Montague Whaler Conversion

Clip · Post by **Clip** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:17 pm

Goodday, new here and below I describe my next project.

Last year I had managed to pickup a Montague Whaler, a surplas Canadian Navy 27ft (6ft beam) GRP Whaler. It had sat in a farmers field for the past 10 years. The fiberglass hull appears to be good, but the inside required the entire summer to remove 40 years of navy paint, and 10 years of moss,slime and dirt. All the masts and seats were rotten.

See photo link at
http://www.members.shaw.ca/klipit/Whaler/

The intent is to lower the six foot long, drop down centerboard and create a swing type with the hinge below the keel. This will substantially create room within the interior, and increase the depth effectiveness of the board, as well as make a safer grounding. Investigation of this type of boat indicated it needed at least an additional 1000lbs ballast, so the plan is to add two bilge keels 18" out at an angle, and 6 ft long, each would be roughly 450lbs.

I hope to add a deck, and small cabin. The hull has a motor well near the stern, and was originally setup similiar to a yawl rig. At present, being winter here, I'm planning and have started with a scaled model of the hull to try and get a final vision of what I want to do, and how to do it best. I will no doubt be asking for lots of advice.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:39 am

Sounds like you got quite a project there.

I gotta ask though. Wouldn't it be easier to start with a boat that already has some of the stuff you want i.e. decked, twin keeler, cabin, etc? Or is there something with that particular hull shape you are after?

Nice looking boat. I would like to have something like that for beach/camp cruising.

-Britton

Post by **Tim** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:18 am

bcooke wrote: I gotta ask though. Wouldn't it be easier to start with a boat that already has some of the stuff you want i.e. decked, twin keeler, cabin, etc?
-Britton

Oh, where's the fun in that? hehe

Clip · Post by **Clip** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:23 am

I had originally started off building R/C ships, and found it typically took 5 years to make a good model. I figured I could build a boat faster. My first boat project took three years, see here at:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/Klipit/My_Boat/index.htm
Found out I loved the work (I was a terrible wood worker, and could only improve). I then wanted to build a 20 - 24 ft double ender, a friend pointed out three double enders sitting in a farmers field, thousands of miles from either coast. I couldn't build a hull for 10 times what this hull cost me.

tikvah59 · Post by **tikvah59** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:18 pm

Clip wrote: My first boat project took three years

Nice job, Clip. I dream of building something similar one day.

I got a chuckle of the boat under construction sitting on the playpen. A thought popped into my head along the lines of, "There's a man whose priorities I admire!"

Mark

TIKVAH, Triton #59 yawl
www.tritonyawl.com