CONTINUOUSWAVE

I just obtained an all-original 1981 MONTAUK [from] a family member. [The boat] hasn't ran in six years[.] I'm good mechanically and should have it running and cleaned up within a couple weeks. I will be running around Barnegat Bay, New Jersey.

[The boat] has a 1981 Mercury 90. [What is the] fuel burn in GPH?

[How can wood] be restored?

[What size cooler] fits ahead of the console?

[What modification have owners made]?

Thanks in advance--rick

I believe it is a 72-quart cooler.

For restoring wood there are many options and opinions. Search on Youtube where a company by the name of Jamestown Distributors (marine equipment suppliers) has great instructional videos.

What is recommended for teak in salt air as a sealer or varnish?

Thank your for your response. I may have a 72-quart IGLOO marine cooler.

The GPH Fuel burn is going to greatly be effected by the speed at which you operate the boat at. That said, the classic 17 Montauk can easily achieve a 4-5.5MPG cruise even with an old thirsty [carburetor] 2-Stoke.

For the teak, it is all personal preference on the look you want. Some like the weathered grey look. If that is what you want, don't do anything. If you have the rich wood tone, with the grain showing through, oil it. Use Watco or Belhen furniture grade teak oil and do 8 to 14 coatings after you have sanded it. If you want the super glossy wood under glass look, then you want to use a quality Spar urethane. And that will take 10 to 14 coats.

Carburetor two-stroke-power-cycle engine fuel consumption is approximately the horsepower divided by ten for GPH. A 90-HP will consume 9-GPH.

The standard cooler for a MONTAUK is the IGLOO 72-quart.

Wood restoration cannot be covered properly in this thread. Please start a new thread in REPAIRS and MODIFICATIONS to discuss wood restoration, or read the many many prior articles on that topic. You can begin with

Wood Care and the Boston Whaler Boat
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... rWood.html

Owners of classic Boston Whaler boats have made all kinds of modifications to them, but generally it takes some good design, good aesthetic sense, and good craftsmanship to improve on the original. I suggest you browse through the collection of images of classic Boston Whaler boats in the CETACEA collection. You will find hundreds of example of owner modifications. See

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/

This will be a more effective way for you to learn about modification to classic Boston Whaler boats than to solicit replies in this discussion. Modifications to Boston Whaler boats are discussed in their own forum, REPAIRS and MODIFICATIONS. To discuss every modification ever made would be an enormous undertaking. Considering this thread has three other topics, please move your quest to catalogue all modifications to a new thread. To properly do this will be quite a task. I am not sure what the ultimate value of such a catalogue would be.

For most people, original condition is quite satisfactory, and for many, the more original the better. If given the choice of buying two boats, one in factory original condition and one extensively modified, I would tend to go with the original boat, unless the modified boat was designed by Leonardo--or Bob Dougherty--and the work accomplished by craftsmen of exquisite skill. But, that said, among Boston Whaler boat owners there are many, many examples of extremely good design and craftsmanship second to none.

The most common modification to a MONTAUK that has the classic Reversible Pilot Seat by owners who are taller than 6-feet is to raise the height of the seat.

Perhaps I should mention that this FORUM, unlike most on-line forums which represent the entirety of a website, is only a portion of this website's resources. There is an extensive REFERENCE section that contains many very well-researched, well-written, well-illustrated articles on Boston Whaler boats and modifications to them. There are the ARCHIVES of the OLD FORUM, which contains several hundred thousands articles. These can be easily searched. They contain an enormous amount of information, particularly with regard to repairs and modifications. These additional resources should be used in your search for information about Boston Whaler boats. The website has been on-line for over 20 years and practically every article, picture, forum post, and comment is archived, available, and easily found by searching. I already mentioned the CETACEA collection of images, all with carefully written captions and accompanying text explaining what is being shown. And if you just want to browse images of Boston Whaler boats without captions or explanations, you can always just use a GOOGLE IMAGE search on the argument "Boston Whaler" or other terms.