burt has worked with all of us. We had a
lot of fun and the boat shows it. She is spectacular and, most
importantly, it's what Burt wanted - real comfort!
Click for details. |
 KOAN - This Wesmac 50' came to us from another yard where she had been
started. Never an easy solution for us, but we backed up a bit and she
has turned out to be a great boat. She was built for sport fishing out of
the Montauk area and should be the nicest one down there. This is a big
wide hull that also has a big spacious interior. With the Maine character of the lobster boat hull and our
finish work she is a beauty. Click for
details. |
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 WOMBAT
- Ted and Sally Lange are building a larger version of MAGPIE
using the same hull as ACADIA. We cut a new stern for the mold at Janickis in Seattle which makes her shorter than ACADIA and quite a
different looking boat with all the tumblehome on the stern. The Langes
are not trying to achieve the high speeds of ACADIA using less horsepower
and getting better economy. As with ACADIA the Langes are experienced
owners who have owned a lot of boats, know what they want, and are
working closely with us. She is due to be launched during the summer of
'04. Click for specs. |
 SPARKMAN STEPHENS 52
- We have the first of the new Seguin series well underway at the yard.
Ken Sawyer is leading the series off with a 52. She has the classic S&S
look to the deck including short house, butterfly hatches, recessed shear
strake and all teak decking. But she makes her transition to modern times
in the hull form and rigging. The hull is very modern with a deep keel
and spade/carbon rudder. The rig is a triple spreader, carbon mast which
will carry carbon and spectra sails. The combination of tall rig and
easily driven hull will prevent the need for large overlapping headsails
even in light air. The interior will be all mahogany with a maple sole to
keep the feeling of space. Our aim is to have her ready for the Annapolis
Boat Show this fall. Click
for specs. |
 PAINE STEADYSAILER
- "What if...? What if a yacht could be had that would travel
reliably at 10 knots in any wind strength from zero to thirty knots, and
any wind direction including straight up and down? What if the
cost of fuel to do so were no greater than that of maintaining and
replacing the sails on a similar sized sailboat? What if you chose
the doldrums route, for comfort, and even without any wind you could
travel 7000 miles without refueling? What if in the unlikely event of an
engine failure you could, slowly but reliably, sail to a safe port? What
if the yacht were unusually cheap to build, crew and maintain?" Says
Chuck Paine. Click for specs. |
 PAINE/FITZGERALD 38
- The new 38' Jetboat is coming into shape now. The hull is ready for
infusion using the SCRIMP technology which we have become an industry
leader in for custom hull forms. Chip and Annie Williams have been a joy
to work with and have a fantastic eye for detail. The group at Chuck
Paine's office have created a great looking hull and deck and this should
be a particularly beautiful boat as she comes together. We are using a
single Yanmar 500hp and large, 362 Hamilton Jet for this first hull.
Early numbers on twin 440 Yanmars with 274 jets show speeds of 36 knots
top end. Chip is not concerned with trying to break the sound barrier,
more with fuel efficiency and ease of use.
Click for
specs. |
 SETZER 50
RANGER - We are beginning to mockup the interior for this new Setzer Design for
Charlie and Janice Laphen. Charlie and Janice came to us this past summer
wanting to make the move from sail to power and therefore cover more
ground with their busy schedules. We have been working again with
Ward and his team at Setzer Design Group in creating another beautiful
boat. The Laphens are seasoned veterans in building custom boats having
worked closely with the Hood Design Group on a pilothouse sloop. The new
boat will have stunning lines and we expect it to be the first of many.
Click for
specs. |
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New 110-TON "BIG LIFT"
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New "FAB SHOP"
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New "SPRAY SHOP"
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STEVE TOFIELD
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? |
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RUBICON is with us for a major refit. This was the first sailboat we completed as the new company in 1979. She is a Freya 39 built for my brother and is now getting new rigging, overheads, varnish stripped and re-done, batteries, wiring upgrades, etc. When a boat is kept dead simple it is amaz- ing how well she can last. LIONHEARTED broke her headstay starting the Charleston to Bermuda Race and came back to us a bit earlier than expected. She is being painted this winter completing a re-fit started last year. With the new keel, carbon sails, new Awlgrip, new electronics, upholstery, boom, carbon radar pole, wooden house sides-this is the queen of the 44's and a good buy because she is essentially a new boat. NARNIA is getting a new electrical panel as well as upgrading her entire electrical system to '04 standards. Like Birge, many of our customers keep their boats in tip top shape as well as continually upgrading which main- tains their value. For the past fifteen years there have been very few boats built of this quality. BOUNDER had a new Caterpillar 3406E 800hp installed this fall. We just delivered her to Charleston with the new installation. The smoothness of the new engine has amazed Steve and Carol. BOHEME Peter has us fixing up the brightwork, new anchor roller, and new standing rigging. MAINE LADY (Hood 55') -Ted and Linda Robbins write: Finally, on May 24, 2003, we left Puerto Sherry and made the trip to Gibraltar. It was a great sail! MAINE LADY steamed along at 11 knots in 35-50 knot winds (and the current with her). We never sailed like that again all summer. Hot and windless would describe the weather. We explored the coast of the Iberian Peninsula and visited the Baleares- beautiful! Then we poked across the French Riviera, Elba, visiting harbors where most boats were twice our size. We were able to find berths in some of the crowded harbors because the harbor master needed to fill the space between two mega yachts. Next was the Italian Riviera, Elba, then south to Sicily. After nearly six months of adventures, we left MAINE LADY in Malta where she has been hauled Next Spring we hope to move east to Croatia, Greece, and who knows where," |
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BOATS FOR SALE |
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LYRA - A Craig Walters design: A good sailor plus shoal draft
(SOLD) For
details on these boats and other Lyman-Morse pre-owned listings, click
here. |
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Despite
a dense coastal fog and cool, damp conditions all day, over 140 people
attended including a number of the industries best designers -- many with
great display -- including Doug Zurn, Bob Perry, Dieter Empacher, Greg Matzat,
Carl Persac, Chuck Paine, Lloyd Bracy, Jim Taylor, and fifteen design students
from the Landing School. Not to mention four sailmakers, five brokers, and
four builders. Notably, some good discussions and information were shared by
all.
We
started the day with organized tours going from building to building viewing a
variety of our sail and power fleet, as well as projects in various phases of
construction including full scale mock-ups of the new Seguin series, S&S 60’,
and a 50’ Setzer flybridge cruiser. Click 
The
day concluded with a reception and presentations at the Farnsworth Art Museum.
Billy Black, an outstanding nautical photographer with work in all the leading
boating publications, provided a backdrop of remarkable pictures taken over
his professional life. We also listened to Jeff Kent of Composite Solutions,
JB Turner of Lyman-Morse, and Jim Taylor of Taylor Designs discussing the use
of carbon fiber in their specific fields. Dieter Empacher, Chuck Paine, and
Bruce Schwab added to a spirited debate about potential uses. There was a
general agreement that although carbon fiber has become an industry “buzz
word,” it should only be used in appropriate designs and situations.
RICHARD
HENDERSON - Boyden Gray took delivery of his new 30’ jetboat this past August. As
you may well remember or would rather forget, August was fraught with fog
and rain, but being based in Northeast Harbor, he was able to make
several trips around the area including Somes Sound and Southwest Harbor
It's pretty easy to make tracks in these boats in any conditions so even
if the weather isn't perfect you can get home in comfort. She stores with
us each winter so our service department will have her sparkling and
ready for a sunny start next season.
We have ordered a new 110-ton travelift. This is a
big step for us as we commit to the industry trend of bigger and bigger
boats. Our 60-ton trailer has been a real workhorse and continues to give
us good service, but with the new Travelift we can handle not only our
own boats, but others who have been asking for our services. The size of
this machine is huge - height 30’ 4”, width 33’, capacity 220,000 lbs. It
can haul around a 100’ boat with a max beam of 26’.
We are quite excited about our
added capabilities with the addition of our new metal fabrication shop
just in time for the construction of a Paine designed motorsailor in
aluminum, our first. Only four short
years ago we started our own fab shop with some exceptional talent. They
quickly outgrew their space so JB and I jumped at the opportunity to buy
a local fabrication business only two miles away. This is an old
established business, Steele and Marshall, but the important thing is
they had just erected a new steel building with lots of space and great
equipment. Mike Young is managing the business allowing Dave Wyllie to
work his magic in the shop. Dave has moved his talented crew to the new
building and meshed it with the exceptional group already there. They
will be actively seeking outside work as well as concentrating on our own
needs and calling themselves Lyman-Morse Fabrication.
We have known for some time that we were going to need to
have a proper spray booth for spraying small parts—especially varnish. To
that end we have transformed the old Wallace sawmill on Lower Knox St
into a combination varnish/ spray painting area. Many thousands of
dollars later we now have explosion proof lights, huge air extractors,
and a fancy propane fired air/heat replacement system used while
spraying. Below the spray booth is a varnishing room with all sanding to
be done outside in the entry area. Being able to spray small parts has
become important for us as a boatyard on the leading edge of worldwide
quality.
Steve joined us on Jan 1st to take over Stuart’s
responsibilities. He has been teamed up with JB before and also worked
with us at Lyman-Morse as a woodworker in the mid-eighties. He returns to
us exactly twenty years later, but with a wealth of experience under his
belt: Extensive offshore sailing, Wayfarer’s Antigua service
representative, head rigger for Wayfarer in Camden, and the last few
years as their service manager. Recently Steve took some time off to
finish his own boat (well...perhaps some windsurfing too). With his easy
manner and extensive experience he will fit right into our “family”
management style. Stuart Farnham retiring? Not really, but he is going to
take more time off in the winter after 35 years in the hot seat and move
himself more to the background. We know he will be available to help his
old customers, but in the warmer weather!