Just wanted to share our new to us boat

Hello all,

Great forum glad I found it. All kinds of knowledge to explore.

With the kid getting bigger and getting a new puppy. The wife and I decided it was time for a different boat. We were using a 12' 1980 alumacraft  car topper delux. Good little boat for the two of us. We used to just load it in the back of the pickup and use it on local electic only lakes. A few weeks ago we aquired a 14' 1971 Crestliner commodore on a trailer. She aint pretty (yet) but we like it. Its quite a bit wider and has more freeboard then the 12. Plus having the trailer is alot more conveniant for us.

Thanks for looking. Were looking forward to more adventures on the boat. Still need to get some fish in it.

Looks great! I’d put the xducer starboard side, away from a strake. Use some plastic cutting board
material to make a mounting plate to screw the xducer onto. Many DIY posts on here about that.

A boat that size w/ that power ... and I’d have no reservations about your plans for the 2nd seat area.

I agree, as long as you leave the front and 3rd seats untouched and don't try to push through 3' oncoming seas you should have no issues with removing the 2nd seat.

I had that exact same motor in a longshaft on my 14' Grumman. Very nice motor, probably have more hours on that one than any other I've ever had.

The Crestliner will be a great rig. Congratulations.

Sweet boat!

Similar to what DaleH suggested, I mounted the transducer using a piece of a plastic cutting board. I used 5200 to attach the cutting board to the transom, and them screwed the transducer to that. One less set of holes in the transom isn't a bad thing.

Thanks for the replies. The weather is getting nice again we're hopefully going to get the boat out tommorow before I have to run to work. I'll get to try out the new tach and hopefully land some fish.

I found a build thread a guy has pretty much the same hull but a 16'. Transoms are the same so I asked where he mounted his transducer. I saw a thread on using cutting board material. Thats a great idea. Ill be sure to use it.

The transom is rated for 30hp. The 15 pushes it great, but me being me i'll be keeping an eye out for a deal on 25-35hp motor. Not my top priority to repower it at this time. But if..or more like when I do I will take the extra hp into consideration before anything gets removed from the boat.

The boat will mostly get used in local lakes and rivers. But we do plan on taking it out in the puget sound for summer crab. But i'll be sure to keep an eye on water and weather conditions. And it will probably be just me and the wife in the boat when we go.

We took the boat out today. Good day for it nice and sunny but not a lot of people on the lake. Adcantages of working swing shift I guess.

tachometer worked well. Against the wind we were doing about 17mph at 5700rpm. With the wind we were 19mph at 5900. Im gonna order a hustler 9x9 that the prop wizard suggested. Per the manual it says peak hp is @6250rpm that should get it close.

Trolled around for kokanee and trout for a bit. Fish were pinging alover on the fish finder. Must have missed the bite. I dont get up to early (disadvantage of working swing shift). Still a good couple hours on the water with the family.

Got home and was getting ready to unmount the motor. Realized the skag was bent a slight bit, probably been like that but just noticed. Thought oh I can straighten thay right out. Tapped on it with a malle.....nope. Got a cresent wrench (bad idea) gave it a little tug and *snap! Whoops. Didnt realize the metal was so brittle. So up busted up my skag. I'll smooth it out for now hopefully it doesnt effect it much. Online found a replacement to weld on. Might do that in the future. Anyone else dealt with a broken skag?

Depending on how much of the skeg that you broke off, replacing it or using an add-on may be necessary to protect your prop. The skeg is a "sacrifical" part the way I see it.

One comment on your bunks. It doesn't appear that they extend past the transom. With a heavy motor hanging off of the back, some boats can develop a "hook" in the hull. "A downward bend in the bottom of the hull". That is not a good thing.

If my observation is correct, then extending the bunks, or re-positioning the boat on the trailer is called for.

Nice boat. Welcome aboard.
rich

Cool little boat! These small alum boats are so much fun to tinker with. Simple, practical, easy to tow/launch.....and they catch fish!

Enjoy your new toy with your family....great memories await all of you!

Be safe!

Theres still quite a bit off skeg left. I dont have a picture didnt have much time to mess with it had to get to work. I. Hind sight probably shouldnt have messed with it at all lol. I would do a bolt on to replace it for now but the problem is I cant find one for a small motor. At least online. Ill look around at some of the local marine stores maybe ill find something that will work.

As for the bunks its hard to see in the pic because they blend in with the night. They do stick out atleast a couple inches on both sides. I was thinking about moving them foward so they dont stick out. So thank you for the heads up.

Overton's, A K Mcallom, and West Marine ..if you havent tried them yet. A K is a sponsor here.

I snapped 2-3" off the skeg on a Suzuki 25 hp motor I had on a 13' Boston Whaler. I hit the edge of a large round boulder. My cousin jumped in with goggles and found the broken off piece. It ended up putting the skeg almost dead even with the prop so I never bothered to have it welded back on. I ran the boat like that for 5 years without any problems. I always figured the rocks in the river would just do the same thing again. When I sold the boat to a guy at the beach, I gave him the piece and he was going to have it welded back on.

DiveLiberty said:

I used 5200 to attach the cutting board to the transom, and them screwed the transducer to that. One less set of holes in the transom isn't a bad thing.

Click to expand...

Less if you didn’t prep & prime the area beforehand, the 5200 will attack the tin ... you should look up the pictures Johnny posted - see below.

I prep & prime the area w/ zinc chromate, then coat the area w/ G-Flex 650 flexible epoxy (or Steel-Flex) and then adhere the plastic piece to that. Cutting ‘dovetail’ features on the back of the plastic will improve adherence, allowing a mechanical lock, as those HDPE-type plastics don’t really chemically bond with polysulfide products like 5200.

FYI, 8-ounce kits of West Systems G-Flex 650 epoxy run ~$20 in my neck of the woods, whereas one needs to but Steel-Flex in bulk amounts.

Great DIY post here on xducer mounting = https://www.forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38017&hilit=Transducer+aluminum+5200

If you get the 3m instructions for 5200 they indicate you should be applying 5200 to a primed surface. Not that anyone on here ever does, but it's nice to see the chemists know what they're talking about.

Why not use two part epoxy for something like this?

LDUBS said:

Why not use two part epoxy for something like this?

Click to expand...

That may work, may not. Some epoxies don't adhere to super plastics well, as they are too hard, never mind zero chemical bond. For the super plastics, I'd have more faith in 5200 adhered to dovetail cuts than an epoxy-based product.

I use the G-Flex to coat the surface to prevent attack from the 5200.

That said, on my frg (glass) boats, I just used to a piece of mahogany epoxied to the transom to hold the xducers, at least before I went to 'in hull' pucks (cut into the hull). Had the boat 20-years and the mahogany piece never rotted out on me , was still sound when I sold the old girl ...

Thanks DaleH. I really appreciate how educational TB.net is for guys like me.