This has been a work in progress since July 2021. After ordering the boat it was built by Whaly in Holland in about a months time. The problem was shipping. The tentative arrival date was in October of 2021. When the ship arrived Long Beach, CA it sat outside the port for a number of months then delays at the port of Long Beach because of the volume and port policies delayed it further. I was finally able to pick up my Whaly 455 Pro in late January 2022. After driving the boat home on a trailer I started planning what it should look like inside. I am not a big fan of driving from the back of the boat because I can’t see over front passengers and I like transferring more weight forward.

The typical Whaly I think has a storage box in the back with a gas tank inside. After searching for different size gas tanks I found the largest that would fit inside the storage box was 6 gallons. I wanted a larger tank so I purchased a 12 gallon tank, secured it to the floor and made a wood slat seat to go over the top of the fuel tank. My original plan called for another storage box for the driver to sit on and a steering console forward of that. After setting it up that way I decided that was too far forward. I put a large storage box on the starboard side so that I could run all the cables and controls from the console to the back of the boat. I then purchased a very cushy bench seat with a folding back from Tempress for the driver. Once I received the seat I realized it was too big and didn’t look right in the boat. It was great quality and very comfortable but just too big. I ended up building a second wooden slat seat. Both wood seats are removable and will eventually get cushions.

Here are some interesting test results: Tested 9.5″ x 15″ SS prop-30kph@5200rpm. Tested 10.375″x14″ Aluminum prop-8.3kph@3000rpm. I did not expect that result. The clue to this mistake is in the bottom photo next to the dock. I then tested 10.875″ x 12″ and it was still bad. I put the original 9.5″ x 15″ and I got a 3000rpm result again. I knew I had done something stupid but what could it be. Well, the bottom picture shows a motor cover on the engine. I had always run with a motor cover to protect the outboard but the new cover did not have ventilation like the old one. During the first test on the lake I did not use the cover. I was starving the engine for air and it was having nothing of it! With the cover off it practically jumps out of the water with the 12″ but tachs out to 6100. I will keep two props probably the 12″ and the 13″ but will test in multiple conditions and loading before deciding.

The rest will be in the pictures below.