Lyman Morse has consistently provided superior service to customers for 30 years, ranging from small twelve and a halfs up to 100 ft performance yachts. Our foundation lies in quality boat building, so it naturally follows that major refits are right up our alley. Modern composite racers, classic wooden yachts, steel expedition cruisers...with the modern facilities and the capability to handle projects up to 150ft, your imagination is the limit. Please contact Drew Lyman to discuss your project.
Captain Mike Hall first brought the 84’ Metolius to Lyman-Morse in 2008. Metolius is a beautiful aluminum yacht with a great pedigree. Built at the famed Royal Huisman yard in Holland, she has sailed many miles including a circumnavigation and has spent time in Alaska.
Metolius spent the first winter at Lyman-Morse to address some standard maintenance, but also to tackle some large-scale projects. Over the winter of 2008-2009, the Service Yard replaced all the standing rigging, serviced the bow thruster and Hundestad prop, replaced the batteries, and took on the big job of repainting the hull and deck. They also did some welding on the hull, dropped the rudder, and serviced the running rigging.
The winter of 2009-2010 was an even bigger season. It started with adding a new navigation LCD screen, replacing the radar, and replacing the exhaust tubing and adding a new marine exhaust foam covering. The big task, though, was replacing the teak deck. The first phase required us to re-plate some aluminum sections in the aft deck and cockpit areas. About 12 Lyman-Morse crew members then spent the first part of the fall pulling up the old decks. First, they were air chiseled off. The deck was then primed and faired. Phenolic pads were put down to buffer the space between the deck hardware and the teak. Kayco composite board panels were later installed. We used bubble wrap as a bleeder cloth, and the composite boards were vacuumed down. The Kayco boards saved a great deal of weight, since they weigh about 20% less than plywood. They are also waterproof.
Teak Decking Systems then came in and installed the teak decks. The installation was well thought out in advance, so that the LM crew could finish the deck preparation in sections and TDS followed behind. This allowed both crews to be able to work on the boat at the same time with minimal interference. After the decks were installed, we replaced all the old genoa/traveler tracks with stainless steel. We Awlgripped the exposed decks and cockpit and we repainted the 115' mast and installed the hardware. Various small projects were finalized and she was launched in early May, ready to do some cruising on the Maine coast.
Our good friend Bill Seemann brought us his beautiful 1957 wooden Rhodes designed 62' NARADA after she sustained significant damage from Hurricane Katrina. When the boat arrived we were asked to make the varnish perfect and to reattach the rooftop and craft two new sweeping life rails. We also redid the interior forward guest room and added new bureaus for increased storage. These bureaus were very specific in sticking with the style of the interior and are now indistinguishable from the original interior fixtures. We also painted the topsides and the deck. The boat ended up with new shafts and reconditioned propellers replacing the old ones because they weren't aquamet 22. NARADA is in superb condition and the only item left on the list is for Bill and Wynn to get enough time to extensively cruise her!
One of the scariest things to deal with on a boat is a fire. AMELIA went through this a couple years ago and was fortunate to be on a dock so that the firefighters were able to access the boat in an timely manner. Even though they were able to put out the fire well before it spread outside the engine room, the real damage was done by all the smoke spreading throughout the cabins. The engine room was completely gutted and the majority of the cabins received extensive varnish and paint to try and remove the smoke odor. But the major work was done in the salon where we redid the forward bulkhead to make the boat a little stiffer while sailing. As is Jeff and Nancy Hughes style the boat was fitted with an extensive and state-of-the-art electronics package that had much more integrated systems than just chart plotters and radars. Finishing off with a new paint job, the boat is looking better then ever and as is the case with Lyman Morse boats, when she arrives in port there are always heads that turn.
WAIANIWA was one of our most challenging refits to date. We received an urgent phone call from Chris Bouzaid and Lydia Langston about their custom Dixon designed 60' sailboat that had run aground in Casco Bay, sustaining massive damage to the structure of the yacht. Temporary patches were put on in Portland in order to allow us to tow it up to Thomaston. We pulled the boat immediately to start decommissioning and drying the boat out. WAIANIWA received significant damage to her 2¼" red cedar core that was more extensive the more we removed the outside laminates of Kevlar and E-glass. She had been punctured in the integral fuel and water tanks which required us to remove extensive cabinetry to access the inside of the tanks.
After the tanks were sealed we then removed 60% of the core on the starboard side and then removed 40% of the core on the port side. We then followed with a gravity-assisted infusion. What was different and the most challenging on this project was the fact that we essentially had to infuse the hull upside down. Usually, we infuse over a mold that is upside down on the ground and allows for the laminates to lie against the mold because of gravity. The infusion on WAIANIWA was the opposite. We developed a stitching process that allowed us to hang all the dry laminates while putting a bag over the whole hull to create the vacuum necessary to infuse the boat. With a very detailed crew doing the infusion and having the input of Chris and Lydia throughout the project the infusion went extremely well and then it was on to the next step of fairing the hull and keel.
Once the extensive amount of fairing was finished we then painted the topsides of the boat. In the end the boat looked spectacular. The maintenance free silicone-based bottom system is a cutting edge product never before used in the U.S. Chris is still testing the product and we'll know more as to it's effectiveness as he uses the boat more in different environments. We installed the newly fabricated rudder and bearings that were completely shattered in the accident.
The project was done in a very detailed and professional manner and was on all accounts a success. This project also allowed us to develop a great relationship with Chris and Lydia and we hope to see them in the yard in the future.
