“Sprite” is a 15-foot Lyman lapstrake plywood (forward steer) runabout built in 1957; one of the ~2200 15-footers Lyman built that year. Her original engine was a 1958 Evinrude Big Twin 35 that still works, but as it is a pull-start it, pollutes like heck and is only semi-reliable, it was replaced with a 20-hp Mercury four-stroke in 2018. The new engine gets her to 17 knots with two aboard, compared to 23 knots with the 35, but it uses just half the fuel. One 5.5 gallon tank will last a full day!
We replaced the windshield framing in 2017 and made the forward wind shield opening. The hull is original, but we replaced the decks, gunwales and inwales and added a slopwell over the winter of 2018. We also slid the aft bench aft to align with the forward edge of the new slopwell, creating more space between the two benches. Cross boards between the seats turns her into a camp cruiser. We cruised the full length of the Erie Canal in 2024, camping aboard her for eight nights.
The original Tee Nee trailer rusted out by 2005 and was replaced by an EZ Loader.
In 2023 we stripped the hull of her original paint, notched and filleted the plank seams with rubber-toughened epoxy, sealed the hull with epoxy primer and repainted. This winter we are stripping and revarnishing some of the interior.
While not as fast, and she can’t be driven as hard in chop as modern deep-V hulls with bigger engines, she is more fuel efficient and a lot better looking!