CONTINUOUSWAVE

I'm evaluating a 1988 MONTAUK 17 boat for purchase (shown below). The seller states he has several Boston Whaler boats, and this particular one was prepared for his daughters. Unfortunately they fear the low sides and don't like the boat. The boat seems to be in great shape: original gelcoat, sparkling, sundeck, new cushions. I'm going to check it soon and , hopefully, take her home.








MANY QUESTIONS

Q1: Have you ever seen such peculiar locations for the fuel tanks

Q2: will the fuel tanks cause stability problems due excess of weight on the sides?

Also, there is a third plastic fuel tank aft, but not visible.

The owner claims the console and the reversible pilot seat (available but not installed) to be US built, much superior in quality compared with the ones installed on the Boston Whaler boats sold in Italy and sourced by the local dealer. Also the steering wheel is six spokes--not five spokes.

Q3: can those claims be confirmed by readers?

It seems the owner installed the Outrage seat. He also has the original Z- legs.

Q4: what advantage or disadvantage is there to seat as shown?

The different seats feels a bit out of scale if compared with the boat.

Q5: how difficult will reinstallation of the original seat be?

Q6: should the original seat be moved aft 2-inches in order not to have the mounting bolts not use the previous holes in the deck?

--Gargantuga

Moderator's note:

Please do not use the portable network graphics (PNG) file format for photographs. The file size that results is very much larger than the pixel dimensions of the image would warrant. You have posted very small images that have disproportionately very large file sizes. Use the jpeg/jpg file format for images.

I have converted all images to be in JPG format, which has reduced the file size by a factor of ten or greater.

Seeing details in your very small images is difficult. Please refer to the information about maximum allowed pixel dimensions and maximum file size in the INTRODUCTION TO THE FORUM SOFTWARE forum for more information about how to upload images files for hosting and how to incorporate the images as inline elements in your post. See

Adding Image to Post
https://continuouswave.com/forum/viewto ... f=1&t=2569

The 40-HP engine will produce very economical operation, but top boat speed will be limited. Note that the minimum engine power as rated by Boston Whaler that will allow a very lightly loaded MONTAUK 17 to reach planing speed is 35-HP. With the added weight of the three fuel tanks and the stern seat, you MUST conduct a sea trial to see if this boat can reach plane with the current 40-HP engine and two adults aboard and with the Flying Top in place.

The triple fuel tank arrangement is very unusual. Assuming the three fuel tanks provide substantial volume capacity for fuel, and assuming the very modest rate of fuel burn resulting from the 40-HP engine, the fuel endurance of this combination will very likely far exceed the endurance of the humans aboard the 17-foot hull.

This raises the question:why carry so much fuel?

Those look like well-crafted modifications, but I'm not surprised the owner's daughters didn't like the boat. A Montauk has limited freeboard (hence the popularity of railings) and deck space, and these changes reduced both. Rather than adding auxiliary fuel tanks, a more sensible upgrade would have been to install a fuel-efficient Yamaha F-70 outboard motor, as the boat is woefully underpowered currently. Unless you find this peculiar configuration right for you, I would pass on this boat.

M

The engine is actually a 70hp. In Italy there is a "no license" regime for engines under 40hp. So all manufacturers de-power their 60hp outboards to 40hp. In this case the actual engine power is 70hp.
The only concern being its age. In fact it is a 2010 4 strokes F70, so the first units of new design (the same yamaha uses nowadays).

QUESTION: can you evaluate the engine? It seems in acceptable conditions. However, 16 years on an outboard are a huge time span and time is never gentle on plastics.

Thanks.

Gargantuga

I believe hours, rather than age are far more important in judging the future reliability of an outboard engine. Boat covers are important to protect our boats from long term UV light exposure. If your boat is kept on a mooring or in a wet slip consider a console cover and an engine cover. A full cover can be used with a little ingenuity. If your boat is stored on the shore a full cover will save a lot of maintenance effort. A site search may provide more information.