Crestliner Sportfish

[BigWormin]

I'm currently looking at purchasing a mid 90's Crestliner Sportfish, it's 17 1/2 feet with a 130hp inboard. Have any of you ever ridden in or owned one of these boats? It looks like a fairly big/deep boat, does 130hp push it well? Any positives or negatives to having an inboard? I've had a 40hp outboard my whole life so I have no experience with an inboard.

I'd like to hear anybodies thoughts/experiences positive or negative about this style boat.

Thanks!

[Shorelunch]

BW,

Inboards aren't very popular in the upper midwest with these type of boats. This is an outboard market. Personally, unless it's one heck of a deal, I'd shy away. There's plenty of Sportfish, Tropy's, Fishermen/Tyee's out there with quality outboards.

[marine_man]

Shorelunch is right with respect to I/O's popularity in the upper midwest, or at a minimum in MN / ND / SD, etc.

A couple of things to consider on an I/O:

1) Winterizing is a bit more difficult, or maybe time consuming would be a better word. You have to remove frost plugs at a minimum, and better yet, take off some hoses & splash RV antifreeze in them

2) If your outdrive doesn't have greasless gimble bearings you'll want to remove the outdrive and grease them. Again, not difficult, but certainly time consuming

Advantages:

1) It's basically a vehicle engine under the hood, so working on motor related problems if you're mechancially inclined isn't much more difficult than working on your vehicle.

In the end though, I agree with Shorelunch. Hold off until you can find a outboard version.

marine_man

[MuskieJunkie]

A I/O has a lot more HP lose through the drive train than an outboard. A Yamaha 115 outboard is measured at the drive shaft so it is truely 115 hp (so they are already factoring the drive train power loss). Yours is measured at the engine so by the time it goes through the drive train you are probably closer to 100 true HP.

I/Os are also much heavier than comparabe outboards.

When things start going very wrong with I/Os you're stuck with a lemon. When they start going very wrong with an outboard you have the option to just replace the outboard.

[BigWormin]

Thanks for the good info guys, this is some stuff I didn't think about.

[bassNspear]

this is all great information, the biggest thing to remember, is you cant use it as early in the spring, and later in the fall, like you can with the outboards.

[davesfriend]

I have to agree also. I have had friends with inboards. I don't know if they were just junk or what but it always seemed they would have to tinker with it every time we went out. I am no expert but the out board on my sportfish is a Merc. 125 two stroke. It does get kinda poor gas milage but it sure is fast. I got lucky with mine though, it allready had the 9.9 four stroke kicker on it. That thing can run for weeks with little gas consumption. If you can wait I would. Watch south dakota boat dealers. I bought mine for around 4k less over there. Hope this helps...

[Walleye Guy]

Another thing to think about is the brand of the I/O drive and where you will be fishing. A buddy of mine has a similar boat with a Volvo-Penta I/O. A couple years back we had a problem on Lake Vermilion. We couldn't find a Volvo-Penta dealer anywhere close to that area. Lots of very nice boat mechanics who tried to help but getting parts was the big issue. If you go I/O I would look for a more popular brand drive if you are fishing in remote areas frequently.

[bassNspear]

that makes sence, but you are also going to want to get what you like. Volvo has a great drive as well, with there cone vs dog teeth. Ither way, they both have been in business for a long time, and will be for many more years. But i understand what your saying Walleye.

[davesfriend]

I have a question. Do inboard drives sit the same depth inthe water as an outboard? Do they raise up as far as an inboard? I have been in some places where I had to get the motor completely out of the water. And do inboards wheigh more or less? Would it make the boat sit lower in the water? That might be an issue aswell. Just some thoughts..

[bassNspear]

you are going ot have more weight with a inboard vs an outboard. the depth of the boat is going ot be a deepter then it would be with a outboard as well

[marine_man]

Inboard definately weigh more. They raise up just as high, or, put in another perspective, you can tilt the outdrive up high enough so the hull is still the lowest point in the water.

I would anticipate the additional weight of the inboard engine would make it sit lower in the water, but I've got no numbers to back that up.

marine_man

[davesfriend]

That's what I thought. I know that putting in on Millacs last summer, we had everybody in the front to pick the back up far enough to float.

[blarkey]

winterizing is a lot more difficult and in the older boats they start to leak water around the seals and the boat would be more likely to take on water. Also there not as shallow water friendly.

[BigWormin]

Thanks for all your guy's thoughts on this, I have decided not to purchase this boat and will be looking for a boat with an outboard motor. I've already had my boat out on the river and fish until the river locks up in the winter so if they can't handle the cold well it's no good for me! That along with all the other thoughts in this post helped make my decision easy.

Thanks again!