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Hello Whalers -

First my forum name. I am "Alaska Ranger" because I live in the heart of the Alaska Range, at the far end of the Denali Highway.
Not too many Boston Whalers around here. Well, not too much of anything, except there are 42,000 caribou in our local herd. That outnumbers humans by, uh....well...42,000 to 18.

In 40,000 square miles.

About the boat. She's a mid-80s vintage; a family member was with the corporation that then owned Whaler for about 25 years and got this "demo" model new. It cruised and fished Long Island Sound until 1999, when owner and boat left the coast. Not willing to see it languish in a field unused, in 2001 I picked it up and drove it home....

...Via a fine early January outing in Lake Powell, Utah. So it was something like a 6,000 mile road trip that the craft, on its EZ-Hauler trailer, made. I'm wondering if that mustn't be the longest single road trip any Whaler - or such trailer - ever has made? The boat did fine, other than breaking the second of its two windshields; the trailer sure got beat up by the mid-winter roads of the Yukon and Alaska.

Unfortunately for me, other projects got in the way and for most of the past years it has sat, unused, in my barn.

Well, no more! I am going to be using it on one of our two decent-sized lakes; one three miles to my south and the other six to my north. The SSL design is not, in my opinion, so good for fishing as its cousin the Montauk, but it is terrific for taking small groups of my cabin&tour guests on lake cruises. I have ordered a complete set of cushions from one of this forum sponsors, and am looking for replacement windshields - any help much appreciated.

The motor is the original 90hp Johnson. I worry about how it is mounted to the transom, as I should like to replace it with a 4-stroke and wonder if I face damaging the transom upon attempting to remove it. Again, would much like to hear of any input regarding this.

I can't post pix now first, because the boat is hibernating behind a lot of snow in an inacessible barn, but even more so because I am in the less-er48, not returning home until the end of February. So far, I have learned of only one other SSL owner on this forum - JoninNJ, but would enjoy learning of others.

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ok - "E-Z Loader", not EZ-Hauler"....

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Welcome to WhalerCentral Alaska Ranger....

You shouldn't have any problems replacing a motor on the transom.
Depending on which mounting holes were used, you may need to drill 2 new lower holes. Maybe not.

If the engine still runs good, you might consider keeping it for awhile. But then again, you are out in the wilderness so maybe a new engine would be a good idea... Maybe a kicker too....

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Thank you for the welcome, Joe, and thanks for putting this site together.

Compression on the Johnson is good; it has a new water pump in it...I'm tending to agree with you on keeping it especially as I suspect the market for such a vintage is almost non-existent.

I have a number of Minn-Kotas, including a fairly hefty 24V one, that I definitely plan always to have on board. I have good luck bringing my 14' Aire raft and our guests up to moose and other water wildlife with those kickers; whether or not I can do the same with the Whaler - we'll see - but it certainly will be closer than with the Johnson! But I do long for the queit of a 4-stroke.

Has anyone dB data on the E-tec vs 4-strokes?????

Thanks also for the transom hole ideas -

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Why was I thinking Healy? Denali, maybe that is why. Well, I drive by there all the time so I'll be looking for you. A friend just bought land on Paxson lake so I may have to do some plumbing and heating for him this summer. I plan on hitting Valdez in early May for shrimp and hopefully Kings. Maybe we'll see you then.

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You towed a boat from Long Island to Alaska ? I recommend a Bearing check on that trailer, WOW ! How long did that take ? How much grease did you go through ?
mw

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Or FOR ME! I'm up to my gills in framing and insulating and wiring, so if I can hire you to help me with some copper-sweating, definitely let's stay in touch!

My website is wwwDOTdenalihwyDOTcom - there also is link on my personal information on this forum.

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How long did the trip take? Well, I wasn't pushing it, and I took a circuitous route through the continent - as I wrote, it included a detour to Lake Powell -

I found my trip log - it was just over 5,630 miles. Total road time was about ten days; not including the time I stayed in places for a few days at a time.

My good friend from Fairbanks was visiting his family ranch in eastern Colorado at that time, so we hooked up and goofed around Lake Powell in the third week of January. We were THE ONLY craft on the entire lake around Hall's Landing at that time - can't say anything about other parts of the lake, but the odds are there were no other boats on the water. On the other hand, both of us decided that 45 below zero in central Alaska was warmer than 20 above zero on that lake, with the wind, and the snow, and the waves.....

I'd put in new lights all around the trailer - and bearings and tires! - before leaving the East Coast. Not one single light made it all the way. Bearings seemed to be fine - perhaps the cold weather has an ameliatory effect???

Never thought much about it before now, though. Maybe I should write E-Z Loader and tell them of that journey! It could have gotten better, however. A good friend, originally from coastal Mass, has desperately wanted my Whaler ever since I brought it to Alaska. She, however, lives at one of the fabled Ends Of The Earth - in Barrow, the most northerly point of the North American mainland. Far beyond the last road....except that during the winter months only, there does exist an "ice road" from Prudhoe Bay to Barrow....and if I ever sold it to her, that would have entailed it humping it up and over yet another 700 or so miles, half of which would quite literally been over roadless tundra. Now, that would be worthy of a tale!

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After posting the above, Jenny and i spent two months in Latin America, while I had some Whaler stuff on order.....

....back home now, and waiting to be installed on the BW is a complete set of OEM-style seat cushions, courtesy of Forum-Sponsor Hall's Nautical (they look GREAT in the box. Hope they look as sharp on the vessel);

and a pair of tubular chromed brackets that fit around the SSL's two windshields; these will act as protectors and, I hope dissuade future guests, as they walk through the center pass-through, from grabbing onto the windshield - not sturdy enough.

Also: AK153 - I may have lost your contact info so if you're still on board, look above for my website and give me a shout over the email - thanks.

Ranger

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Hey i know this thread is old but i just recently purchased a 17 SSL and was wondering where you purchased the hand bars for above the windshields on the center consoles. Id love some some suggestions, thanks!

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Hunter -

Try CMI Marine in MA. They supplied rails to Whaler back in the day and do great work.

https://cmimarineproducts.com/