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When I was a teen, the coolest boat on the water, in my opinion, was a 17' Whaler. I grew up on Long Island, and now live in Northern Delaware. Finally got my 17-footer about 2 weeks ago, and she is a project. Aftermarket console, reversable seat/cooler, 1986 Yamaha 115 with trim setup missing. The hull is beat up, no rubrail, has original gelcoat topsides and bottom paint covered with who-knows-what beige enamel. The deck is painted too, in a baby blue (not Whaler blue).

Searched the Internet and came up with this site. Thanks so much for putting it together. It's amazing! Looking forward to getting to know some of you.

Took off the engine and all hardware (thankfully, what looks like original bow and side rails were included) and started sanding the bottom paint off. Did it in a day with circular sander and 16 grit, followed by 80 grit to gelcoat. Patched some small holes in the hull from the trailer (another project!) with West System epoxy and cloth.

I've been over-drilling all holes in the deck with a 5/16" drill, and found some wet foam and wet wood. Cut the deck open on both sides of the tunnel/ drainwell from the stern, about 24" forward and cut out the foam, which was pretty wet. I have about a 16" X 6" X 6" piece of the foam that I took out a couple of days ago from one of these holes, and I put it on a baby scale yesterday (after a day or so of drying.) It weighed 11 lbs 6 oz. Today it weighs 11 lbs, even.

Uncovered the hull number today -- 3A1120.

I plan on finishing the sanding and protecting the hull (including freeboard) with Interprotect two part primer, and then finish coating with Interlux 2 part Perfection (I'll be trailering the boat). The deck will get Interlux primer and 1-part Classic Yacht Enamel in white. After reading some more on the site, I've decided to drill some holes near the keel and transom and see if I get any water out of them. Going to get (2) 13' Whaler rubrail in white (will have a break at the bow light) and a full-length black insert for it.

Some questions: Is the Yamaha 115 too much power for the boat? Most boats have a plate with max HP, and loading weights/ # of persons.... Did Whaler do that in 1969? Has anyone used the product "Great Stuff" for replacing damaged/missing foam? Seems like it would work.

This boat won't be all original ever again, but it will be sweet enough for me to do a little fishing and crabbing in the Chesapeake, and maybe even a little offshore tuna fishing on a nice day!

Again, thanks for all your help. Picture is as-it-was in the seller's driveway. I've been taking pictures as the project progresses, and will post more soon.

Dan

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edited out

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Congrats on your "New" Whaler. You will find that you can gather more help and tips from this site than you ever imagined. Ask a question and someone will have the answer. Often times many, many answers! :D

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Welcome Aboard WhalerCentral Dan...

There are lots of things on this site you can do.
One of them is you can edit your original post instead of creating another post. Just hit the "Edit" button on any of your post you choose to edit...

One of many others is attaching photos or using a link to a photo you have somewhere else on the Internet. You might take a look at the members Personal Page section and find out how to shrink your photos down in size. Take a look at this post:
http://www.whalercentral.com/forum/vi...ead_id=120
A good pixel size for a photo is 640x480 and about 50 Kb in file size...

Most of the Classic 16'/17' foot models had a max hp size rating of 100....
Some people do put 115 hp on them but you don't have to use the extra hp.... However, check with your insurance company if you plan to insure the boat as many companies may charge more for overpowering...

Enjoy your project and your Whaler.

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Welcome Aboard Dan! It sounds like you are about to become a Whaler addict like the rest of us. We should probably form a support group and attend meetings...LOL :D:D:D

Congrats on your project... I think you will find the experience to be very rewarding. There is quite a sense of pride associated with completing a project like yours and enjoying it fishing and crabbing or whatever you chose to do with it.

As for the 115 - it is above the max hp recommendation but I have seen many boats powered with it so you know the boat can handle it. As Joe states make sure it wont cause insurance problems though.

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Welcome Dan. I'm new here too. I live on Long Island and have a 1966 13 footer.
That little thing is a blast but I'm looking for a bigger Whaler.
Hope you get the pics figured out so we can see your before and after progress. :D

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in the seller's driveway

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(edited out

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here at home I've taken out the reversable seat, removed the motor, and aft siderails

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This picture is removing the trailer. The trailer is undersized for this boat. I thought about adding keel rollers to this so that the existing rollers just balance it, but I really need a bigger trailer.

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picture of starboard aft corner damage

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thought a hairdryer might dry out the drain hole... there is no wall left in the drain hole, and one can feel the foam on all sides. Will either make a fiberglass tube myself or epoxy resin a one inch PVC pipe in there.

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overdrilled all deck holes and rail holes with 5/16 drill. Chips often came out wet. Ground the surface of holes to accept epoxy filler. But that's not gonna get it. Too wet in there! Circular sander (not random orbit) makes quick work of heavy grinding. Used it with 16 grit to get the bottom paint off JUST till the gel coat was scratched. Followed up with 60 grit to get the hull to clean gelcoat. Going to coat the whole bottom below water line with thickened West System epoxy. Then Interprotect 2 part primer, and Interlux Perfection. Will paint using an HVLP sprayer. Deck will get semigloss white.

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battle supplies (note coffee)

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after each day, I button it up until the dew is off the cover

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decided to open up the deck aft. Thought a RotoZip or a Dremel would be ideal, but it was difficult. Used a circular saw with a carborundum-type blade.
This blade is thinner than what you normally see... about 1/16th of an inch. I had it laying around. Worked great. Set it to cut 1/4 inch.

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here's the saw and blade

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prying the foam out

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Used a cake spatula to loosen the bond to the hull. Worked great. (Liz wasn't home!)

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On the port side, I took off more of the deck. Had to slice the foam in 6" strips to get it out, and it took a while. As I got further down the keel, I found standing water. It was probably displaced as I pried the foam. It was wet in there!

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stencil of hull was painted over. Could not read it. Tried to take off a little at a time with stripper... waiting a few minutes, and then attacking with a scrubby. Next pics show results.

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halfway

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will tape off when I paint the deck to preserve just a little of the original gelcoat and stencil number

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here's a chunk of foam... it's actually about 7 X 7 X 20 (see initial post in this thread) on a baby scale. Lost about 8 ounces between day 3 and day 4, but on day five, it's still about 11 lbs, even.

I've read various opinions about water migration through foam. From what I've seen first hand so far, my opinion is that water will migrate, but very very slowly. Just drilled two more test holes very close to the areas that are open, and the foam is wet. Bow has been raised for weeks, and the holes near the console area are still wet, while the bottom-most part of keel at the stern is dry. I cut the hole bigger in the transom with a hole saw, and ran a hairdryer for days on it. After it was dry, it didn't get wet again, even though there were wet areas nearby.

Thanks for the kind words and advice... glad to be in your "support group"! The picture resizing program is great. Will let you know how it goes from time to time. On one of the threads, someone had some leftover foam available... can't find the post. If you still have it, please PM me.

I'm torn between going forward / getting the Cork IN THE WATER, and doing the job better. Once I seal it all up, I'm sealing in whatever moisture is in there. I think I'll open up several more spots and let it air out some more.

Going to try to post the first picture by editing it in to the first post.

Thanks again for the advice. Keep it coming!

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Well Dan,

You figured out how to do attachments...
Now, as a suggestion, it would be much better if you put all of these photos in your Personal Page.
Give it a try...
I uploaded all of these photos to your Personal Page for you.
http://www.whalercentral.com/infusion...l_page.php

Thanks for sharing the photos and look forward to seeing them in your Personal Page...

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Got it! Thanks Joe!

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OK, at the end of day SIX out of the boat, this chunk of foam has lost almost nothing in weight since yesterday. I decided to cut it in half, and water SQUIRTED out of the knife cut. It's amazing how much water is in there. The outside is dry as a bone. Even if I took the whole deck off and drilled a hundred holes in the bottom and left it covered for months, I doubt I could make a dent at drying out the foam. Others have said that moisture doesn't migrate in this foam. It does, because obviously that's how it got in there, but it does so VERY slowly, so getting it out is a problem. Don't know what I'm gonna do.

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Hi Dan. Your pictures and details are great! I bought a motor-less 1967' 16/17 in december from a guy who re-did the boat inside and out with 1 part interlux emamel and put the boat on ebay to sell. I put a brand new merc 90 2 stroke on and it is fast! Wanted 4 stroke, but also wanted at least 90 hp and this motor at 305 lbs is the most I could put on without re-creating the waterline.
Anyway, when I got the boat in the garage this spring I noticed the counsel was loose. Its a fiberglas BW Montauk counsel that was probably updated in the late 70's. So, I removed it to find many screws slid right out and some un-filled holes.....so water was in my hull. I drilled 2 holes in the keel directly under the counsel and it dripped (around 1-2 drips per day) for the last 8 weeks. When I patched the holes last week to launch the boat it was still dripping a drip every few days, probably around a pint of water total came out. My plan - to enjoy my new boat this summer and in the fall strip the old bottom paint with stripper and drill LOTS of holes in the bottom and let sit for the winter. I am sure, and your evidence confirm's, that not all of the water will come out over the winter, but I think most will and at the end of the day its a 40 year old boat that is still very strong, un sinkable, and will probably be good for another 20 - 40 years.
I will get some pictures up because it looks great and I built a rear-bench seat out of Starboard plastic which was very easy, un expensive, light weight, and does not take up much space.
Anyway let us know how your water-woes go! Pat

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I think Pat's got the right idea. As for me, it makes sense to get everything as dry as possible, then button it up and enjoy the boat this season. I got a lot done yesterday to get the hull and deck in shape (lots of grinding, filling, fiberglassing) and this winter I'll drain it some more. I drilled several test holes at various places by the keel (watch out not to drill into the tunnel!) and got a few drips near the console area. Will keep things open as long as makes sense. Got a lot of work to do other than hull.... service the motor, modify the console, add electronics, etc. But I've GOT to get out on the water! It's been too long.

Last night, I took apart 3 Penn reels, polished and oiled them, and filled them with new mono. Moving foward!

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If your not going original you might want to consider something like Rhino liner for the floor. I drilled out the holes and then used a 1' wood bit and drilled just enough to remove the gel coat. I then filled the holes and redrilled. This gave the filler a larger surface area. I used a blow dryer too. When you drill some holes in the bottom shoot some air in with an air compressor. I drilled 5 holes in the bottom and it dripped about 2 days. I started removing the bottom paint and while blowing the bottom off I ran the air hose over one of the holes and it shot water out of the hole beside it. Heat also brings the water out. The whaler does not give up the water easy. I read on this site that you can drill a hole and the water leaks out but thats just not true. It will not just drip out holes. Vibration helps. I sat my air compressor in mine with a slow leak in the air hose, I ran about 6 times and hour. I saw where someone used a sander but the air compressor shakes the boat a lot harder. It's the raisin bran effect. Thats why all the raisins are at the bottom of the box after shipping. Water is the same way. The foam is light and the water is heavy. Good Luck!

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Im sure this has been tried but I figure why not suggest it anyway. How bout covering it in a garage and placing a dehumidifier under the cover. Of course keeping the cover tight would help. - I say putting it in the garage as leaving it outside I would think the sun then the night cold would create some moisture under the cover. Just a thought. I'm sure someone will chime in that has tried this before to let us know if it works or not.

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Good ideas there. I also thought about a Rhino Liner. That would work for me, and I may do it in the future. I've decided to put a non-slip paint on the deck, and then spray the deck and gunnel with the Interlux for now. You're right about Whalers not giving up their water verly easily! This is why I didn't powerwash the boat before I made some of these repairs. The last thing I wanted to do was INJECT water into about 40 holes at 3000 PSI.

But this morning, I did in fact powerwash the boat for the first time. All the holes are plugged, I have a new drain out the transom, and the foam I removed is all replaced and the deck is sealed up. Tonight I'll be adding an update to my personal page on the drainpipe installation. Seems like the website was down for a while tonight, but it seems to be back up again.

Happy Whalering!