Wooden Boat Show 2025 Recap with The Boat Building Academy

Setting the Scene: Mystic’s Wooden Boat Show

The 33rd annual Wooden Boat Show in Mystic, Connecticut, was, as always, a celebration of craftsmanship, history, and community. With blue skies overhead and a bustling crowd on the docks, boat enthusiasts from across the country came to admire hand-built boats, learn from master craftspeople, and share in their love of all things wooden and waterborne.

One of the standout moments this year for us wasn’t just the boats; it was the beginnings of a boat. Bob Emser of The Art of Boat Building YouTube channel and Anne Bryant of From Pine to Palm revealed their next collaboration: the restoration of a 1957 Lyman runabout.

This wasn’t your average project reveal. It was the kind of story that captures what makes this show - and the boating community - so special: history, hands-on know-how, a bit of poetry, and a whole lot of heart.

Meet the Project: “First Fig”

The boat, affectionately named First Fig after the Edna St. Vincent Millay poem (“My candle burns at both ends…”), is more than just a 16.5-foot lapstrake plywood runabout with oak frames. It’s a storytelling vessel, a photo boat, and soon, a hybrid of tradition and modern ingenuity. Originally purchased by Annie B in 2020 as a pandemic project, it sat untouched until now.

Now, First Fig is headed to Illinois, where Bob and Annie will restore her together. Bob is handling the hands-on boatbuilding, and Annie is documenting the boat’s history, provenance, and transformation.

Together, they’ll produce a bi-weekly video series: one week on Bob’s channel showing the restoration process, the next on Annie’s, offering deeper narrative and technical context.

Why This Boat?

During the postwar boating boom of the 1950s and 60s, companies like Lyman helped make recreational boating accessible to the average American family. Their use of plywood construction streamlined production, offering affordability without sacrificing the charm and utility of a classic wooden boat.

First Fig was built for that era, and now it’s being reimagined for this one. The plan includes:

Complete hull restoration (likely including a new keel)
Interior repairs, including frame and quarter-section fixes
Electric motor conversion, with careful attention to weight distribution and battery placement
Simple yet beautiful finishes to maintain her workboat aesthetic
Camera-friendly design tweaks for Annie’s use as a chase/photo boat

From Mystic to Sandusky: A Full-Circle Journey

One serendipitous twist: First Fig was originally built in Sandusky, Ohio. On their way to Illinois, Bob and Annie plan to stop at the Maritime Museum of Sandusky to learn more about Lyman boats and meet with the executive director and board president. Their insights will help shape the restoration, including fabrication of a new windscreen and decisions around period-appropriate joinery.

The Boat Building Academy’s Role

While Bob Emser is best known for his YouTube channel, he’s also the founder of The Boat Building Academy, an educational initiative that teaches traditional and modern boatbuilding techniques. This project exemplifies the Academy’s mission: preserving craft, inspiring new builders, and sharing that knowledge freely.

First Fig isn’t just a boat, it’s a classroom on the water, and TotalBoat is proud to support creators who make the joy of boatbuilding more accessible.

Follow the Journey

Whether you're a seasoned boatbuilder or simply someone who loves a good transformation story, you won’t want to miss this project! Follow both channels for updates:

You can support Bob and his boatbuilding endeavors by joining the academy and building a boat or by using this link to shop for TotalBoat products. You'll get a discount on your order, too!

You can also catch Anne’s recap video of The Wooden Boat Show here: Wooden Boat Restoration: Wooden Boat Show (Mystic) Plans and A New Project