Boston Whaler 13 Resto-Mod

[Tom Barb]

A couple years ago I acquired this 1969 Boston whaler in a trade. I always liked them and thought it would be a good platform for an all around boat, if that is such a thing. When I was a kid, my father would take us fishing in my grandfathers 13 in the South Jersey backwaters. So it just seemed fitting I do the same.

I used it a few times before any of the work started with my tiller Suzuki 15. This made me realize I wanted a console in this boat. So a lot of planning, mock ups, and thinking, here is what I came up with.

Here?s a couple before pics.

The day I brought it home.





A couple small marine surveyors checking out the new ride. They approved.




Rigged for an afternoon black duck hunt.




The fruit of my labor.






More to follow

 

[Tom Barb]

I started by identifying and soft spots. Delamination from the foam core. I drilled a grid pattern, filled with gorilla glue, and epoxied the holes.









And any bad chips, imperfections, etc got some fairing compound. But I did not go crazy. This will be a duck boat after all.





Threw it back in a new to me, larger trailer.

 

[greg setter]

Can't go wrong with a 13 Whaler Tom. You can do everything you want in the bay or in the back, or even on the Delaware R. Totally worth it.

 

[Tom Barb]

Thanks Greg. The boat is done. I?ll post more pics when I get some time.

 

[Eric Patterson]

Tom

Does the foam in a Whaler ever get waterlogged? Never heard of it being an issue but it occurred to me since the boat has a lot of foam in the hull. Keep up the good work.

Eric

 

[Carl]

We had a similar whaler hull at work that became waterlogged
Hull must have weighed twice than specified dry weight.
So yeah. It happens

 

[RLLigman]

Greg, one word response to your question is, yes the foam doe waterlog as well as impacting the deck layer's ability to support weight. Most restorations of waterlogged hulls involve deck removal to access the wet and rotted foam to be removed and replaced. Some folks argue that a waterlogged hull is just heavier, opting to ignore the impact(s) of that additional weight on handling characteristics as well as load weights. Add-in the impacts of repeated freeze-thaw cycles at high latitudes damaging the laminate over time.

 

[Capt Rich Geminski]

Tom, you can't beat a 13' boston whaler. I've had 3-4. Duck boat, crabbing and fishing. I decked over the foward deck with 1/2" marine plywood for a casting platform. I put a large homemade hatch in the deck for preservers, anchor etc. Works great crabbing and fly casting.

 

[Tom Barb]

Eric, yes as others stated it can be a problem. With these smaller hulls you can do a feel test and try snd lift it. I?m sure being a 69, it had a little water intrusion around the drain holes. But for the most part, upon any of my inspections in the holes I drilled and filled it was pretty dry. I don?t have an exact weight compared to what a completely dry hull would be, but I was able to flip the boat on my own so I don?t believe water intrusion to be a major factor in my hull specifically.

Another way is to see how it sits in the water. Mine sat nice and high.

 

[roy brewington]

They,re surely neat little skiffs . Buddy of mine has had one for at least 30 years, garage kept so nice shape. Can remember when he first got it me trout fishing off bow watching waves come and think boat would swamp as they were higher than bow. At last second bow would lift and simply ride over. Just don,t put anyone up front riding fast in really rough seas as hull will beat the snot out them. Restored they get a little pricey around here.

 

[Carl]

Sounds like you got a good one.
If you can pick it up and flip it by itself, it cant have much if any water in the foam!

 

[Tom Barb]

Next up was the interior. I sanded all the old non skid and did a sample of a product called Soft Sand Rubber Particles. The product states it is compatible with most marine paints but oil based wasn?t listed. Planning to use Lou Tisch?s FME, I did a sample section.





Fairing continued after removal of the old rub rail, and hitting any gel coat chips, old holes, etc.





In the meantime, I picked up an absolutely mint 2009 Yamaha 25 2 stroke to hang off the back.

 

[Tom Barb]

Because I wanted to run a jack plate, and I bought a long shaft motor, I had to fill in the transom notch. The classics pre 1972 I believe, had 15? transoms. I decided to make my own rather than buy one from the few companies offering them. They?re pricey and as waterfowlers, we like to diy. I had some sapele leftover from a job that I planned to make all my parts for this build from.

Laminating 3 1? pieces together to build up enough to follow the pesky curve of the transom.





Sitting in place, I traced the curve onto the piece fore, and aft.








Mock up of vertical supports




After epoxying together, Some creative ?carving? with multiple sanders and grits to get a desired shape.




Final piece resting in place.








Like everything else on this boat, it is not ?perfect? but after bedding in thickened epoxy, lagging vertically into the top of the transom, and bolting through the jackplate and transom, it is solid as a rock. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the bedding process.

 

[Tom Barb]

Once the transom riser was installed, the fairing was done, and lots and lots of sanding, I could finish painting the rest of the interior. The interior got a total of 3 coats. First prime coat, then I painted where the soft sand would go, then sprinkle on liberally, once dry, sweep excess off for re use, a good vacuum, and 2 more coats on top. Note for anyone looking to do this. Buy more than you think you need. I was scrounging toward the end trying to stretch it. I should have had another bottle on hand. The finished product is fine, but I would have liked a little more coverage.













Once interior was painted, it was time to flip and paint the bottom.





The bottom got around 4 coats. Will explain the extra coat in then next post

 

[Joe Daly]

I have used a 13' Whaler as a duck boat for a few years. I went to it when my grandsons wanted to hunt. I didn't want to put kids in a sneakbox. From a standpoint of safety they cannot be beat. I added an Avery Quickset Blind. Grassed it hides the boat well.

Joe

 

[Tom Barb]

Once the bottom was painted I was ready to load back onto the trailer. The trailer received new bunks and carpet and bunk brackets while the boat was upside down. In my typical impatient fashion, I decided to try and load it with just myself and a good friend. Thinking I could put the front onto the bunks and winch up onto the trailer with my friend at the stern helping guide it and lifting the back?.

Bad move. Don?t ask me how I didn?t realize but the bunks dug right into hull causing 2 holes and ruining the new bunks in the process. Bonehead move. Back onto the horses.









Once flipped again, I sanded out the holes, filled the void in foam with fairing compound, and each hole got 3 layers of 1708 and epoxy. Faired them all out and repainted the entire hull.









After the boat was flipped again, I installed the transom riser, painted that, and installed the new On The Fly jackplate.

 

[Tom Barb]

Awesome Joe, I bought a beaver tail blind for this one but have not installed. I will post when I do.

 

[Joe Daly]

http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=338350;do=post_view_flat




this is the link to my Whaler project

 

[Tom Barb]

Time to hang the new motor.





Interior started. Everything was 1? thick sapele. All I had was 4? wide cutoffs so a lot of glue ups and a new dewalt thickness planer was my friend.








I used Total Boat Halcyon marine varnish for this project. Highly recommend it. Water based so working inside with the doors closed and heat on was fine. Very happy with the finished product.

Interior starting to go in.









Installing the new rub rail. This was by far the hardest thing I had to do. Boston Whaler reccomends 3 people when installing. I did it alone with lots of clamps. It was pricey but in my opinion well worth it. Quality is great and I think it makes the boat.

 

[Tom Barb]

Next up was electric. I ran 2 strips of red LEDs under the main bench. They got mounted in grooves I dadoed into the bench when I made it. I also mounted 2 courtesy lights on the console for those early morning pre flight rides.





The wires for the bow navigation light got run inside the rub rail, so once that was on I could install the rub rail insert. I had to mount the light on a custom block, so that when the anchor is deployed, the rope will not rip off the plastic light housing.









Because of the curve of the transom, I had to make a wedge to mount the transducer correctly. It?s a SI/DI so I wanted it to be correct. I made this from a scrap of ipe i had laying around. Bedded in RTV silicone and screwed.








1/2 of my quality control team conducting some testing.