1997 Crownline CCR225 bow rider

[Dave_warr]

Hello all, I am looking into purchasing a Crownline ccr225 bow rider, it has 400hrs on it and has captains call. Everything looks really great in this boat, always kept indoors and winterized every year.
Is there anything that needs to be checked?
I asked when the lower seals have been checked or replaced and he said he has had to do nothing to the boat as far as repairs, just regular maintenance.
I'm thinking that could be really great or really bad because everything could go south when I get it! Lol
Any and all info is greatly appreciated

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: 1997 Crownline CCR225 bow rider

ok first off you have a conflict of terms, is it a bowrider or a cuddy cabin? a bow rider is a 225 BR a cuddy is a 225 CCR but you can't have both unless you go with a MCOB which is a Mid Cabin Open Bow unfortunately Crownline never made one!! What year is the boat? motor info and outdrive, if you have pics or a link to the ad that works too, is this your first boat?

Either way you really need to check the motor out, I like a compression/leak down test just to get an idea of the cylinder conditions, 400 hours isn't much if cared for properly, but we don't know that.


Stringers, Deck/Sole and transom are next, we really want you to know exactly what you are getting so educating you on what to look for helps you avoid the saying "the two greatest days in a boaters life are when you buy a boat and when you sell it" We love boats and boating but the simple fact is that boats that are poorly maintained are garbage, no matter who manufactured it. I love Crownlines I don't plan on ever owning another brand of boat, I consider them to be of the highest quality boats out there, but if its been poorly maintained I would rather you get into a well maintained lower quality boat, I hope you understand what I mean.

Also don't be afraid to post this in the general discussion forum, it has much more traffic and you will get many many more opinions, some good some well.....

 

[Dave_warr]

Re: 1997 Crownline 225BR

Re: 1997 Crownline 225BR

Hello all, I am looking into purchasing a Crownline ccr225 bow rider, it has 400hrs on it and has captains call. Everything looks really great in this boat, always kept indoors and winterized every year.
Is there anything that needs to be checked?
I asked when the lower seals have been checked or replaced and he said he has had to do nothing to the boat as far as repairs, just regular maintenance.
I'm thinking that could be really great or really bad because everything could go south when I get it! Lol
Any and all info is greatly appreciated

Thanks for the info it is greatly appreciated! And you are right its a 225 BR with the 454 mercruiser engine. What about the lower seals how long will
they last? I don't know alot about boats like the stringers and stuff, I'm a car guy and can build a car from the ground up but boats are new to me

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: 1997 Crownline CCR225 bow rider

ok so now we have a 225 br with a 330 hp 454(great motor) lower seals? yeah maybe we need to talk terminology again, your a car guy? me too so here we go...

motor doesn't have a tranny and your exhaust can only go one of two places either out the side or transom through Captains call or Corsa switchable exhaust but most likely it goes out the out drive. difference is your out drive goes up and down so that you can adjust it while you are boating and also so that you don't drag your out drive when you launch and retrieve your boat at the ramp. this whole system power wise is sort of like the front wheel drive hub it has a large ujoint/axles that are covered by a large hose similar to those one size fits all radiator hoses with the ribs you also have shift linkage with a similar hose(only much smaller) on it these hoses are called bellows you may even have an exhaust bellow but we don't know which out drive you have yet so lets just say that in your case you do what you need to do is kick the out drive all the way up in the trailer position get up close to the out drive where the out drive meets the transom or the back of the boat you will see a large ring mounted to the fiberglass this is called the Gimbal ring the joint between the Gimbal and the out drive will expose your bellows any splits or cracks should be pretty easy to find(when your out drive is all the way up).

Transom/Gimbal ring tests- test is to push around your out drive and watch for flex in the transom, if you see it flex with good pressure its a sign of a rotten transom, keep in mind the transom is an inch or more of marine grade plywood or similar all fiberglassed in so it shouldn't move if its healthy, don't confuse transom flex with gimbal ring slop one is much easier then the other to fix, a transom is an enormous job, well within your skills as a car guy but not something you want to take lightly. A Gimbal ring is similar to changing a front axle only with fiberglass instead of steel.

Checking the Gimbal seal is pretty simple once you check the bellows put the boat in the water, get a flashlight and look for water coming in around the inner seal, its not gonna be easy but should be pretty obvious.

Sole/Deck/stringers- walk around every inch of the deck and what your looking for is soft spots, any soft spots mean water has infiltrated the plywood and will need to be replaced but if you find a soft spot or not you still need to check the stringers! The Stringers go the length of the boat look under the motor and you see the rear of two stringers, the motor mounts to them take a long socket extension and tap them they should sound solid, you can also see them along each side of the ski locker tap them a bunch, any hollow sounds and you found water intrusion, you can also do this on your transom but keep in mind the transom does not have plywood completely across the back of the boat only between the stringers.

FriscoBoater's Boating and DIY Channel - YouTube

Check out my buddies DIY youtube page anything you want to know just search the page he has rebuilt two boats completely (not kidding took the hull down to a bare skin and replaced stringers, transom and sole) and is doing his third now anything you want to see done he has done it and put it on video

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: 1997 Crownline CCR225 bow rider

also in case you didn't know your boat has, Model, LOA(Length over all), Beam(width at widest point), Dry Weight, Gas Capacity and dead rise(bow angle)

225 BR 22'5" 102" 3500 LBS 60 GAL 18 DEG