Before Posting, Please Read Our Posting Guidelines Below.
1. Use the full 4 digit year for everything you are asking your question about. Example: 1962, 1988, 2000, 2011 2. Include the correct name of your Whaler model. Example: Montauk 17, Montauk 170, Outrage 26, Outrage 260 3. Include the length when necessary. Example: 16, 17, 18, 20, 22 4. Do not post your email address anywhere on this site as it is already in your user profile.
I pulled the trigger on a 1968 13 footer and wanted some advise. The hull is in good shape and has a 2011 Yamaha 20 hp 4 stroke (selling point for me since my kids will also be running it, wanted something reliable). It was hand painted and an ok, not great job. A few spots are peeling on the interior and exterior. I have a friend who gel coats and may have him do it for me. I would like to do a little restoring on the interior and wanted some opinion and expertise. I am trying to figure out what is original on the interior. I know the morse controller is not but like the simplicity of it and will keep it. Mostly I am wondering about the console and the seats. I don't think the bench is original. I looks like a piece of pine stained. They also drilled three large bolts down into the Gunwhale/Stringer area to hold the seats down. Also if you look on the side of the exterior near the console you will see a plate with three bolts that are used to secure the console. I don't think this is how the console is secured on the original. I also believe there are supposed to be bowel lights?
What I am considering doing is having my friend sand and gelcoat (he can do it quite inexpensively). If I do this I think I would remove the bench and fill the bolts holes on each side and replace with a kit online for interior seating. Also would remove the plate and bolts holding the console, fill and properly resecure the console. Anything else not look right?
There appears to be a slight water mark on the transom just below the top line of the paint so it appears there is probably no or not much water in the hull. Are all the brass drain tubes in good shape? Replacing them before they go bad will keep water and weight out of the interior foam. If all the screws and bolts into the hill are sealed with a bedding compound I would just use and enjoy the boat. On the other hand, a lot of people spend a lot of money making their Whalers factory perfect. Keep in mind that if you replace the interior, the engine and steers cables may have to be changed also because the existing console is probably not in the same place. I think navigation lights were an option when that boat was made but in any case the wiring ran through the foam interior of the hull and eventually corroded to the point if being too short to use, so people change to the two piece rub rail and run the bow light wire inside the pieces.
Edited by wing15601 on 11/18/14 - 7:43 AM
I winter in Ft. Myers and summer in St. Joseph, Michigan. It’s now about 12 years since I’ve joined this group. I gave my 1972 whaler to my daughter and sold the 17’. Bought an O’Day 28 sailboat and sailed on Lake Michigan. Yesterday I bought a 2005 130 Sport.
Very nice looking whaler. I wish my 13 looked half as nice as this one. If you can get the paint off and apply new gel coat for a price you are comfortable with, that's not a bad thing to do. Gel coat lasts longer than paint ever will and will make your clean-up and maintenance easier. The interior is a personal choice. The current set-up looks functional but I do prefer the look of mahogany seat and console over the pine you currently have. Enjoy you boat and make it what you want.
Congrats on your new boat.
And I'll make it three votes for using it as is. I probably wouldn't have done it the way they did, but what the previous owners did do looks pretty functional and presentable to me. Moving the helm forward reduces the tendency for the stern to squat. And deleting one bench gives you more open floor space. Which is what you want in a small open boat anyway.
I'd use it exactly as is for a year and then see if I even wanted to return it to original configuration. You may well decide you like it the way it is. And you'll have experience in the boat before making any changes. A good sized cooler can make for additional seating wherever you want it.
If I did decide to refinish it, I would look into having it media blasted. Walnut shells, baking soda, even frozen carbon dioxide blasting is being done now at boatyards. Strip the hull completely of all equipment and hardware and a pro will have all that paint and old gel coat off in a couple hours! Verses a week of sanding. And no mess. No sanding gouges. No fairing to do.
Once blasted, it can go directly to your buddy because it's ready for new gel coat to be sprayed. You can then screw in that new wood kit and you have a like new boat in very short order. Using pros to do those two jobs you could have a new boat in literally a week!
And this is not an easy boat to sand. Lots of curves and broad flat areas and broad curved areas that are hard to get perfect and show defects easily. . And lots of little inside corners you can't get to with a machine. Not to mention the molded non skid pattern.
Don't ask me how I know!
None of your interior is original. And that was good advice to replace/reseal your drain tubes and rebed all those bolts and screws. Water seeping into the foam core is about the only bad thing that happens to these boats. That, and cracked original gel coat.
Originally, the factory put wood in strategic places under the inner liner to screw the wooden interior to. Rain water seeping into those screw holes can rot the wood and soak into the foam.
Where in Florida are you? I'm in Sebastian.
