Western Wood Summer 2006 8x11.pub - ACBS-tahoe.org

Western Wood
Page 13
The 28’ Sea Lyon came into our lives in 1994. It was rescued from a boat storage warehouse near Clayton,
N.Y. by Martin Smith and his dad Lou, where it had sat for decades. They brought it to San Jose
where they planed to restore it. That plan changed when they acquired a 30’ SeaLyon, “Eclipse”, and they
decided to sell the 28’ as is. It was in pretty sad condition, but it was a pre-war 28 foot triple cockpit and
that was what was important. To me the pre-war triple is the ultimate representative of classic boating.
The design objective of these boats was to be big, impressive and fast. No thought to practical application
was considered. What could be better than a big, impressive boat with no practical use? I had to have it.
My efforts to find the origins of this boat were unsuccessful, although I did talk to a very nice lady whose family had a 28’ SeaLyon
named after her (Mary Jane) that they used in Thousand Island area. But alas, it wasn’t my boat. This boat still exists, renamed
Elixir, and is being restored by Kent O. Smith of ACBS Adirondacks chapter.
The SeaLyon Company was started in 1927 by Howard Lyon, a successful GarWood dealer in New York City at the time. The story
goes that he was not satisfied with the GarWoods and the company was not receptive to his suggestions for improvements. So he
decided to build and sell his own boats. His factory was located in City Island, New York. The plan worked well for a couple of
years, until the depression hit in 1929. By 1934 SeaLyon closed its doors forever.
Production records disappeared with the company, so we can’t tell from the hull number when it was built or how it was equipped.
Nor do we know how many were built. From the sales literature that still exists, I know my boat is a 1930 or later. The hull number
is 219, which may indicate that couple of hundred were built up to that time. Sales literature indicates that no design changes were
made to the hulls after 1930, but more engine choices were added. Engines offered for the 28’ were the Scripps 202, Kermath Sea
Wolf, and the Lycoming V12. Interestingly, the 30’ SeaLyons used different engines entirely, either the Sterling Petrel or the Hall
Scott Invader.
A few years after I bought the SeaLyon I had the opportunity to buy a Lycoming V12. This engine is arguably one of the most impressive
of the early marine engines. It’s big, 1010 cubic inches, and very clean appearance with both the intake and exhaust manifolds
contained within the valley of the V. This engine is also very rare, with only one other running on the west coast. So, I had to
ponder whether or not to use this engine in my boat.
Since I didn’t have the original engine for the boat and since SeaLyon used the Lycoming V12 in the 28 foot hull, it made good
sense to use it. Further, this may be the only opportunity to see the Lycoming V12 in a 28 foot SeaLyon since very few of either
remain. Finally, the engine was just way too awesome not to use it!
Of course it took a little work to restore the boat to its original condition. In fact a sane person should not attempt a project this big.
Every frame and plank in the bottom had to be replaced. Hardware had to be custom fabricated to SeaLyon specifications. Side,
transom and deck planks were replaced. I used over 4000 screws and 15 plus gallons of epoxy. While I was doing this project I was
also working full time at my real job, trying not to neglect the family too much, and, did I mention, we remodeled the house.
John Allen did most of the engine work. We did a trial fitting of the engine into the hull at his shop after all the planking was done
but before any finishing work was done. It almost fit, but we had to cut a few places. It would have been OK in final position; it’s
just that there were a few things in the way of getting it to final position. After stain and varnish, but not the final coat, I showed up
at John’s shop again for the final installation. I was totally unprepared for what happened next; it dropped right in without a hitch.
Next, I pulled the boat to Petaluma so Rod Souza could install the blue leather upholstery. We knew the color from the catalog, and
Rod, after several tries, found a leather supplier who could match the texture in the catalog photos. I only had a few pieces of the
original seats, but Rod made good photos when he did Howard Guilde’s 30’ SeaLyon “White Smoke” and we used those as a guide
for reconstructing the seats to original.
For the final coat of varnish, Steve Caplan’s kindly let me use his famous barn. The idea was to get away from all the mahogany
dust in my garage from 9 years of sanding. I spent days hanging plastic sheets and trying to eliminate dust and bugs. My conclusion,
dust and bugs follow me no matter where I go. For better or for worse the last coat of varnish went on.
At this point I had a boat that looked great but hadn’t seen water for decades. The time had come for the water test. I met John Allen
at Collero Reservoir one morning for the water test. Jared and Paul Hein were also there to test their Chris Craft and pitched in to
help. It was quite a sight to have two woodies on that little
puddle. What a relief it was to have it in the water making a
big fat wake.
At last, after 11 years the boat was finally finished. I entered
the boat in the 2005 TYC Concours d’Elegance and was
thrilled to win the best of show for boats longer than 23’.