Crestliner Sportfish Project

[fishrdan]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

To steal what?

Any thing they could... actually looked like they were trying to cut the engine out, ,but couldn't cut through 2" of plywood and 3/16 of aluminum. They got the outdrive, couple parts off the engine, seats, speakers, stereo. I bought it as a project.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Well the deal is done for now and the JB Weld will have to do. The worst situation I forsee would be some hairline cracks in the JB. If I have to re-do the job at some point in the future it won't be the end of the world.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Well the deal is done for now and the JB Weld will have to do.

Yeah, same here. Once I put the JB weld in there I couldn't turn back to weld it,,, without cutting it all apart and cleaning the JB weld back out. Trying to weld on top of epoxy would be a a mess, if not impossible....

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

OK... we're making more progress. Transom is all done - just need to re-hang the motor eventually - for now it can stay off.

I now need to replace the '90s teal side carpet before new floors can go down. I cashed in a Bass Pro gift certificate from Christmas and carpet for the sides is on order. My plan is for dark blue sides, gray vinyl main floor and gray carpet casting decks. I think this will look OK.

So, this morning I started ripping out the side carpets. I'm planning on using contact cement on the new carpet. I think it will set up OK in the cooler temperatures of my garage - right? I think it should work better at this time of year than the latex type adhesives. More pics when the carpet is in. Hopefully, it will arrive while I'm off this week.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Despite trying to live in denial since I bought this thing, I decided that I had to face the truth today. I decided to get a grip on reality and take some flotation foam core samples from the Crestliner. Sure enough the foam is soaked (actually it's frozen). Everything else on the boat had water damage, why would the foam be an exception. So out it comes...

So, after removing the ice-foam, how should I proceed. I see the Starcraft club likes to use the pink sheeting. I'd like to use this too, I'm just a little concerned that it may not fill as much volume as the original foam. Pourable foam would be equivalent to the OEM method but is messy and more costly. Any advice at this point is greatly appreciated.

So much for - "I know... I'll just slap some new floor boards in this thing and I'll have an awesome fishing boat".

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

One major issue with poured-in expandable foam in a tinny is the fact that we need to keep a channel available for water to drain from bow to stern in the bilge. The blue foam allows you to set pieces in that leave a nice V for the water to drain.

The expandable foam is great for fiberglass rigs since it fills voids well and adds some structural support when under pressure.

So I will be sticking to the sheets and just trying to get in as much as possible for flotation. Keep in mind that lifejackets, gas tanks and wood all add to your flotation in an emergency. This was mentioned in another thread recently and is a valid point.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

So much for - "I know... I'll just slap some new floor boards in this thing and I'll have an awesome fishing boat".

HA, I know the feeling...

I think you could just replace the pour foam with the blue/pink sheet foam and call it a day. In my 1800 there was a lot of space left between the hull and decking where more flotation could have been added, around the original pour foam. If I had replaced my foam (it was dry ) I wouldn't have worried about replacing it with the same volume of sheet foam, plenty of space. If in doubt, measure the cavities, guesstimate the % of pour foam coverage and see if you can replace that volume with the sheet foam. My 1800 has a big foam block poured into the bow (removable) that might be a pain to duplicate with sheet foam, but not so much of a pain that I would go buy some pour foam if I wasn't using it all ready.

I'm under the impression MFG's use pour foam since it's probably more cost effective in a production environment, but I wonder how much noise the foam dampens in an aluminum hull, since it's stuck directly to the hull.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Yea, I'm wondering how much the foam plays into the sound and feel of the boat. That may be a good reason to stick with the pour foam.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

I spent a long day in the cold garage dealing with the flotation. I decided to go with the pink sheet. I think it worked out real well. Installing it was a breeze. Getting the old junk out was another story... it wasn't necessarily difficult, just tedious. The old flotation didn't appear to be terribly soaked. But it definitely was holding some water. I possibly could have gotten by without completely tearing it up. If nothing else, at lease I'll have the peace of mind that the flotation is not an issue.

The new carpet was delivered today. I kinda cheaped out on the carped for the sides and got the lowest grade BPS had available. I figured for the sides any reasonably decent carpet would do. After inspecting the new carpet, I was pleasntly surprised it looks really nice and dense. I thought by getting the cheapest carpet it may be somewhat cheezy but this stuff actually looks good. If I feel motived enough tomorrow I may slap it in there. Then again, sitting in the comfort of my heated home on my Lazy-Boy watching football doesn't sound like a bad option either.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Does it hurt that OB to lay on the floor like that? Just sayin. Won't that foam dry out over time? Since it is not a wood boat I would think it would not matter. I am no expert on aluminium though.

Nice work.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Part of the deal for me to keep a project boat in the garage all winter was that I leave plenty of space for the wife to park. Because of space limitations, the outboard needed to go on its side. The l/u is off and the carbs are drained. I can't imagine any harm will be done.

From what I was able to determine, it seemed the consensus was that once foam gets wet, it's near impossible to dry out. When I took a few core samples I determined that the foam was holding water. Who's to say that other areas of the foam wouldn't be holding considerably more water. Because of this, I felt that it was best to strip all the old foam out and get fresh foam in there.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

OK... more progress. I installed my Christmas present (carpet) today. I'd been dreading working in the cold garage all week, so this morning I bought a second 1500W small space heater. After letting the heaters run for a few hours in the garage the temperature reached a comfortable 52F. The outside temps were in the high single digits, so I was fairly impressed that the small heaters did this well.

Anyway, apparently it was warm enough for the contact cement, as it set up just fine. I'm real happy with the look and color of the carpet. At last, I can start laying down some new deck boards. After a few months of doing things that needed to be done but didn't improve the looks of the boat, it's nice to finally start making improvements that clearly make the boat look better.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

McGR,
Nice to hear that you are making progress. Would love to see more Pic's.
Bob

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

OK... I think I fixed the image problem. The carpet looks kinda black in the picture, it's actually dark blue. Hopefully, next week I can post some pics with a new deck installed.

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

After waiting all day for the epoxy on the plywood to cure, I eventually managed to get the main deck boards finished off. I'm real happy with the Nautolex vinyl. It was real easy to work with and looks good too. I haven't screwed down the boards yet. I'll get to this during the week. Shouldn't take long.

Now I'm ready to start the console and front deck. I was going to carpet up front. However, the vinyl supplier sent me about 5' of additional vinyl beyond the 3 yards than I ordered. I may just go with the vinyl up front to. We'll see...

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

That vinyl looks awesome. I'm going to be using it on my project. As well. Where did you order it from? And can you tell me what seat pedestals you used? Those look like exactly what I need. Thanks.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

McGR,
That deck looks awesome, I would like to know where you got the vinyl from too. The boat is looking great.
Bob

 

[McGR]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

EZ, Bob thanks for the compliments. I bought the vinyl online from Defender marine. I did a fairly comprehensive online price comparison, and Defender seemed to have the best price available ($17.95 per yard for 72"). Service was real good too. I ordered it on Monday evening and had it on Thursday, plus they gave me 5' of free vinyl.

The bases are Swivl-Eze 238 series bases (http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/category/swivl-eze/238-series). I bought these on eBay on an impulse. They were a real good deal at $35. But I didn't check out the size before I bought. They are 2" shorter than the original pedestals. I'm not too sure if they look right or not on my boat. I'm still debating with myself regarding this. I like the looks of these particular bases too. If I don't use these exact ones, I'll probably get longer ones of the same series.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Thanks so much for the info. I'm pretty sure I need real short pedestals for mine so if you decide you want biggers ones I'l happily buy those off you.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Crestliner Sportfish Project

Another question....on the vinyl, did you use their adhesive and how much did you need. That stuff is pricey.