Crestliner 1650 Fish Hawk SC Restoration - About to begin

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About to start another boat restoration. I got this boat from a neighbor. He had two, and stripped this boat to put the best parts on his rig. So he took all the good parts - hatches, covers, seat bases, the galvanized trailer, etc. I got it cheap, so I'm not complaining.

Anyway, looking at the boat, I think I'll have to:

1. Gut anything screwed down out of the boat
2. Strip out the old carpet
3. Clean and vacuum everything out
4. Drain & clean the fuel tank, and replace all hoses
5. Fabricate or buy any missing parts and install before/after carpet
6. Wrap everything in new carpet
7. Install a 50-70 HP Johnson/Evinrude outboard, since controls are already there
8. Sand down flaking paint / corrosion spots and prime with aluminum primer
9. Either spot paint (if I can find factory paint) or fully paint the hull.
10. Make sure everything works - Gauges, horn, livewell and bilge pumps, etc - replace as needed
11. Add options, such as stereo, fishfinder, GPS, lighting, etc.
12. Fabricate a windshield?

Fee free to comment or make suggestions. I will try to take pictures this time!

-Tony

I am looking forward to following this rebuild. Good luck.

​Good luck with the rebuild, looks like a nice core to start with.

Thanks, guys.

Here is a question for someone who has this or a very similar boat...

Would you recommend a 50 HP or a 70 HP? I have both, and a Mercury 60 too, for that matter.

Sometimes, the extra HP is worth it, sometimes it doesn't make a lot of difference. Any thoughts???

On that one I would go with the 70. Looks like plenty of support and reinforcement on the transome and bet it's rated for that or more.

Those are great boats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crp4570

I am looking forward to following this rebuild. Good luck.

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X2!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Cray,
Yes, it's rated for 75 HP. But I'm curious whether this hull is "balanced" with a 70?

The reason I ask, is because I've had two boats this year that did NOT run better with max HP. One was a 17' Sailfish skiff that I restored this spring. It only went a couple of MPH faster with the bigger motor. The big motor ran great, but it had a scary, unstable-feeling ride at WOT. On my test ride, I didn't run it WOT for more than a minute or so, feeling much better in the mid-range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Nzspbl21Q

The buyer drove the boat, and immediately requested that I swap for the 70 HP, and I agreed. With the 70. it had a strong, but manageable holeshot, and it only lost 3 MPH on the top end (from 42 MPH to 39 MPH) and the ride feels rock-solid now. It added a lot of work for me, but the end results were good.


But I know that not every boat is like that. Last year, I slightly overpowered a 16.5' bass boat that I used to demo motors, and more power made an awesome difference for the good. When I got the boat, it came with a 48 HP, and it was okay, doing around 30 MPH.
Put on a 70 HP, and it did 40-41 MPH.
An old 85 Johnson did just over 50 MPH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsGRqm0rgYo&t=4s
And finally, I put on a 115 Evinrude, and it went well over 60 MPH, and felt really good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxnXtguGV8

So I'm asking the folks who know this hull in an attempt to save myself the trial and error.

Thanks!

DEMO DAY!



Had a few minutes this morning, so decided to demo the Crestliner. Started unscrewing panels and hatches, and discovered that whoever replaced the carpet did not put nearly enough screws back. A huge panel would have maybe 2 screws in it, and nothing more. I bet the whole boat jumped when they hit a wake!

That being said, the demo went quickly, and I am pleased at what I have found beneath. Overall, the boat is in good condition. The floatation foam under the floor and in various compartments is clean and unbroken. No sign of being waterlogged, but judging by how light this boat is, I expected that.

I had wondered why there were no livewells, but upon removing the upper decks, I found two! One, a smaller bait well in the back, that looks to be in good operational condition:

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The other is a large fish livewell just forward of center. The rear well looks good, but the front livewell has a pretty damaged drain hole. Not sure what caused it, but the top of the hose has been cut or rubbed away. That would cause an enormous amount of water to end up in the hull, so I understand why they closed it off. Fortunately, I have some 2" overflow line, so I will soon have it back in action.

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The upper deck wood is not rotten, but it is damp and starting to delaminate, so I plan to replace it. It was not cut properly anyway. The back deck wood is similar. A few of the panels and hatches, I can re-use. The floor plywood seems to be in decent shape. I plan to re-use it, as long as it doesn't warp up when I pull it out of the boat.

So far, everything is about par for the course, for a 20-year old boat.
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Got the demo done today, and vacuumed out the boat.
Got a nice pile of junk out of her. Decided to replace all the wood. The old wood isn't too bad, but since I'm going this far with it, why not go all the way?
So far, so good.

-Tony


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