The 'little one' takes a winter nap

[Megabyte]

My neighbor is an older gentleman who is not able to spring launch, and winter retreive his 17 Whaler Montauk like he used to, so I have made it a project of mine for the past several years.

My local marina hauled and power washed her, then set her on her trailer earlier in the week.
I took her home and cleaned out the leaves and other funk, then readied her for her winter nap.

Took her to my neighbors property, and set her ridge pole with a piece of galvinized pipe, a piece of copper pipe, and some polypropylene rope...
(notice that tongue jack cranked up to allow her to drain)

If I get hit by a truck sometime this winter, I want someone to know... :shock:
The plug is OUT!

And then the cover goes on...

Notice the opening to allow ventillation? There is an opening at the bow too.

See the high water line stain?
We had a Nor`Easter several weeks ago and the boat filled up with oak leaves and acorns...
Whalers are not self bailing. If something gets caught in the bilge pump (like an acorn hat), the pump will fail... the battery will die... and the boat will fill with water.

Next spring I will be replacing the burnt-out bilge pump with a new one... I'll move the battery from the stern to the inside of the console... repair the nav lights... re-wire the trailer... remove the rollers from the trailer and convert it to bunks...

Guess I'll be posting some project photos, huh?

 

[Themis]

As it is the start of Advent I especially appreciate your generosity to your neighbor, as well as the quality you put into all of your jobs. Thumbs up Kevin!

 

[Megabyte]

Thanks Sal.

My neighbor is about the same age as my dad, so I know he can't manage this sort of stuff anymore. That is why I try to help out.

Besides... I can't stand to see another classic... a classic Whaler in this case... just waste away. 8)

 

[Porkchunker]

Nice job Kevin.

I have a friend with a 1973, 19' Whaler. I don't believe he realizes it isn't self bailing. Maybe that is why BW filled them with foam.

 

[kingfish]

Megabyte, et al-

Some Whalers are self-bailing, but ALL Whalers are self-draining. There is a drain plug in the bilge at the transom (or motor well) that, if it had been removed, would have allowed the Whaler to drain and pop back up to or near it's natural static line. Some Whaler owners leave the drain plug out when moored for a period of time so as not to rely on the battery if it rains. Rain water that falls in the boat just runs right back out the drain. Better to cover a smaller boat (any smaller boat), for many reasons.

Whaler didn't add foam because they were not self-bailing; the foam is part of the original structural design.

 

[Megabyte]

Kingfish... This boat has a pair of drains on either side of the motor that drain the motorwell.
There is also a transom bilge drain which leads to the sump area, which is where the bilge pump resides.
You can see the port side motorwell drain, and the bilge drain in this photo.

Are you saying that the bilge drain plug can be left out if the boat is wet slipped, and it will drain rainwater :?:

 

[kingfish]

Megabyte-

In a word, "yes".

Think of a hunk of cork (or foam in this case) that has been scooped out like a bowl so it can hold water. Place the bowl in a body of water and it floats at one level. Fill the bowl with water, and it's level lowers, but it doesn't sink. Drill a hole on th bottom of the filled bowl, the water drains out and the bowl raises back to the original level. Keep adding water, and that water just keeps draining out and the level of the bowl in the surrounding water doesn't change.

When I'm feeling frisky with friends who have not been out with me in my Outrage 22, and whom I feel might not have had a lot of experience around water in general and Whalers in particular, I'll get them on board then tell them in some way to "watch this, and I'll show you why you don't have to worry about sinking". And I'll proceed to pull out my two aft drain plugs, one in each of my two aft bilge sumps. Water clearly flows in through the drain holes, but stops and stabilizes with the rear cockpit deck still dry. That's with 2 batteries, a 225 HP Evinrude main and an 8 HP Yamaha kicker back there.

Parker cabin boats (at least 2520 SCMVs like ours) have a self-bailing cockpits, but of course if the scuppers become plugged, then enough rainwater (or sea water) can theoretically overflow the forward cockpit dam and enter the cabin. I am unfamiliar with the Parker CCs personally, but I believe they are fully self-bailing.

 

[Megabyte]

I did not know that... but it does make sense.
I might have to consider doing that next season... Hmmmmm........

 

[kingfish]

Megabyte-

It might be a thought to consider alright - The smaller Whalers like your friend's Montauk don't have as deep or as large a sump area as my Outrage 22, so when the Montauk stabilizes there may be some water on the rear deck, but it should not be anywhere near as much as was evidently in there with the plug in, judging from the higher scum line.

By the way, you're a good guy to help your friend out as you do, and that's a nice system you've rigged up for the winter.

Here is a shot of my Outrage 22 stored outside in the winter with just a cover, then another shot of it covered for the winter (and the rest of the year when it's not in the water) the way it is now. Our Parker is shrink-wrapped in Canada, and I don't have any shots of that to share. Hope I'm not getting into trouble posting photos of non-Parkers.

 

[kingfish]

Well, that didn't work...I'll try again later.

 

[Megabyte]

Hope I'm not getting into trouble posting photos of non-Parkers.

Heck no!
Post em up!

 

[kingfish]

Well, OK then...Here goes try #2: (smaller files this time, and I now see that like PhotoBucket, I need to post from last to first, as I have photos reversed in order. I will get it!)

 

[kingfish]

I'm still confused about posting photos; The photos were reversed in the preview, but came out in the order in which I posted them. And I edited the photos down to just under 256K in PhotoShop, but they came up here at much smaller files than that...guess I'll download the software offered here for my next try, and my apologies for derailing the theme of the thread.

 

[warthog5]

Kev, Get you a piece of pipe insulating foam and Duct Tape it to the end of that conduit where it's touching the motor cowl.

I know someone around there has to have a spare piece laying around.

It's supposed to drop into the Damn 20's here tonight. I hate the cold. can't get stuff done. then again I hate the heat too.

Give me low's of 65deg's and high's of 75 deg's. But I want to be around saltwater too.

 

[Megabyte]

I put an old towel under there after taking the photos.
Had to go home to get one as I'd forgotten to take it with me.

27 degrees here this morning at the waters edge. :shock:
Good thing I dropped my motor down into the water on Sunday.

I noticed way too many boats on land, and in the water with their motors tilted up.
Some of those owners could have a nasty suprise waiting for them come spring.