Being A Woody Boater Is No Walk In The Park.. No .. Wait, Yes It Is.
Note the plug and cord on the right, I am glad the owner cared enough to keep it juiced up, ya never know what could go wrong out there in the woods.. Gotta keep the bilges working
Thanks to fellow Woody boater Kent O Smith Jr who was out on some back roads around Lake George the other day to do a little hiking and came across this old cruiser off a logging trail – sad to see.”Later on, I passed a house that had this poor old Lyman in the side yard and risked going in to get a few shots.” Kent said in his email. WOW. What a cool walk in the park.
Not to be outdone, fellow Woody Boater Chris Atwood was at an airport in Indianapolis, Indiana yesterday, not a walk in the park though, but close enough, and saw this boat hiding in the back corner of a large communal hangar. Any idea what it is? Looks to be about 16′. No data that he could see or manufacturer name or logo.
As Chris Says “Its got a nice Johnson 35 sitting in the back of it along with a box full of props and a couple lights. A magazine sitting on the floor was Family Circle from June 1980. Its quite possible it has been sitting in there since then. The wood seems to be pretty solid in all the parts I could reach. Any info you might be able to pass on would be great.”
I am no expert, but the last boat sure looks like a mid to late ’50’s Lyman as well. The 35hp Johnson with the starting plate and medalion mounted on the dash is a nice find as well with this boat.
Actually, looking closer.. looks like the Johnson might be the 1957 ‘golden javelin’ a popular outboard in the collecting circles and very usable as well. Cool boats.
Brush off the leaves, battery is probably still charged, give the hull to some Tech students, drop in a foreign marinized auto engine and it should be better than new.
OK that cost me a cup of coffee and key board.. HA1
GROAN!! the cruier in the lake george woods looks like a sister ship to my boat…..ugh….
John in Va.
Yours is that bad too?
More cases of “I’ll get around to it someday” instead of just selling it at a loss (big) and letting someone else use/fix it up. And to add to the insanity of people’s ‘good intentions’, they don’t see the irreversible damage they are doing by not taking proper care of them (good blocking, cover, and ventilation). I have seen too many boats heading in this direction, some of which I was able to ‘adopt’ — but one person can only do so much. A lot of history is being lost like this each year.
You are correct Randy.
Sadly though, in my opinion, most people just flat out to not give a rat’s backside about taking care of their stuff.
Boats, cars, houses – it does not really matter. We are a “throw it away” society and perhaps even a “toss it” species.
This will surely not be the last sad photo we see.
The little lapstrake is a Penn Yan, built on Keuka Lake New York.
sort of the maritime equivalent of kitty’s/gunnysack/river….
It does have NY registration numbers. If it is a Penn Yan, it is worth saving. They are way nicer than an Arabian.
It is also interesting that both of the first two had registrations from 1991 (expired in 1994) which makes me wonder what happened to make someone to stop using both in the early 1990’s. Probably a sad personal story behond that one.
This is a painful post for a Lymaniac, lover of lapstrake. Now I have to save a couple of more boats. I even have open trailers. Maaxxed out in covered storage. It would be easy to save alot of boats with unlimited storage. They all lokk nice on The River.
Should we form a “Woody Boater Posse” and head up to Lake George to save that old Lyman in the woods?
River Rat can be the Leader of the Posse, Matt can be the Scout. I’ll bring a pot of Chili and some Woody Boater Wieners for the trip in case it’s an over-nighter… Alex can bring some beer from Hessel.
Amongst his impressive collection, I don’t believe Alex has a lapstrake yet. I submit that he should consider the blue Lyman as his first lapstrake project……
Yes, a Penn Yan is a nice little boat. Somoe folks, like Mike M., are fortunate enough to have a Penn Yan AND an Arabian!
Captain Nemo,
Thanks. With that info I did some research and it looks to be a Penn Yan Carribean. http://www.antiqueboatamerica.com/ab_list_boatNew.asp?Left=ForSale&Type=ViewBoat&BoatId=30359
and finally….to the ANONYMOUS one who in a smart A– way said……”so your’s is in that bad shape too”, let me simply reply that no…mine boat is GOOD, it is ME that is Bad…..to find out just name the time and place.
First call-out on woodyboater in a while.
John in Va.
Meet me in Algonac this summer. Bilge pumps or 5gal buckets at 20 paces. I’ll be the overweight, old bald guy.
Come one Rick! You are NOT anonymous!!!!!….but it sure sounds like we fight in the same division!!!!!
I will surely see ya when the buzz crew meets next year in Algonac!
John in Va.
I’m not always anonymous but it actually was me that time. Think the WoodyBabes will come and watch us in wet t-shirts? Probably not. Maybe we’ll just have a beer, I’ll buy.
I don’t drink, you keep the beer, I’ll take the babes!
take care Rick.
John in Va.