Whaly Boat USA 455 and Yamaha 50 - Review 

I,m a professional now retired, --- USE THE KILL CORD --- Put a loop in the end and slip it on your wrist. If you get knocked out of the boat the rotation of the crank and engine will put it hard over, and it will come around and get you.

Doug, I love your project and your attitude to life. Please, Please wear the kill switch cord when driving, especially if you are alone. If you fall out you can guarantee the Whaly will come right round and back at you. I have seen the injuries and I know of some deaths, here in OZ. Stay safe mate, so we can continue to enjoy and follow your journey.

As so many youtubers you forgot the first instruction in your outboard manual. Use the red kill switch cord, it is a life saver.

Make a spreader bar for the front and back. Will eliminate height issue and forces from pulling inward. The tight angle increases the load tremendously. It really needs bow thrusters 👀

I'm sure someone else has probably mentioned this, it looks like the Whaly is light in the bow when on a plane with just one person on board. With passengers or cargo it's probably not too much of an issue, but you might want to look into getting a set of hydrofoil fins to go on the outboard. Keeping the bow down will help immensely with rough weather handling, it's less likely to get picked up by the wind, plus it gives you a last line of defense against lines in the water, they've saved my rear more than once with crab pots in the Chesapeake.

Plastic cold flows so you will always have trouble with those lift holes and you've got the weight of that 40 hp outboard. Use two straps under the dingy with a longitudinal spreader. Lift with the strap and use the holes to tie the dingy off against bow and stern movement.

Hey Dough, I had the same problem needing a counterweight in front of my boat. I found the Hydrofoil 400 SE solving my problem on my 60hp Yamaha. Front down and very early starting to plane! 100 € invested at german amaz….👍 Works great!

Congrats SV Seeker on getting the Whaly ropes strighten out. Whaly Boat looks Great behind ur Boat.

For rigging, the forces on an attachment point for a rigging wire being off vertical is not a linear increase, it is closer to parabolic. The forces on a point with the wire at vertical are incredibly high with a sling that is off angle more than 45 degrees. In rigging the general rule is no more than 30 degrees, especially with something that will see continuous loading like your tender. The solution to this is to use a spreader bar to spread the rope/wires out with a shallow angle and let that take a compression load instead of your attachment points being under tension.

Doug, The shackle will help, but I highly recommend re-enforcing the entire shackle area with a custom Stainless shackle support. You can actually screw into the HDPE or Rivnut into the HDPE of the boat. This will apply stress to multiple areas and reduce spot loading. Besides, it would make for a great video! Also a custom stainless spreader bar on the front and back shackle points would reduce the load as well.

Looks like a lot of fun!

303 aerospace Uv protectant is what we coat our outdoor plastic furniture and kayaks.

You can use 303 marine protectant on your 455 insert aluminum sleeves to protect the Lifting points on your 455 . I love that boat.

There are horizontal hydra foil wings you can attach to the cavitation plate of the lower unit. They make an amazing difference to performance generally but in particular to planing at low speed and getting the bow down without having to have a gorilla up there. The foils lift the back end of the boat. Makes trim and tilt extremely effective as well at all speeds. I hope you read this. Absolute "must have" will increase your performance 1,000 percent.

Hi SV SEEKER, I'm watching all your videos. In reference to your red tender, to avoid damaging the bow, crawling on the water's edge, you can apply an aluminum foil, and use rivets together with sikaflex to fix it. I'm not even telling you that the aluminum foil could be customized. Too easy! Very nice. Soon. Antonio

Check the height of the motor on the transom. Typically you want the anti-ventilation plate even with or slightly higher than the center rib of the boat. If the motor is too low it will can create excess bow lift. Also, if you can raise it 1 or 2 homes higher on the transom that will give your tiller more clearance.

Hey doug, that thing you guys found on the beach is a high voltage insulator, to support conductor on a pole. The bottom screws onto a steel pin and the groove is where the wire sits. Then it gets tied to the insulator with soft drawn alum or copper

I'm having almost as much fun as you watching you have fun. by the way my experience with kayaks made of the same material as your Whaley boat, a heat gun will repair scratches and cuts. For more serious damages it can be plastic welded.

Some of that nylon strap and a couple of spreader bars to use as cradles would relieve any stress from those hard points that WILL break eventually in hard seas. With spread cradles you can drive right into them from port or starboard and the dinghy can be pulled up and stored face against the stern if needed.

We boys love the toys! Doug your smile was worth whatever it cost you !

Having a foil on the motor helps a lot on that setup. At least a big difference on my 500r with 60hp. Love the Whaly!

Get a SE Sport 300 hydrofoil for the outboard. It will allow you to trim the motor to help hold the bow down. It will improve the ride a lot.

That was a plastic high voltage insulator that would screw onto a cross arm insulator pin, on a power pole. That one was in bad shape, they're usually all smooth and light gray. The high voltage conductor would lay in the grove on the top and get tied down with aluminum wire.

I grew up in a small town in Fl on the Gulf coast. When I turned 16 (and might've done it 1 or 2 times b4, don't tell anyone ;-). I'd take my little 14' flat bottom aluminum boat with an old 18hp Evinrude out, put it in the fresh water and in 15 minutes be out in the Gulf fishing... This was back in the late 70's & early 80's b4 the manatees became a thing and all the rivers had idle speed limits. We used to call the manatees speed bumps!! Never had trash like that down there, but I bet thats changed too. I miss the good old days... Safe travels sir!!!

Man, I love that little boat. It was great to see you out on the water again. Notice you didn't get sea sick on the river.

Loved you smile while motoring along. A true sign of happiness. That’s a pretty cool rig. While you were talking about the planer boards it took me back in time to when I would use them for diving for lobster down the the FL Keys. It’s hands down the fastest why to the bottom. All the Best Tim

Like a kid at Christmas :) Well done!

The zerks are to grease the cable steer system that it can be mounted with

Doug was having so much fun with the Whaly - I think Seeker was jealous :-)

Want one of these so bad! ❤️

You should look down by the prop for the Trim tab. Most outboards have them, this can be adjusted so that when the boat is riding in the water it will keep the motor straight if it tends to fall to the same side all the time. Also a Hydrofoil will help with the bouncing. The Hydro foil will give the electric trim more purchase when you are adjusting it. They also say it helps with a lot more, I cannot verify that but I use one and it is a big help when trimming the motor for keeping the boat flat on the water at speed.

No oil, Doh!

Dave playing with his newest toy. I love it!

You were wondering about the top end and bow rising……looks like the motor is too deep in the water……motor cavitation plate should be 1” above the keel (or bottom of boat)……if motor is to deep it will create bow rise due to cantilever pressure of the thrust…..raising the motor will reduce the cantilever amount

Cool little boat. I’m thinking ultimately your probably going to rig a under hull strap sling for extended davit stays and in transit. Unfortunately I don’t see the roto plastic holding up at the 4 solo hoist points just due to point loading on the small area the bridle puts most of its load. The opening bow door is brilliant.

shackles and a spreader bar so you lift straight up on the connection points of the Whaly. Also a shackle to connect directly to the spreader bar from the lifting davit. shortest possible connections that way.

That should be a great fishing setup! I assume they had it in mind when designing that boat! Especially with that motor! I hope someone takes advantage of that boat and does some fishing on it!

Hi Doug, Not sure if anyone notice thus but I noticed you adjusted the trim of the motor so it was all the way down. This will help with getting it onto the plane but then it needs to be adjusted back up once you're there, this will then help push the bow down, which will reduce the "slapping" Regards

on your shakle for the tender lifting eyes.... make sure you add a bushing for the crossbolt to avoid material fatique & chafe !!

*Swing arm boat cradle* Good idea! 👍

Yes I'd also like to add my many thank you's to people who have taken the time and made the effort to upload knowledge clips, or how to clips. I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I've saved by fixing stuff I had no idea how to go about it. Not to mention the learning I've gained.

Doug, you might consider a hydrofoil stabilizer to help trim your boat, you wont need to add weight to your bow. they work great for smaller boats to keep the bows down like a set of trim tabs. Cheers Brian

That's a cool little boat . Like the design like an amphibious landing ship

Use a spreader bar to hold the rope apart so the last bit to the whsley boat is straight.

Doug make you an aluminum spreader bar for the whaly boat . Like they used to lift sealer. It will solve all your problems. Straight lift on Whaley's eyes. Will shorten your lift by taking the y of your bridle away.

Love the Whaly

Looks like a fun little tender.

I saw a tender on the sailing nahoa channel where a bloke was making tenders and plenty of other things out of a plastic mix that easily withstood a massive strike from a sledgehammer,a wheelchair for on sand was one of his other designs. It was run thru a cad and computer,interesting stuff.good luck

Spreader bar perhaps, but is something heavy that will swing?

Good to see a guy enjoying the fruits of his hard labor.

Been following your boat build for a few years now. My family and I stopped by over the weekend briefly,we live in the area and was admiring your boat (from a distance). Its even more impressive in person. We saw you in town and I was telling my wife and daughter about your channel and they wanted to see it.

You can drill a hole straight through the bolts and drill a hole in the head of the bolt and thread it so you can put a grease nipple in the bolt. When it comes to regular maintenance make it easy or it wont get done.

I run a 3.1 meter inflatable weighing 46kg with the two stroke Mercury 30hp. Goes like a scalded cat, near 40 knots in flat water. A good tip for steering damping is install a motorcycle steering damper on the outboard, get an adjustable one so you can tune it. Makes it a bit safer for inexperienced crew wanting to open the thing up and getting a tank slapper. Greetings from a boat in New Zealand.....

Adjust the engine trim to get the bow down. Some boats I use plastic collapsible water jugs for weight up front when alone and empty them when I have passengers.

When I worked in AK "blue steel" rope was the go to. Very tough. Low stretch. Abrasion resistant. Lol in the 10 years since I've left I've dreamed of someday buying myself a spool.

Great video

I would fabricate a 1/8" sheet metal cover for those lifting points to take the stress off of the plastic. You should be able to bend something up and weld where have to. Once that is made your lifting shackles should go thru the plastic like now and the metal cover. In fastening the metal I would use a combination of adhesive and screws or rivets. That combination of glue and mechanical is hard to beat. For that boat also they make a longer tiller handle where you could sit further up and plane the boat out.

When running in the ocean, you could turn it around when hoisting so its easier to use the ramp to get the flush muff on.

That front drop opening on the Whaly can storm the beach at Normandy.

My suggestion for your Davit lifting is to actually sew a second canvas strap into your lifting system with a length set such that you are lifting all 4 points using your canvas straps. It will take the boat higher and also be less dependent on rope etc. In rough weather you will end up a little higher. Also for your placing of metal bars under the boat why not have them set on a rotating system so a single central winch can lift both out of the way. For example when lifted out of the way they are at a similar position to the davits and when dropped go out and around under the boat. add a chain to the end of each and up over boat means boat is chained down as well. Beauty of rotating it down into position is you can have it designed to match boat contours in order to be more supportive. other option is a straight drop down but that would need hydraulics I think.

I sure like the bow on that tender. Makes loading it easy. Big fish, a deer, a skid.

This was a good video

Nice review on your tender.

What if you took some smaller chain to the right length you want for picking up the dingy like the rope and it will be even everytime you pick it up instead of rope if it dryrotten

If you put a dole fin on the cavitation plate it will help with the bouncing it gives the motor more force to lower the bow.

That is a sweet looking tender! One thing I'd consider right away is to make it's keel a little more bulletproof for beach (& other surface) landings most forgiving of which would be soft mud. Kayaks use a piece of 2" PVC but even metal keel guards shaped & molded to bow's keel right under pad-eye to protect that rounded transitional part that will take brunt of impact when coming ashore with momentum of boat's speed & full weight. It will prevent deep gouges in material that will erode away the keel over time & if allowed to get bad enough wear a hole clean through it right there..

Effective April 1, 2021, the new law requires a vessel operator to use either a helm or outboard lanyard or wireless ECOS on certain vessels less than 26 feet when traveling on plane or above displacement speed.

If you can try to change the trim on the engine to get the nose more pointing down. Once on a plane you can straighten it. If that doesnt work you could try putting the battery and fuel tank to the nose or installing a hydrofoil or trim tabs.

i love this boat, looks like a lil higgins boat

I haven't followed you for very long, but I have to say this journey of yours is fascinating! I just wish I had the resources to do something like this! Since I don't, I'll enjoy it through you.

Adding my two cents if you use two spreader bars you can raise the tender up higher and it will be safer. Again suggest safety chains. I'm sure you notice that d-ring is going to abrading that rope. Of course you still have to haul the tender up against the stern with bumpers. You don't want to lose that nice tender in a storm. Thanks so much for the awesome content.

Load it up with OB on your gang plank side and you can fresh water flush it while hoisted! Sweet setup

That 50 horsepower should make that thing freakin scoot! Can’t wait until break in is done!

Hauling the tender out of the water is one task. Securing it for under way is the next. The lift points need to be able to carry the load in sea conditions without damage. I suggest first using stainless tubing to span two sets of holes, plus threaded rod inside them. Cut your spreader bar to follow the upper gunwhale profile and hook them onto your SS lifting point bars. They need to be tensioned tight onto the hull, solid. Then winch up as you like. The spreader bars need to slid into steel brackets on your David’s, and lock the whole package tight for sea. Solid and simple. Love the work you men have done. Fair winds to you all. Edit…. This will eliminate your winching stop points, since the spreader bar will be a natural stop. A couple of captive through-bolts will secure the spreader bar to the davit brackets, so you can unload the winch too, once you are done lifting. The spreader bars are easily fashioned from timber 6x2, and easy to shape for the hull cutouts

Lookin good Doug 👍✅

Socket man made the video!!! How about fell out of my chair when I saw him. Thanks a lot man!! 22:32

A idea to stop the whaly from Porpoising would be to install hydrofoil on the motor it will help with hole shot and stability at speed Cheers Tom

Use the shackles through the boat . And a bar attached to the shackles with a small chain the weld large tabs to the center of the bar with a hole and attach the strap with shackles to the bar and you could bring it right up to the guides. I would replace the straps with winch rope and and snatch blocks from the lifting point also might track better

That shinny new engine cover is mighty tempting . To keep the bandits away find an old distressed cover and swap it out. 0utdoor carpet fastened with contact cement on the topsides protects against Tropical sun

You can adjust the trim to keep it from porpoising with low weight in the bow, my 16 foot inboard v hull does the same. Also if youre going boating in shallow rivers or lakes Id consider popping the aluminum prop on, if it strikes a rock itll deform way easier than SS and not transmit all that shock force to the gears. Gear sets are pretty spendy so losing 3-5% of your top speed is cheap insurance.

When you are alone you can trim that motor up and hold the front down. But bringing a friend is fun also.

Take a piece of PVC pipe about 2.5 ft it need an inside diameter the same as the end of the tiller. Make 4 cuts lengthways so you can push the PVC over the tiller. Secure the PVC with a stainless steel hose clamp. I then inserted an old oak broom handle in the end and secured it with some 5200. This will allow you to move forward a but and also stand up. Those fins that fit on the lower engine wings will help you to plane faster. The broom handle reduces the diameter of the tiller so it's more confortable. Have fun always.

I would sleeve those holes as well, with either bronze or nylon and glue it in place.

When you come to a fast stop, turn hard to port or starboard at the last minute, it will stop the well flooding as the stern wave catches up with you.

Long spreader bars can be attached to stern in the down position

Your tender has nearly twice the power of my whole sailboat!

You can also use a spreader bar to space the lines out; and raise the level.

Got to make sure the pucker is in tip top condition. All sewn up by an expert needle worker. Magnetis ass! neat idea. great video 2x👍

Enjoying the ACE hardware store

Consider a spreader bar on the boat lift so it lifts up instead of pinching inward.

How about a triangle that is welded and slips though both connections a the front and hooks to one point at the top.

I’m a lineman for Ohio. The first thing you found was a insulator for powerlines⚡️

Love the drawbridge bow yet reminds me of one the Geougeon brothers built a Florida shallow cruiser built on two rowing shells that had a drop down forward loading/unloading ramp. It drew 6” and had a big prop Yamaha on a hydraulic system so that it could be raised out of the water halfway.

If you want to put a rod between the rope mounts, you could add a pipe, maybe weld washers on the ends of the pipe to spread the load Having the pipe would mean you could weld a crossbar with a central eye for lifting, also can be used as a grab bar

I think there are bolts with a built in grease fitting, i remember seeing them at a store a while back.

Hi love your work, I live in Perth Western Australia. May I Suggest you put a stingray on your Yamaha outboard motor. A stingray is a attachment you put to the bottom of your motor that helps hold the front of your boat down. Making your boat run level of just one person in it

Enjoyed your video. Loved the boat and motor... Would buy a few life jackets!!!

That Shucker jigamathang is awesome. But that guitar body is sweet, what kind of wood did you use? great vid playing with toy boat..

Thanks for the review! In the process of buying a 455r with a 50hp yamaha, but was going with the console. Do you still prefer a tiller? I'm relatively new to boating as of last year. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks again!!

You've located the local "Meat & Stuff". Ron Swanson would be proud. Perhaps you can drill a hole through the 6mm bolts, drill out and tap the appropriate size hole in just the head of the bolt, and install a zerk. Or, make up a set of bolts with a little extra thickness in the head to do the same.