1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

[dmoriarty51]

Well I got my first boat earlier this summer, a 1995 Crestliner 1650 ProAM with 70hp johnson and a roller trailer for $1000. This combo appears to have been together from its beginning and its in sound shape, no leaks and everything works. Ran great a few times then had some vro related issues and a split fuel line that resulted in a rebuild, running about $1500, so i have about $2500 in it, plus a jack, winch, tiedowns, a few odds and ends. Not as great a deal as an even $1k, but i have a mechanically new powerhead so i think i still did ok.

The interior is in dire need of some TLC. It appears the boat was left outside uncovered likely in the water from the weather beaten looks of things.

Someone tried to fix it up, but while making it usable failed at doing it right, they simply slapped down more wood and more carpet and covered up the wet rotten original floors. When I pull the plug while not in use, any water i do get in the boat seems to wash down splinters of rotten wood, if you pull the access covers for fuel tank items everything has sitting moisture on it.. The boat is almost certainly carrying a significant amount of water weight along with the extra deck layers.

So now that the season is mostly wound down and breaking in the rebuilt motor is done. I'm tearing the insides out to do it right. I want the extra fat out, and my storage back, along with cleaning up the looks a bit. I intend to get as much as possible done before its too cold to work, the building i am working in is not insulated is large and open so heating is next to impossible.

Enough book heres some pics before and of todays progress, I get about 3 hours a day during the week where i can work freely while my kid is at school, so it could take a while but hey i gotta do something.


Exterior, Not sure if i am going to worry about painting the hull this year or not, if i do it will only be the sides most likely, The bug muddy turns everything brown anyways



the current waterline, runs about an 1 to 1.5 inches below the splashwell drains before you add people....Am I right to suspect it should ride a tad higher than this?


Insides, note the extra layers of 3/4in plywood

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Had to split this up due to image count


Starting to take things apart to see whats really going on.
there is some very obvious moisture in those holes.


some more moisture, the boat was last in the rain uncovered 3 weeks ago, it has been covered since except when in use. and it had NO water in it after 5 hours out yesterday running gas out.


surely this is what started the previous owners "repair" project... i am missing 1 aluminum door and frame where might i find those?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Nice boat. Even with the rebuild I think you got a good deal. As you know, you'll definitely have to strip everything out down to the hull. The foam is surely wet and won't ever dry. Check out any of the Starcraft restos for some tin boat rebuilding ideas.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Thanks ez,

I have been reading in free time since i got it, i have been through your supersport thread as well as McGR's Crestliner threads.... I have also looked at some glass boat rebuilds and man im glad i went tin....and all welded too.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

so i see many folks using vinyl on the floor,

whats the slippery factor like with it?

i realize it is a marine style of material so i imagine slippery when wet is well addressed with the texture.

i have some samples coming of decko dot nautolex and their pebble grain as well. in grey colors.. since the boat has grey already and i figured it to be a cooler color than some others on a bright day.

any hot places to get the stuff on the cheap if i go that route? i see carpet here at iboats but no vinyl?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Love my vinyl. Slippery is a none-issue. Best price is at Defender Marine.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

the current waterline, runs about an 1 to 1.5 inches below the splashwell drains before you add people....Am I right to suspect it should ride a tad higher than this?

Yes you should have more clearance than that. That extra plywood and all the wet foam/old deck is heavy stuff.

I'd imagine the performance of the boat will increase a bit once she's rebuilt and dry. At least she will draft less water, always a good thing.

Good luck, and I agree that you should check out some Starcraft restos, very similar to your rig.

I used Nautolex marine vinyl shark color, I love it. Very grippy, looks great and super easy to clean.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Got a late start today, but got the rest of the add on wood and carpet pulled, and discovered i was missing a rear seat position, and found a well of some sort...

The easy part of teardown is done, now i have to figure out the puzzle, of getting it apart. I want to keep panels in one piece as much as possible to aid in re creating them.

ez,

i found defender marine after i posted that and it is the lowest i have found so far, they also have it in 72in width, the other place was only 54in. Should be able to be a bit more efficent in the wider width, now that i see how the floor is designed.

Huron,

I figured it was riding a tad low, i had to go all the way to the rear, the other day to clear a wad of grass off the motor. and easily put the splashwell drain in the water. Now Im not skinny at 250lbs, but jeez, good thing the well doesnt leak or i would have taken a bunch of water on.

Guessing as of now, based on dry weight of 3/4in plywood I have removed ~150lbs that will never go back, according to the coast guard thats a whole darn person. And that wood wasnt truely dry either, not near as wet as what was hidden below.

As for picking up performance, I hope so, alone in the boat i can get it to run 57-5800rpm... right in line, to stay on plane i need 4000rpm, and a large wake can knock me off and back into plow mode if i catch it wrong. I would like to pull a tube, but with its current performance I doubt it could effectively. Another clue that its heavy, the foil helps it get on plane, ALOT. Not to mention a the motor guy uses a half ton truck and complained about how it felt. I really do wish i had spent the money to weigh it now that i think about it.

I prolly wont do much more untill i get some fogger and ready the motor for storage. easier to do while the console is still functional.

Wow what a book, and now 2 pics.

Doesnt show in the pic very well, but its damp and soft, the cut edges in the holes are black like moldy almost. You can see the location of the well I found also.


Close up on the well, the water is nasty, so I kept my hands out. Felt around with a screwdriver, I THINK there is a drain in one corner...So cooler maybe? Pretty small for a livewell, also considered trolling motor battery box, but no wiring and Im not certain a battery would even fit.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Looks like a nice boat there!

I bet that 3/4 ply and other soaked wood was really weighing the boat down. When you have everything apart do some core samples of the flotation foam and see if it's waterlogged. I had my Superhawk down to a bare hull and the foam was dry as a bone, but you never know with all that moisture...

Keep your eyes on Ebay for the Nautolex, Marideck, marine vinyl flooring, etc. I picked up all my boat's vinyl for something like $200 off Ebay, 72"x66', yeah a bunch.

One tip, use SS staples and not Monel staples. I curse the day I decided to use Monel staples on my project. At the end I started using SS staples and they don't bend/mis-fire nearly as often as Monel staples.

For the missing hatch cover, if you can't fab something up, call Crestliner and see if you can order one from them.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

what in the world did you do with all that vinyl fishrdan?

my thoughts at the moment are to use vinyl only on the lower floor, and put carpet back everywhere else....

and i have no doubt its overweight, the trailer appears to be setup correctly, in terms of the boats position on it, but it is very tongue heavy...so much so that i have a very hard time picking it up. i can do it, but..... for the sake of my back prolly shouldnt. its gotta be 200lbs or better on the tongue.

for replacement floor plywood i understand that normal pressure treated wood of today will cause corrosion...

regular plywood needs to be sealed with epoxy, or resin and glass.

then there is a marine plywood that is not actually treated but is supposed to last on its own?

hints on where to find that? my time is valuable to me so if i can get away with doing it in a correct fashion with marine wood and spending a little extra while saving all the time and mess of sealing plain wood im interested.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Marine plywood, contrary to popular belief, is not treated. It simply has far fewer voids and a better quality glue. It's a superior product but it also costs like 3x as much.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I vinyled everything in my boat, hull sides, deck, console supports, dog house so the interior was easy to clean. We had fish blood all over the boat last trip and it took all of 15-20 minutes to scrub and wash off the vinyl, carpet would have taken hours to clean...

You want 10-15% tongue weight so 200# does not sound bad, use a bathroom scale to find out the tongue weight.

Normal (ACQ, green) treated plywood will eat your boat. There is marine (CCA, yellowish/orange) treated plywood that's aluminum safe, but it's hard to find and expensive, IE: pontoon decking. Untreated marine plywood, the kind easily found, will rot just the same as exterior plywood since the wood is not treated. Most guys here use exterior plywood sealed with epoxy or poly resin and cloth. I'm in the desert and used untreated marine ply, and then treated it with Jacso Termin-8 as I wanted the wood to dry out when it got wet. It looks like you are in a wet climate so epoxy/poly sealing exterior plywood would probably be best,,, unless you wanted to spend the $$$ to get marine treated plywood. Be aware, marine plywood and marine treated plywood are not the same grade of plywood. The marine treated plywood in my Crestliner had knots in it, while the marine plywood I replaced it with had all the knots patched,,, almost no voids in the plywood.

 

[McGR]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Nice Crestliner score there DM. At $1K, I think you did pretty darned good. Obviously, the interior is shot. Nonetheless, with some work you should end up with a great rig. Judging from your pics, I'm guessing that you'll find the transom is shot too. I also agree with the others in that you'll probably find the foam soaked. Again, it's all fixable... the important thing, the hull, looks to be in good shape.

As you probably noted on my Crestliner thread, I did a combination of vinyl and carpet - vinyl on the main deck and carpet on the casting decks. I believe EZ did the same on his Starcraft. Many of the newer fishing boats seem to use this approach. I think it's a good compromise. I do a lot of casting from my front deck. So, I was a little iffy about putting vinyl up there. That's not to say it hasn't or can't be done - just my preference.

I look forward to following your progress, keep posting pics.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Got a bit more done today, pretty much done untill i can get another set of hands as my go go gadget arms arent long enough.

I have discovered that most of this boat is nuts and bolts holding the wood and hatches etc together unless the area is completely inaccessable, then they used a sheet metal type screw.. Thus my need for another person, i cant reach inside the front storage and the rod locker at the same time since the console is there.

I managed to drain that little well in the floor, the drain was just plugged with crap, go figure right?

Amazingly enough so far i have gotten everything out in a condition i could make a template from, gonna have to wing it putting the doors back in the front, but it should be pretty simple.. i was more worried about a template for the curved areas.

PICS

Front deck, not sure how i didnt destroy this getting it out, i managed to flex it enough to get it out tho, replacement will need to go in while console is not in place.


The rest is still in the boat.


Livewell and side storage area out, the small box to the left is out now too, The boat feels so roomy with this gone its tempting to leave it out, but i want to retain the fishing amenities as i used to enjoy fishing and would like to get back into it now with my daughter before she decides dads not cool anymore.


Rear deck wood, this is wet and feels pretty heavy, but its by far the best piece of wood i have removed thus far.


Lastly, the bow foam block, I included a 20oz bottle for size reference, what should this weigh? It doesnt seem wet to the naked eye or finger, but feels heavier than i think foam should...It would be awesome if any underfloor foam was plastic bagged too, but i suspect i wont be so lucky

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Great looking project! I agree that even after the powerhead rebuild you got a great deal!

keep up the good work, and I will be watching the thread.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

btw thanks to everyone that said i still got a good deal on this barge... after all the powerhead issues i was really wondering what i had gotten myself into.

as for the transom, i havent gotten enough other stuff out yet, but i stabbed it with a screwdriver and it seemed solid, and its not water stained like the other wood i have removed. the transom wood also doesnt extend all the way to the bottom of the hull. which im sure aids in keeping it dry since there would need to be a TON of water in the boat for to touch the wood and let it wick moisture up.. If upon closer inspection i find its worse it will be addressed. no reason to replace everything but that.

that being said

i am contemplating replacement wood, as i would like to pick it up and get new pieces cut asap so this old um stuff..... can get tossed

i want to do a good job so the boat is trouble free for a signifcant amount of time, but i cant spend a fortune... so lets just say that marine graded wood is out.

so that leaves standard issue plywood, should i go with floor or roof sheathing ? is there a difference? obviously i dont want OSB i know that is a no no..

give me the run down on the methods of treating the wood to seal out moisture in a worst to first list... i have seen some that simply used oil based paint to seal the wood... i presume this is the least desireable short of just using the wood plain. i know epoxy and resin are probably the best but also more money and more time.

as you give ideas here consider that the boat will live under a tarp/cover or indoors.. it is not slipped nor will it ever be. it may stay uncovered when several days of use are planned in fair weather. so generally speaking i intend to keep it as dry as possible. the original wood appears to be plain plywood to my eyes, its not even painted

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Even if you don't go with marine plywood, don't cheap out on the plywood, I'd go with an AB exterior, it's still going to be 1/2-1/3 less. If you are going to use 1/2" ply, try to find 5 ply. Look at the plywood edges and look for voids, if there is a void in the plywood, there is a 99.99999% chance rolleyes you will hit it with a fastener and blow through. There will likely be some voids, you just want to minimize the voids. Even with marine plywood I hit a couple voids.

Also, don't cheap out on how you are going to seal the plywood. This is a big boat and difficult to replace the wood. It's one of those "do it right the first time" type of things. Either epoxy or poly resin and cloth seal the decks.

The wood (crestliner's) you took out of the boat, it looks like treated wood to me, the old CCA treating.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I'm with ^^ Dan here...even if the boat is stored indoors and not slipped any wood on the boat is going to be exposed to water time and time again.

Condensation, fog, mist, rain, etc will always be around, not to mention splashing and spray from waves.

I used epoxy resin and exterior grade ply, the best I found was from Lowe's and cost a bit more than HD. Worth the extra cash in my opinion.

Marine grade is better but if sealed in epoxy will be in the same ballpark as far as waterproofing anyhow.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I made my transom from the Arauco ply from Lowes which is super nice. Virtually void free and a beautiful surface. I have heard that it's made from a softer wood but I figure it's gotta be better than the regular exterior ply from Home Depot I made my deck from which was void-city.

As for sealing it pretty much goes like this from best to least bestest :
- sealed both sides with glass and poly or epoxy resin
- sealed with epoxy resin with glass on just the top (poly resin is no good without glass)
- sealed with epoxy resin and no glass
- marine spar varnish
- porch and floor paint
- watercolors

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

point taken guys, hopefully home depot or lowes has some decent exterior plywood, i have a menards close also, but they have an outdoor leanto style lumberyard vs the climate controlled big boxes and their indoor yards... which i hope will provide me with dry wood to cut down on drying before sealing...

lets say i go with epoxy resin no glass, how much and any cheap sources?