Oakie: a 
1946 25-foot Adams 26

By Hank Reiser, Niagara Frontier Chapter

In the spring 2024 we had a 24 Fiberglass Lyman for sale at our boat repair and sales operation just south of Annapolis. One day, a fellow named Tom Martins stopped by to look at the boat. We did not make the sale, but during our conversation, Tom mentioned he a 1946 Adams 26 in need of restoration and showed us a couple of photos of the boat. We were interested, and although we had never heard of an Adams, we were familiar with Hutchinsons and other Thousand Islands boats from our years of service at the world-renowned Jafco Marine Basin, Buffalo, New York.  

Fast forward a couple of months and we received a call from Mr. Martins explaining he found a glass Lyman in Michigan, made the deal and was now in need of a bottom paint job. Obviously, we were happy to hear from Tom and to help with the bottom paint. When we finished the work, Tom proposed we trade the cost of the job for his Adams, the Oakie. We were down to 11 or 12 broken-down wooden boats, so we thought it made sense to trade the cost of the bottom paint job for another old boat that did not float. After all, it made sound financial sense to trade service for a boat we didn’t need. 

One Sunday morning we made the 15-mile trip to pick up the Oakie at Tom’s place in Mongomery County, Maryland. All the parts were with or around the boat in the yard, including seats, cushions, interior woodwork and hardware. We loaded the stuff up in the boat, careful not to tie anything down, and took off for home without lights, registration, or license plate. All things considered, we decided this was the best way to proceed. 

When we made it back to our facility, we decided to look at the boat a little more closely. Overall, the Oakie seemed to be in ok shape. The floors had drifted away from the bottom from sitting on a small trailer and the engine box had been enlarged using some Home Depot plywood so that it would accommodate a Crusader V6 replacement engine, and the hull and decks needed to be redone. Pretty much a turnkey vessel. 

We took the old girl off the trailer and blocked it along the chine, hoping to push it back into shape. It seemed to work out. After a little blocking and jacking, we were able to get the floors and bottom to meet and refastened them with some #8 by 2-inch bronze screws. The 2-inch screws may have been a little overkill, but we wanted to make sure everything stayed where it belonged. 

Next, we removed the loose parts, inventoried them, cleaned out the leaves, bugs, and mice, and sanded the bottom, hull and bilge. The varnished wood went into the shop for sanding, stain and varnish by master varnisher, Owen Horton. 

We ended up changing the hull to white, with red bottom paint, varnished decks and transom. We have stopped using copper bronze paint because the Chesapeake Bay turns it rust-colored with black staining after about two days in the water. The boat looks a little more traditional in these colors. We had a new gas tank made, changed the engine oil, turned it over by hand a few times, then fired it up. 

Oakie went into the water in the middle of October and leaked like a sieve for two weeks. This was a little less than positive. We hauled the boat out and filled the seams with roofing tar, put it back in, and she floated. After a couple of test runs, we put the Oakie away until the spring of 2025. Before launching, we caulked and tarred the bottom, replaced a couple of bilge pumps, and hoped for the best. When we launched the boat this spring, she was dry as a bone after six hours. Apparently, proper caulking helps. 

We ran the Oakie to the ACBS show in St. Michaels, Maryland in June 2025, then  kept her in the water and used her regularly through fall. 

We don’t have much history on the Oakie, other than it was built by the Adams Brothers in 1946 and bears a striking resemblance to a Hutchinson 26. 

We have reports that the boat was owned by the McNally family and later sold to Jim Tyler of Oak Island. Any additional information about the boat would be of interest.