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.
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.