1999 Crestliner Sportfish 2050

[Tuna MT]

Hi All,

Been reading the forums for a while and finally decided to join.
The Sportfish is my 4th boat. I started with a 12' Elgin powered by a sweet old 10hp Seahorse. Loved that motor. Then I purchased a 14' Alumacraft with a 10hp Honda. With the growth of our family, we decided to go to a bigger boat and we found a 1976 Starcraft Supersport 18' with a 140hp sterndrive. We like the SS (and still have it) but my CL addiction got the best of me and in the winter of 2016, I found the Crestliner and bought it. The bow had been damaged and fixed. The interior had been neglected, carpet shot, vinyl panels cracked, and the dash faded, but it had 6 newer pedestal seats. I was unable to run the 150 hp Evinrude 2 stroke due to it being winter but I took a chance on it anyway. I felt like it was a good cheap hull to start with.

First thing I did was take it to a local boat mechanic to go through the motor for me. He drained the fuel tank, did the water pump, gear lube, hooked it up to his computer and ran it. The high pressure fuel pump was bad. I picked up a used one for a Benjamin and put a new starter battery in it and it ran fine.

We took her out fishing a few times last summer and it ran great, until the last time out. We lost the lower unit about 4 miles from the launch. Thankfully I had robbed the 15hp Johnson from the SS and put it on the back of the Sportfish. We limped back to the launch and took it home. Pulled the prop and there was a bunch of fish line wrapped around the prop shaft. Pulled the prop shaft and things just got uglier.
So, I parked it back in the shop and went to work researching what I wanted to do. I decided to buy a new lower from SEI, and I decided to start tearing out the floor.

I've been taking pictures and will try to retroactively construct this thread to bring it current. I'll start posting pics as soon as I get them uploaded somewhere.

 

[Tuna MT]

 

[fishrdan]

Nice looking rig, bit of work and it will be a great boat for you.

I picked up an basket case 01 1800 SuperHawk with a great hull/trailer, rebuilt it darn near 10 years ago and it's been a solid boat. Had it out in some gnarly stuff and it handled it well.

Replace the plastic thru-hull fittings while you have it apart, mine were kind of sketchy, (sun rotted) and that was with only 8-10 years on the fittings.

Also, and this is a huge issue for you to check if you're tearing up the decks.. Crestliner had certain models of boats of our vintage where the belly tank brackets would cut into the tank - fuel LEAK! My boat had this problem and there is/was a recall. Crestliner sent me a replacement tank and new brackets that wouldn't cut the tank. The original brackets were aluminum with sharp corners, that would cut into the tank's hold down reliefs over time. I think your boat is older than this defect, but something to check while you are in there....

 

[Tuna MT]

Thanks for the info fisherdan!!
I've noticed there's not a lot of Crestliner builds out there, yet.

Here are some more pics of the boat the way I received it:

 

[Tuna MT]

I love how tiny the 150 horse looks on the back of it.

Here are some pictures of the jockey box door and the instrument panel. They don't even look like fake wood anymore. I've been seriously considering wrapping them in vinyl. I've watched some videos of people doing it and it doesn't look too tough. Plus the vinyl wrap is fairly inexpesive.

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: aboard Tuna,

I like the CL boats, like SC they have that appealing shape and style over the years that catches the eye.

 

[ezmobee]

Good looking project. Definitely worth the effort to fix up.

 

[Tuna MT]

So like I said in the 1st post. We were able to enjoy the Sportfish a little bit last summer until we lost the gearset.



Wish I had more pics of the outings but oh well.

While I was waiting for the SEI Lower to show, I couldn't resist pulling some floor panels off just to look around underneath.

 

[Tuna MT]

My son and I cleaned all the stuff out of the boat today so we can put it back together and hopefully use it this summer. We moved to a new shop and spent the last two months packing, moving, and unpacking. Anyhow, here is how it currently sits.

 

[Tuna MT]

fisherdan,

Are the belly tank brackets under the tank. I can't necessarily tell. The only brackets I see are on top, made of wood, with thick rubber against the tank. Here are some close ups.

 

[fishrdan]

Looks like you're good to go on the tank brackets, wood and rubber are perfect. Not sure why they changed to aluminum brackets, but it was a mistake causing them a recall, almost like tying to keep the tank in place with a knife...

 

[fishrdan]

For the faded dash plastic, look on Ebay or try Great Lakes Skipper. I built my boat during the recession and there were tons of NOS boat parts on Ebay, seen several dashes like your boat has.

I painted several plastic parts of my boat with Krylon "plastic paint" and it's held up fantastic. I was really skeptical of how good it would stick, and not peel off, but it's been great. I don't know how it wears as the parts are not touched often (blower vents, I have an I/O boat), but they still look perfect. I think I used 3 coats, per the instructions.

The Crestliner emblem in the glove box lid, I replaced the trim on my boat that had that emblem and used it on the new part. Carefully removed it, cleaned off the old adhesive, stuck some new 3M double faced tape to it, and put it back on the new part.

 

[Tuna MT]

Good news about the tank. Thanks fisherdan!!

I've looked far and wide for those dash pieces without success. At ebay and GLS. Maybe I am overlooking them.

I decided to attempt to carpet the vertical aluminum piece between the lower deck and the upper rear deck.

Here is the adhesive:


The adhesive is the consistency of paint...


My son and I have been waiting an hour for the adhesive to tack up and it's doing nothing. He is getting anxious because we have a tee time coming up.

 

[Watermann]

Did you use a paint stir paddle on a drill to mix the glue before applying it?

 

[Tuna MT]

I mixed it by hand. Once yesterday and again today.
Should have tested it first I guess.

 

[Tuna MT]

I called Lancer this morning to ask some questions.
They said that the water based 290 would indeed run if applied on vertical surfaces. He suggested applying it to the back of the carpet and then attaching once tacky. I'll give it a go when I have more time but this week is ridiculously busy.

 

[Watermann]

I can see disaster all over that if I were to attempt such a maneuver, that soggy glue soaked carpet would fold in on itself, touch what it's not supposed to be on and be all over me.

Good luck!

 

[Tuna MT]

Doing the most difficult piece first is not advisable.
Thankfully it's the only vertical piece I have to contend with. Everything else is removable and flat.

 

[Tuna MT]

When I was removing the factory carpet from this same piece of aluminium, I was having zero luck against the adhesive they used:



Then I tried using a Fein tool with a scraper blade and it worked amazingly well!

 

[beccamonster86]

Nice choice, Tuna! My husband and I just picked up a '89 Sportcraft last week with a very similar layout. Look forward to seeing the work on this one.