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Gentlemen,

I have owned a beautiful 1987 Montauk since 1988. It is kept inside is perfect in every regard and performs flawlessly with it's Yamaha 90 w/ 475 hours total on boat and motor.

Here's my problem.....I'm ready for a little more boat as my fishing trips in the Gulf grassflats are becoming more and more common. The Montauk is great on calmer days but when it's a little "bumpy" I think the V-hull of the Outrage would be more to my liking.

Any advice from you Whalers would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Jaybyrd

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Makes perfect sense. Watch out for fuel tank problems when looking at a new candidate. You can eat up $2500+ real quick.

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Walter.....Great suggestion on the fuel tank. If it's NOT leaking right now, how do I check to make sure it's OK?

Jaybyrd

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Try lifting one of the deck hatches. If it has a strong gas smell, might be a leak. I went from a Montauk to an Outrage, what a world of difference. More room, better ride. Problem is, you know your boat. It took me a long time to find the right boat and it still needed alot of work. Don't rush into anything, take your time. The worst thing is when you buy another boat and wish you never sold your old one.

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Hang on to the Montauk for awhile if you can afford to have 2 boats temporarily.

I was fortunate enough to own 3 Whalers at one time.
I owned my prior Montauk for 15 years and decided it was time to move up for the same reasons. Better ride and more room.

I kept the Montauk and bought a 1997 Outrage 17' II. Great boat but I missed the teak wood and classic look. I then was fortunate to find a real nice 1985 Outrage 18' from the original owner.
Here is a photo of all 3 boats we enjoyed owning at the same time.
http://users.sisqtel.net/jkriz/Outrag...fleet.html

After spending some trying trying out the 2 new boats, my wife and I found that the boat we preferred was the Outrage 18'.
So, we sold the Outrage 17' but kept the Montauk for another year.
We thought we might still use the Montauk on different bodies of water but it turned out the Outrage 18' would go everywhere we used to take the Montauk.
So, we finally sold the Montauk but hated to see it go after all those years.

Since then we bought an Outrage 20' and an Outrage 22' Cuddy just to try them out but ending up selling them because they were just too big for our needs.

We are now down to the 1985 Outrage 18' and that will be our boat unless we possibly move to the coast or some other very, very, large body of water.

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About all you can do is use some common sense, checking for the obvious things like Kevin suggests. You can even have the tank pressure tested. The problem is that even if it passes, a month down the road, a weak spot could let go. Best bet is to get a boat that has had the tank replaced. Next best bet would be a boat that has been kept under cover. Otherwise, I think you have to live with the fact that someday you are going to have to replace that 20 +- year old tank. Ideally, the price of boats with original tanks should take this into account, doesn't seem to be the case however. For example, if an otherwise darn good boat is priced at $10,000, a price reduction of at least $1,000 seems to be more than fair. That way, you can feel a little better about replacing the tank, if it ever fails, and hey, you may never have to replace it, win win.

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I have to agree with the above. If you can swing the two boats, go for it. This way if you don't like the new boat, your old trusty boat is waiting in the wings. I love my Outrage and as soon as I complete all the repairs on it, I will start looking for a 13'. I will be retired in 5 1/2 yrs and the 13' would be a nice project for my son and I. After 13' is done, I will gladly hand it down to him.

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I made the switch from Montauk to Outrage and couldn't be happier. Having the additional two feet and the weight of 60 gallons of gas in the hull make it feel like its twice the size of my Montauk. Its still small enough, however, to tow comfortably behind my 6 cylinder Ford Explorer and fits nicely in my garage. Down here on the coast of Georgia, there are guys who routinely take an 18' outrage 20 miles offshore to fish the nearest reef. I stick to the rivers mostly but to get anywhere you have to cross the sound and it can get pretty rough. I always feel safe in my outrage where a few times I second guessed myself in my Montauk.

Mason
1985 Outrage 140 Evinrude
1979 Montauk 90 Johnson (sold)

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This to Mason.......One of my "holdbacks" is the fact that the Outrage will not clear the header on my garage. Have you got a secret code? I have kept my Montauk in the (locked) garage since new and it still looks new. I'm not quite ready to take my next one (Outrage) and subject it to the elements.

Thanks for the reply.

Jaybyrd

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I recently built a new garage and I made sure that I would have clearance. I have 8' doors and 10' interior ceilings in the garage. The grab rail over the center console clears the door header by about 3 inches. I could probably get more clearance cause I need to adjust the bunks on my trailer. The bow of the boat rests on the keel but the rear is off the roller by about 3 inches. When I lower the bunks I'll gain a smidge more headroom.

Mason