Progress continues on LM46 Hull #1

by Lyman-Morse 27 Dec 2020 16:24 GMT

Hull No. 1 of the new LM46 performance cruiser is under way at Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding in Thomaston, Maine, with launch planned for late 2020. The project, a collaboration between Lyman-Morse founder Cabot Lyman, his son and company president Drew Lyman, and Kiwi designer Kevin Dibley, will produce a high-performance, cold-molded yacht with the comfort and ambiance of a wooden boat but delivering 10 knots of speed under both sail and power. The yacht has been designed and engineered for superior handling and low maintenance, equipped with only the essential systems for enjoying an uncomplicated, rewarding experience on the water.

Spectacular in its simplicity

Presenting the LM46, a high-performance, bespoke sailing yacht that will reconnect you to what matters. With a low-maintenance, cold-molded hull that offers the unmatched, comfortable motion and ambiance of a wooden boat with the 10-knot-plus speeds of a modern performance yacht, you and your family will form a bond with the LM46 that will last generations.

Partnering with longtime friend and acclaimed Kiwi yacht designer Kevin Dibley, we've designed the LM46 to return sailing to being about sharing time with friends and family, enjoying a drink in the cockpit after a great day under way, and appreciating the beauty of our surroundings. Comfort doesn't come from jamming every shoreside amenity into your boat, it comes from the reassuring motion of a Douglas Fir/Western Red Cedar hull sliding quietly through the water, the knowledge that you have everything you need aboard (and nothing more), and the satisfaction of owning a yacht that makes a statement about its owner. Our goal for the LM46 is simple: To have you sailing within 5 minutes of stepping aboard, and to be able to step off within 5 minutes of picking up your mooring.

Make no mistake: This is no docile, classic wooden boat. We have designed an extremely fast yacht, one that can put itself at the top of the fleet in almost any race, coastal or offshore. A top New Zealand design coupled with cutting-edge Lyman-Morse Maine craftsmanship makes for a winning combination.

LM46 Hull #1 - photo © Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding

Powerful in its Performance

The LM46 was built with the recognition that two boats sailing in the same direction, at the same time, constitutes a race. A powerful cruising rig that includes swept-back spreaders and 1,183 square feet of sail, including a squaretop main, gives the LM46 an impressive turn of speed; rolling out the optional asymmetrical spinnaker steps thing up a notch and lets the yacht hit speeds of 10 knots or more. When conditions are right, this yacht can click off 240 miles per day, while the wooden hull, 43' waterline length, and comfortable displacement-length ratio of 126 allows for one-handed steering or easy steering by autopilot, no matter the weather.

Like everything else aboard the LM46, sail-handling is kept simple, efficient, and user-friendly: roller furling for the jib, a detachable staysail, and a mainsail furling system that is fast, easy, and effective. Following the French lead, we're keeping weight out of the bow of the LM46 by using almost all anchor rode instead of chain. Quiet, easy — just like the LM46 itself.

And while the LM46 revels under sail, it can also deliver its crew just as swiftly under power, with an 80 or 110-horsepower Yanmar diesel powering the yacht at up to 10 knots. Because sometimes, alas, you really do need to be home by Sunday night.

LM46 Hull #1 - photo © Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding

Layout & Design

One word sums up the layout and design of the LM46: Soul. Too many boats built and bought today lack this key element, but by carefully considering every aspect of this new yacht - including the hull material itself - boatbuilders Cabot and Heidi Lyman and yacht designer Kevin Dibley have created a boat that is ingenious in its simplicity, efficiency, and performance.

The spacious cockpit features 6'5? seats, ideal for accommodating guests or, when the weather is right, a night of sleeping under the stars. Twin helms offer unrivaled visibility, while the drop-down transom affords no-step access to and from the dinghy. All sail-handling is easily managed without ever leaving the cockpit.

Step below and enjoy a seat in the spacious salon and take in the V-groove overhead and Herreshoff-styled bulkheads and trim - you'll instantly find yourself transported from your daily life to somewhere quieter, simpler, more elegant. The wraparound galley, designed using the lessons Cabot and Heidi learned during 16 years of living on their boats around the world, is as appropriate to preparing a three-course dinner as it is for mixing up a batch of evening cocktails. The aft pilot berth makes for a welcoming guest cabin or, when offshore, the ideal sea berth. All cabinetry is kept open — why spend time and energy opening and closing cabinets, just to see what's in them?

Moving forward, to starboard you'll find a separate head with vanity and a shower. The huge forepeak includes a centerline queen bed, allowing access from each side, and storage for a weekend or a month's worth of clothes and gear. Here, as everywhere aboard the LM46, you'll be struck as much by what you see as what you don't - we've included everything that you need (fitted sheets, fans, cutlery, china) and nothing that you don't (watermaker, A/C, excess electronics). An optional solar panel on the cabintop ensures that you always come back to the boat and find the optional lithium-phosphate batteries fully charged.

Recognizing that every crew has unique needs and desires in their family yacht, the LM46 is available in three cabin configurations and two keel options. The single aft cabin version allows for a huge lazarette to starboard, while a second head option shifts the aft cabin to starboard and still allows for a cockpit locker. The double aft cabin version offers the most accommodations of all. At just 6', the shoal draft keel version allows the yacht to explore shallow anchorages, while the deeper 7'7? keel increases performance even further.

Sails & Rigging

Sails:

Fully battened squaretop main
100% jib
Asymmetrical spinnaker (optional)
Staysail (optional)
Racing jib (optional)

Rigging:

Mast - Aluminum or carbon (air clearance of 63'10" allows access under ICW bridges)

Sail handling:

Primary and secondary sheet winches, easily reached by helmsman and crew with the ability to stand and grind without leaving the cockpit
Halyard winches - Manual or Electric (optional), also used for slab reefing lines, located on cabinhouse top
Spinlock jammers/clutches

Equipment

72-gallon Dura-cast polyethylene water tanks (2)
79-gallon Moeller cross-linked polyethylene fuel tank
Poly holding tank
Tecma marine head
Wine glasses with wooden rack
Silverware
Life preservers (optional Spinlock vest-type)
Sailing instruments
Navionics plotter on GPS-enabled iPad
Broadband radar -12-mile range
LED lighting throughout
Marelon seacocks by Forespar
60-amp engine alternator
Jabsco anchor washdown pump
Groco Sea Strainers
Centek muffler, with stripper for silent charging
4? blower for engine compartment
Scott vented loops
Rule bilge pumps
Whale manual bilge pump (near helm)
Seadog deck fills and pumpout deck fitting
Perko hinges (head door)
Cushions - mid-density foam with ultrasuede covers on seats, canvas on berths
Propeller by MaxProp
Isotemp hot water heater (plumbed to engine)
Force 10 propane stove, with Xintex controls and detector
Espar heater (optional, for those in higher latitudes)
Jabsco pressure water pump
Lewmar low-profile deck hatches
800AH Lithium Phosphate batteries (optional) for unlimited cycles
44 lbs Lewmar anchor, equipped with 20' of 3/8? chain and 150'of 3/4? Yale Brait anchor rode
Lewmar anchor windlass
Blue Seas electrical panel at navigation station, with 12VDC and 110 AC breakers
Isotherm refrigerator/freezer, with evaporation plates
Polar stainless double galley sink
Scanvik faucets
Full set of cookware
China inshore dishes
Plastic offshore dishes

Construction

The LM46 uses modern design and technology to improve upon the most sustainable building material ever created: Wood. Wooden boats 70 years old or more are still winning offshore and coastal races, sailing over many horizons, and, when necessary, are far easier to bring back to life after years of neglect. The Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar planks that comprise the LM46's nearly 1"-thick hull are sustainable, originating from sound growth- and forest-management plans and thousands of years of experience. Using the cold-molded building process results in a hull that delivers a quiet ride under way and is both flexible and incredibly strong. A layer of glass on the topsides increases durability and reduces maintenance. Wisely employing modern building materials and techniques and eliminating excess electronics allows us build a low-maintenance yacht that breaks the cycle of having to travel from boatyard to boatyard to keep a yacht in top condition - an ironic claim for the owner of a service yard to make, we'll admit!

LM46 Hull #1 - photo © Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding

Lyman-Morse's intelligent use of its Haas GR712 Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to cut planks, bulkheads, and joinery reduces costs for the hull and deck construction, but we have not thrown out the baby with the bathwater in the LM46. The cockpit, deck, and cabin sides, often the site of water-infiltration in older wooden boats, feature a composite structure that keeps things bone-dry belowdecks. To use anything other than modern materials in these locations would be irresponsible.

Whenever possible, all items for the LM46 are built as modular units outside the boat - the same system used by wooden production boatbuilders half a century ago and somehow forgotten. We use such time-tested processes, combined with expert Maine shipwrights and high-tech tools such as lasers and 3D printers, to create a construction plan that is competitive with production boats but that yields a yacht that is meaningful and carefully constructed - a world apart from the fiberglass cookie-cutter boats that fill marinas and boat shows these days.

Reconnecting - Family Sailing

The LM46 doesn't deny the "real" world - it puts it in perspective.

More than 170,000 miles of sailing together, including a three-year circumnavigation with their three boys and numerous offshore races and trips to the Caribbean and the South Pacific, has shown Cabot and Heidi Lyman one thing: Boats have become too complicated. As the founders and owners of the world-renowned Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding Company for the past 42 years, they've built over 110 vessels, many of them equipped with watermakers, in-boom furling, and digital screens of all shapes and sizes. For many of us, all that gadgetry just distances us from why we started sailing in the first place: Reconnecting to a simpler way of life. Our day-to-day lives have become consumed with devices, passwords, and updates. Over time, our boats have tried to keep pace instead of providing an escape, a place where you can forget the world and simply enjoy. The LM46 changes that.

Spectacular in its simplicity, powerful in its performance, unparalleled in its quality. Contact us today and make the LM46 a member of your sailing family.