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.
At the end of last season I had a bunch of water visible in the rear inspection cover area of the tank area. I've had fans running all winter and its bone dry now. However, I would love to pull up floor and get a good look underneath. My only issue is that I do not want to disconnect the whole console and leaning post. Does anyone have experience possibly tilting the whole floor to one side with everything attached so I can get in and do some minor work?
The fuel tank cover is screwed down along the edge and includes the area under the console.
While you could lift the console, it would only be as high as the slack in the wiring and cables allow. It highly doubt you will have enough to raise the floor enough in the front to angle the back sufficiently to gain acceptable access.
The fuel tank sits in a finished (gel coated) cavity and is foamed in place. It is not uncommon for water to enter and sit on top of the tank. To minimize water intrusion, re-caulk the floor cover and seal the rigging flange where the cables pass into the rigging tunnel.
It took me ~ 2 hrs to derig my console and pull the floor. See my
project album for photos. Not too bad.
Thanks Phil. I looked at your project album and it looks like you did a great job. My biggest fear is having to address the bees nest of wires in the console. I'm guessing that its about time to do it though. I'll be putting the boat inside next month to get it ready for a june launch and once there I'll assess what I need to do. I am leaning toward biting the bullet and pulling the whole floor and seeing what's next. The floor is not spongy so hopefully I have no issues. we will see.
You might be surprised at how much of the wiring can stay with the console. You will have to disconnect the steering and motor control cables which is not too bad. The only wires to disconnect would be those that make an uninterrupted trip down the tunnel. A couple of those went to battery switch ect. and are pretty easy to re pull. At least with Yamaha, all my wires are color coded and male to female connections. I bundled the different groups together and taped with adhesive tape so I could write on it. Two months later it looked scarey, but was actually no big deal at all. Having removed a console once, gave me the confidence to alter another which required the same process. If you are really worried take a bunch of pictures of before so you can have an after.
