Setting up a Boston Whaler Montauk for diving

[Uncle Pug]

I'm sure I will be making changes as we dive off of this more but here is what I've done so far.

The base boat is a 170 Montauk (17') with a 90hp four stroke Merc. I've added Dri-Dek flooring, GPS, Multibeam Sonar, VHF antenna (for a flag pole - no radio yet), anchoring system, SS folding ladder, ball type fenders, four 8" SS cleats (can you believe Whalers don't come with mooring cleats!?!), as well as other safety gear (extinguisher, flare kit, ect.)

I also removed the icebox/seat in front of the console and made a tank rack. The rack is made of HDPE and is in two pieces. One piece is bolted to the console and has holes in it drilled at an angle to receive the SS bolts of the second piece. The second piece is made to hold three tanks but I will be making another to hold a set of doubles. Another set of doubles will fit right in front of those. The SS 1/2" bolts were threaded into the second piece and then I cut their heads off. This way the second piece can be easily removed to replace it with a different configuration or to replace the icebox/ seat and padded back.

The SS folding boarding ladder is from Westmarine but was kind of flimsy... the legs wanted to bend sideways under the enormous weight of NWGreatfulDiver so I put a piece of HDPE between them and solved that problem. Another problem with ladders of this type is that they want to come unhooked from the gunnel catch if pushed forward... as NWGD is wont to do. So to solve this I made some retainers out of 3/4" PVC pipe. Because I couldn't get the caps off of the ends of the ladder hooks to install them I had to cut a kirf on the back side, spread them apart and then slide them over. The prongs of the retainers fit down into the gunnel clips and keep the ladder from coming unhooked. I still keep a leash on it when deployed... I don't want to come back from a dive and find it gone.

I have a danforth for anchoring in mud and it lives on the bow held by a SS bracket on the rail and with a piece of flexible plastic electrical conduit (formed to shape with a heat gun) on the shank to protect the deck. A folding grapple anchor is in the bow locker ready to deploy. I have 250' of nylon 3-strand rode and 6' of chain in the 3 gallon bucket. A piece of PVC pipe slipped over the shank of the grapple protects the fiberglass.

My son is going to weld up an aluminum fuel tank to go under the seat to replace the two plastic 6.6 gallon tanks. It will still be a portable tank with vented cap to comply with USCG above deck tank regs but should give us more range at a planned ~20 gallons capacity.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Donning tanks at the bow can be done but I find it easier using the seat, and that will be especially true when we dive our double 104s. The seat cushion unsnaps in the back and folds forward and my wife made a cover for the seat back to protect it from our gear.

Donning this way last weekend was a snap. We exit the boat by stepping off the gunnel between the aft and forward rails. You can't really call it a giant stride since we are so close to the water.

 

[Jambi]

Looking good. Keep us updated as the trial runs get done. BTW the
Pic at the doc is Awesome, Thats one worth going to the Picture Gallery.



Jambi

 

[Mo2vation]

BW with a 95, huh? Sounds a little quicker to the dive sites than Greenie. Where's the compressor going?

K

 

[Uncle Pug]

Thanks Jambi... but I don't know how to put pictures in the gallery.

Ken... it is a touch faster than Uncle Pug. Each time out I'm going to be running at a different RPM and logging the fuel consumption/time/speed to the same dive sites. Running at 4600 RPM we took 8 minutes to a dive site that Uncle Pug takes a half hour to get to.

 

[Snowbear]

Due to the destructive tendencies of my coworkers, we need to make sure stuff is firefighter-proof. In your case, the Whaler needs to made NWGratefulDiver-proof
BTW - does it have a name yet?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Still no name yet though I did get some great suggestions. I really liked PB4UGO but just know that won't pass inspection.

BTW... I still haven't gotten NWGD to rise to the bait on that bit about having to reinforce the ladder.

 

[lhpdiver]

Nice boat. So that's what a nice clean whaler looks like ! I have a 1990 25' Outrage. Had it about 6 years (new twin 225's in 2001). When we were fishing I used to think it sat too close to the water - but for diving it sure makes it easier to get back in.

Our dive ladder just hooks over the gunwale. I tie it off every dive and its a good thing because its been in the water after some dives. The thing I miss most is a windlass. When its choppy it can sometimes be a challenge to get the anchor back in the boat.

We call our boat Willie. Good luck with yours !

Oh and by the way, the Boston Whaler people are really nice. On more than one occasion they've sent us stuff we've needed (little stuff) and I think its always been free.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I had a 25' Carver Ranger sans windlass... and yes... with bigger ground tackle it can be a chore. I used 25' of 3/8" chain on the end of the rode and it made a man of me.

Have you tried using an anchor ring and float like Westmarine sells? I haven't needed one so haven't tried it but did hear that they work. It would be easy enough to make the ring out of some SS rod and use one of your fenders.

We have an electric windlass on our other boat (60' of 5/16" chain +33# bruce) and Uncle Pug has a hydraulic windlass (bunch~0~chain + 25# CQR) and they do make unhooking nice.... especially in a deep anchorage.

 

[lhpdiver]

Yes we have one of those anchor rings. It tried using it once and I was afraid it would rip the railing off the front of the boat. It's been awhile since I read up on it but I believe that ball is supposed to follow the anchor line down to the anchor. Well in a shallow lake I can see that but in 100+ feet of ocean ? I've been using it as a float at the end of my trailing line...