Chris' Crestliner 1436

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Chrisja77

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Joined
Jan 26, 2017
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Location
Arkansas
Hey everyone...first off, this is going to be a long project so don't expect much! I've been reading and browsing to figure out the direction I want to go and figured I would start this thread so I can keep everything in one place.

Now, a little history. My father in law has been my fishing partner since the early 90's, he had a 14' Jon boat with a wood floor and casting decks front and rear that raised up and had the gas tank and battery underneath. After years of use the wood rotted away and slowly the boat rotted away. In 04 my mother in law bought him a new Crestliner 1436 hull and I put a floor in it for him. I had no idea what I was doing, but I got it done. Fast forward to present day and after a few strokes and other health issues he no longer can get out and in a boat. He has moved off to live with my brother in law in Kansas City and he is giving me his boat. Somewhere between selling his house and moving all of his paperwork for everything has come up missing so we are trying to figure out how to get it tagged in my name....hopefully we can jump through the paperwork hoops without too many kinks. Anyways, so now you know that I do have a little history with this boat.

My goals are to do something similar to what he originally had. I am wanting a casting deck between the front seats and carpeted floors. It's 36" wide and has a 15hp motor so I don't want anything top heavy or too heavy to get on plane and move around. I'm sure a 20hp would be better but it's not going to happen. It has a foot control trolling motor and I'm tossing around the idea to recess the control in the front deck. It has a live well in the center seat and my plans are to take the lid off and run the casting deck over the top of that seat and put a hatch in to get to the livewell, and then add an aerator pump. I am wanting to add storage under the casting deck...would love to figure out how to do built in rod holders but they aren't a must. I would also like to move the trolling motor battery under the casting deck and leave the fuel tank in the rear. Add a few lighting options and a fish finder and probably call it good.

Anyways, here is what I'm starting with. The hull is in great shape, the motor and trolling motor work fine, the trailer is in good shape for a 92 model, but the wood and carpet is shot.









 
I guess my first major decision is wether to use aluminum or wood for the framing. I am MUCH more competent with wood than metal.

I've been calling around and the only place I can find aluminum angle at will only sell it to me if I buy 50'...it's $1 a foot so not bad and I guess I could get a lifetime supply of 1" angle! I would bolt or rivet it since I have no way to weld aluminum.

If I use wood I want to do it with 2x2 to save weight.

I've seen projects in both that I like and it seems like it's really up in the air depending on who you talk to about weight and flotation benefits between the 2. I'm gonna work on researching it some more. The deck will definitely be wood, just FYI
 
Thats a fair price for the angle. No wood

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 
I was like you starting out not sure between aluminum and wood. I love modifying Jon boats so much I doing it a third time. My first build had aluminum and wood framing with spar protected. Let me say the aluminum was far more superior. I was bound and determined to find the answer on the easiest way to work with aluminum angle. The answer is get a good chop saw and rivet gun. Also do not use the small head rivets from Lowes or Home Depot. Order online large flange rivets. I promise you'll be really pleased with it and happy with yourself you learned a new skill.
 
Wow, has it really been this long and I have nothing to show for it! So far all I have done is swap the motor down to a 9.9...but I plan on pulling it into the garage and finally get some things fixed since the floor is now rotten and the seats are broke. It’s in sad shape.

With it being a 1436 I have reconsidered the casting deck. To save weight and to keep stability. If I drop the casting deck idea I need to move my front seat back onto the top of the livewell for some more leg room. It’s miserable trying to work the trolling motor right now cause it’s stuck under you while sitting there. What could I do to reinforce the livewell lid enough to sit on it with a pedestal seat? A piece of 3/4” plywood attached to it? Small piece of steel under the lid? Remove the lid and do a plywood cover? Help me out with ideas here please.
 
Well, my downward spiral started when I got a free garmin striker 4 fish finder from work for a safety award...I’ve never used a fish finder before so this is new territory. I got the carb rebuilt on my 9.9 and got it running good and ran the striker 4 to the bow. Bought a set of millennium seats to go in it and scooted my front base back. Luckily my plywood is still in great shape, it was just the cheap carpet that’s falling apart. I’ll replace that later. Took it out fishing and enjoyed using the fish finder. Made the mistake of going to bass pro to look at all the fish finders and see what I could learn about them and then walked out with a new Garmin Echomap plus 93sv. Mapping, down view, side view...this thing does so much it’s gonna take me a while to learn how to use it.

Took it out fishing to learn the new 93sv and my old trolling motor died. Ended up stepping into a 24v 80 lb terrova. I love this trolling motor. Now I just keep going back and forth on running the 93sv on the bow or stern. Lol
 

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