by the Quast Family members of the Blackhawk chapter
This boat brings a lot of fond memories to me and my family. Our Lyman is knick-named “Bee Bop”. Don’t ask me how my Dad, Arnie Quast Sr. coined that name, but for my entire life that is the affectionate title of this stately 1964 18’ Lyman Inboard-Outboard. My Dad procured the boat in 1973 from a neighbor up the street from us in my hometown of Bridgewater, NJ. It had been involved in a mishap involving fireworks. Our neighbor’s son launched a bottle rocket that landed on the canvas top of the boat and set it on fire causing substantial damage to its interior. Soon after the incident, my father purchased the boat from our neighbor, and repaired it. Thereafter this boat became a part of our family life every summer as I grew up. Our Lyman saw a lot of use on summer vacations in the Adirondack region in upstate New York. Close to home in New Jersey we used the boat along the New Jersey Shore, Lake Hopatcong, and the Delaware River.
The Lyman sat idle in my parents’ garage in New Jersey for many years at the start of the millennium. In 2011 my father gave it to me, and I transported the Lyman from New Jersey to my home in Northern Illinois. About a year was spent bringing the boat back to seaworthy condition. A friend of mine whom is a carpenter and I stripped it down and repainted it. The bottom was in dire need of repair, and Lars Bergersen of Bergensen Boat Comapny in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin performed the necessary repairs.
She is powered by an 85hp inline 6 cylinder Golden Interceptor engine. Basically, the same Ford engine often found on F-150 pick-ups, and Ford Falcons back in the day. Parts and serviceability of this engine is very easy. The drive unit on the transom is one of the first inboard-outboard design concepts in the United States. The drive unit was manufactured by Saginaw Gear Company and is called an Eaton Powernaut drive. Parts and boat mechanics that have any familiarity with this drive are near extinct. The old Powernaut functions fine, but I am extremely careful where I run the boat. The boat is mostly run near my home in the deep and clean water of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
I am proud of my old Lyman along with the attention it grabs whenever I take it out. It is a fun boat that shares a lot of great history in my family.
