Boston Whaler Restoration Hull

TRI STATE MARINE SURVEYORS, Inc.

Bullhead City, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, Lake Havasu City, AZ

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Boston Whaler Restoration Hull #10141 built 1964

This 13 footer was in a marina on Lake Mohave in Bullhead City AZ. For years I walked by it tied off to the main dock in front of the larger boat it belonged to. Season after season went by, no one ever even bailed the rain water out (--when-- it rained). One day I did a marine survey on the boat that this 13 belonged to--seems the owner was going to donate the big boat and get out of boating. Anyhow, long story short, for 100.00 I ended up with a basket case.

This boat had fire hose for a rubrail that concealed major damage to the deck cap. There were cracks in the hull everywhere and the gel coat was shot--I mean shot, large cracks going all the way across the deck in the bow and stern and thousands of spider cracks everywhere that were so wide you could stick your business card in them. There were literally hundreds of screw and bolt holes to fill from 37 years of people installing this or that .

I sat on the boat for 3 years in my backyard and then one day just after Christmas in 2001 I started because I needed a work boat and the Continuous Wave site just got me going--I felt I had too--and that site was a major help . I put my kid to work sanding every day after school (yeah, I paid him). I filled every gel coat crack with West System Epoxy and 401 Microfibers. I repaired the sheer at the deck joint with the same thing and chopped mat. I raised the transom 4 inches (not 5) using 1/4 plywood (AC) laminated. This was then laminated to the existing after grinding out to fair in the new laminate all done with various layers of FRP chopped mat and finishing mat with West System. Finishing the transom required taking the arc out of it for a flat surface to mount the new 40 Mercury ELPTO. This was done with a 3/16 aluminum plate and a thick mix of WS epoxy and 401 as a filler to fill the gap on each side of the plate (which worked perfectly). Inside the finished transom a template was made so a 1/8 plate could be put on that side and through bolted to the outside transom plate--the inside plate was also bedded with 3M 5200.

Since this boat is for my business out here in the desert I decided to go with oak inside. I used solid 3/4 thick oak, sanded and applied straight WS epoxy and used a Bondo paddle to smooth the excess. After, the wood was primed and painted with Interlux Interthane (thier version of enamel--gloss white for better sun resistance). The interior was finished with Interlux Interthane Plus (epoxy) blue and the hull with Interthane gloss white (easy repair). The console came with the boat but was bolted to the deck. After repairing the deck I made the console to fit on the thwart seat. The console is sort of like Starboard--all molded plastic. The boat has a Garmin Fishfinder Blue 160 and Garmin GPSMAP 162 (with surprisingly detailed maps of Lake Mead, Mohave and Havasu that I primarily work on [uploaded via laptop] ).

Transom "Before"	Laying up new core	Primed	Finished
Closer	Inside	Interior	Console

So What did it cost?

The information and tips from Continuous Wave is priceless.

Refinish & repair supplies from West Marine: 700.00, Engine is a brand new in-the-box (I know because I uncrated it) 1996 4 cylinder 2-stroke Mercury ELPTO I got in December 2001; 2500.00 (Maverick Marine Lake Havasu City). Rubrail 95.00 from Boston Whaler dealer in Las Vegas. Electronics 725.00. Interior wood supplies 200.00. Cables, tank, steering misc, 400.00.

How fast is it?

Testing on the Colorado River at Laughlin showed it 43MPH (GPS) downstream when it starts chine-walking...whoa Nelly.

Comment:

Why did I just simply use a Jack Plate instead of raising the transom (which IS a lot of work)? The 40ELPTO weighs in at 207. In my opinion a jack plate imposes more torque stress to the transom and even moves the weight back more resulting in lower static freeboard--maybe not by much but every little bit helps. Also, raising the transom raised the aft freeboard. I did put a bilge pump in the transom well section even still. I do like the look of the full transom and do believe it is easier on the transom structurally.

Bill Dials

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