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Q1: under what circumstances should an electrically powered sump pump be installed in a c.1986 MONTAUK 17?

ASIDE
I plan to restore a 1986 MONTAUK 17 to a jewel-like state. The boat will be kept on trailer with the drain plugs removed.

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glen1941 wrote:Q1: under what circumstances should an electrically powered sump pump be installed in a c.1986 MONTAUK 17?

Read the advice in the owner's manual regarding drain plugs. If you don’t have a printed copy, you can use my on-line manual:

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/refer ... drainTubes

A MONTAUK 17 hull has no bilge space thus it cannot have a bilge pump. In a Boston Whaler Unibond hull the space between the hull bottom laminated structure and the hull liner laminated structure—that would be a bilge space on any other boat—is inaccessible and is filled completely by an expanded foam that is kept under pressure as it expands in order to increase its density.

A MONTAUK 17 cockpit has molded sump space in the cockpit deck at in the stern in front of the transom splash well where the rigging tunnel exits which is designed to collect water on the deck. When the boat is underway at speed the drain in the sump can be opened, and the water in the sump will be pulled out and into the sea by suction created the the Bernoulli effect of the water rushing under the hull running surface.

Some owners install a small electrically-operated centrifugal pump in that sump to permit water that might collect there when the boat is in use to be lifted and exhausted overboard over the transom with the hull drain plugged

Boston Whaler provided an option to have a pump installed at the factory in some years on new boats.

Thanks for the reply and access to owner's manual.

Q2: after reading the owner's manual section on drain plugs, should I remove the sump pump presently in the Montauk 17?

The boat will always be trailered, stored nearby, and with the drain plugs removed. The fuel tanks will be secured under the RPS and the single AGM battery will be inside the console. The boat will likely never be in open water off-shore.

Q3: What do most people do with the sump?

glen1941 wrote:Q2: after reading the owner's manual section on drain plugs, should I remove the sump pump presently in the Montauk 17?

I recommend leaving the pump in place. It is common for one to be surprised by a rainstorm even if the forecast is for perfect weather. If needed it's there.

glen1941 wrote:Q3: What do most people do with the sump?

I have no idea what other owners of a classic MONTAUK 17 might do regarding the cockpit sump drain on a MONTAUK 17 or the use of a sump pump.

Since you already have a sump pump installed, I would leave it there.

If I had a MONTAUK 17 I would keep the cockpit sump pump drain closed when underway. If the boat became swamped with water I would open the cockpit drain and carefully get forward motion on the boat so the water in the cockpit could drain via the sump.

If the boat has a sump pump and water was accumulating in the cockpit and the sump. I would turn on the sump pump.

When the boat was on the trailer I would leave the cockpit sump drain open.

In some instances I imagine that some owners of a MONTAUK 17 have made a cover from wood to cover the sump opening in the cockpit so it is not a trip hazard.

I would leave the existing bilge pump in place. While I often pull the plug while the. Boat is on-plane to drain out any water that may have come from an errant wave taken over the bow, I have had the need for the bilge pump when we were at anchor and a squall came through, with waves dumping water over the bow. I was glad to have had the bilge pump in that instance.

That’s three-for-three to leave the existing pump in place. Any naysayers?