Jude Guerra learned how to drive a boat just after he figured out how to walk. His grandfather, who owned several wooden boats built by Lyman Boat Works, passed them down to his father, who in turn gave the boating bug to Guerra. As the years went on, more modern, fiberglass builds became the family rides—but a love of the Lymans was firmly embedded in Guerra’s heart, never to be dislodged.
“Everything takes longer than expected when renewing a boat like this,” he says, looking over the 1963 Lyman that he and his brother have been restoring for the kids in their families. The classic Lyman, a 25-footer, cost $25,000 to buy. Even after all these years, the only attention it really needed was cosmetic.
“The Lyman definitely takes commitment,” he says, “but the sense of pride in owning such a piece of local heritage more than balances the effort.”
That boat is one of about 15,000 that have survived among the 60,000 or so that Lyman Boat Works produced in Ohio between its founding in 1875 and its closure in 1973. Brothers Herman and Bernard Lyman had a knack for creating clinker-built lapstrake hulls with an uncanny ability to handle Lake Erie’s challenging short chop. Their shipyard became a roaring success, surviving the Great Depression and achieving peak production after World War II in the 1950s, selling nearly 4,000 boats per year.
Today, you can still see devotees of the Lyman brand cruising on Lake Erie all year round. The boats are a good match for the lake’s notorious, rapidly changing conditions, including those short, choppy waves that kick up fast. Unlike many other boats in these waters, the Lymans typically stay dry. They have a workboat profile with an almost plumb bow and stern, a long keel from bow to stern, and a semi-displacement hull form. The hull profile cuts through chop, rather than bouncing over it. In 1961, the builder added bow flare that not only created a prettier aesthetic, but also significantly cut spray and finished the recipe for cruising success.
The ribbed construction of a typical Lyman only requires a forward bulkhead for stiffness, which, on the bigger versions, means room for a larger interior that appeals to anglers and families alike. Access to the rails throughout the cockpit also make Lymans easy to manage for the person who is running shorthanded. The larger boats have two opening, vent-style windows and an optional soft top that keeps everyone comfortable on board.
The Lyman yard produced hulls from 13 to 18 feet long with outboard power courtesy of Johnson, Evinrude and Mercury. The brand’s full model line ranged from 18 to 35 feet, though only six of the 35-footers were ever built. All the models 19 feet and above were offered with inboard power, typically small block V-8s. Boats longer than 26 feet were available in sleeper cabin, enclosed wheelhouse, hardtop and open versions. The 28 and 30 could be ordered as islanders with a flybridge and stand-up head.
One reason that so many of these boats survive today is experienced craftsmen like Pat Dietrich, who owns Sandusky Bay Marine Restoration in Sandusky, Ohio. His shop floor is chockablock with boats in various states of repair, with the rich aroma of wood and varnish all around. Lymans are so popular, he says, that it’s common for them to change hands without ever being publicly offered for sale.
Prices, he says, range from about $5,000 to $50,000 for a boat in good condition to upwards of $80,000 for a pristine 30-footer. Repairs on less-favorable hulls can run into tens of thousands of dollars.
Dietrich also notes that it’s important to know how a Lyman has been stored. The wooden hulls will leak after dry storage. They need moisture so the planks can expand and create a watertight seal. For this reason, some Lyman owners soak the inside of a boat prior to launch each season. Ideally, a Lyman will have been kept wet or stored dry only seasonally, rather than kept on a lift year-round. The bottom, no matter what, requires a copper coat.
Another key reason that so many of the hulls survive today is Tom Koroknay—affectionately known as “Doc Lyman” in his Lexington, Ohio, shop. In 1988, he bought the Lyman Boat Works archives of wooden-boat production. Now, he offers everything from parts and spares to new builds. His 2004 book, Lyman Boats: Legend of the Lakes, is a coffee-table keepsake in the homes of many Lyman fans.
As of this writing, his website (lymanboat.com) shows a dozen Lymans for sale, in various stages of upkeep. The 26-foot Sleeper from 1970 is offered at $18,000, with a list of “known major restoration work” as part of the ad. The oldest model being advertised dates to 1948, a 13-foot runabout at $8,900. It’s far from home in Bainbridge Island, Washington, showing that the brand has fans all across the United States. The website also links to the 4,000-member-strong Facebook group where Doc Lyman and his fellow devotees regularly gather to swap information.
Koroknay’s personal ride on Lake Erie is a 1967 26-foot Lyman Cruisette, and he’s a founding member of the original Lyman Owners Association with a real appreciation for all the owners who help to keep the brand’s legacy alive.
Those owners include Ray LaMarca, who, like Guerra, says his passion for the brand stems from childhood. His father owned a 1960s Lyman 25 hardtop. LaMarca spent his childhood winters helping to restore the boat, and taking it out for fishing and family cruises.
Today, LaMarca is on his second Lyman. He bought his first, a 25-foot sleeper, in 2013, shortly after getting married. After selling that boat, he found a 30-foot islander flybridge model through word of mouth. He paid $33,000 for this 1968 Lyman, which has the conveniences of air conditioning and refrigeration.
“It was an ideal progression,” LaMarca says, adding that his 6- and 8-year-old daughters love to head forward to the cozy cabin and up to the flybridge, to feel the wind in their hair. “The twin engines are a revelation for me when docking shorthanded. I can see every corner from the flybridge, and the boat spins on a dime. I can’t think of any other boat I would rather own.”
Bill and Marrion Bogzevitz, who are in their 60s, say they have Lyman to thank for their lives together. Bill started boating more than 45 years ago. He borrowed a friend’s boat, and it caught Marrion’s eye—something Bill had been hoping would happen. The first boat the couple bought after their wedding was a 20-foot Lyman.
That boat is now at the Maritime Museum of Sandusky, where they donated it before moving up into larger, more modern boats. However, when he began to head into retirement, Bill wanted a mahogany-deck Lyman 26 Open with no bow rail—a rare model, indeed. His friend and Lyman restorer Jake Piechocki found one whose owner was in his 90s. The boat hadn’t been used for decades, but it was borderline salvageable. The price: a lowly $2,000.
“Miraculously, it started the first time,” Bill says. Four years of painstaking restoration work later, their Lyman 26 is a pristine delight. Bill and Marrion cruise aboard every evening, often to just head somewhere to catch a great sunset. “The pleasure the boat gives us daily is beyond measure,” he says.
Capturing that kind of joy is also the goal of Ohio entrepreneur and Lyman enthusiast Nate Sublett. In 2022—alongside Doc Lyman and naval architect Kurt Cerny—he set out to reintroduce the Lyman brand.
The first of the new models is based on a 16½-foot runabout from 1957. Yes, it’s built to current U.S. Coast Guard standards with CNC-machined components, but it’s still a fine wooden boat with mahogany planks and sapele decking. The planks receive two coats of epoxy resin before assembly, then are epoxy-bonded. This means the new Lymans require no more maintenance than a fiberglass hull.
“This is how Lyman would have to build their boats today,” Sublett says. “We have planned production of the 23-footer this year, which means we have a vessel that is an ideal dayboat, rather than a second runabout or tender.”
Sublett’s website, thelyman.com, pays homage to the classics. And having seen his new Lyman 16 firsthand and in the flesh, I can say Sublett’s work is simply stunning. The boat has polished 316 stainless steel brightwork and cleats, and a 60-hp Mercury Marine outboard on the stern.
The boat is also a delight at the helm, as easy to drive as a golf cart. We steered upwind into the chop at about 19 knots, and the boat sliced straight through it all, lifting over the waves and staying completely dry.
It was pretty fun to be on the receiving end of so many admiring glances, too. No doubt, the first six of the new hulls that have been sold will be far from the last, at an asking price of $135,000 apiece.
Even Doc Lyman approves of this next chapter in the brand’s legacy, saying: “It’s definitely a Lyman ride.”
This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue.
