71 Crestliner Muskie 15 Project

[LaqueRatt]

No, it's not a tinny, but it is a fishing boat. At least Crestliner thinks so, they named it Muskie. Been looking for a tinny with a helm all year. Not having a lot of luck I settled for this. I still have my MirroCraft though and honestly I'd have preferred another tinny.

I'm calling this a project, but not sure how far will go with it. May just spruce it up some, do a bit of maintenance, but who knows, maybe I'll try to restore it. Belonged to a carpenter who re-did the floor. A big selling point. Transom on this boat is supposed to be solid glass and shows no signs of stress. Came with a 75 HP Mercury. 1985 Model Type: ELPT I believe. S/N: A168931. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me. Runs, but needs attention. Hopefully just a carb cleaning.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Pretty much a novice here, so hope you guys don't mind dumb questions. First one: I broke this thing today. Hope it's not important. Is this for the speedo? Old and brittle, it needed replacing anyway.

 

[LDUBS]

Yes, that is the pitot tube for the speedometer. If you are going to have a fish finder with GPS that shows speed, you really won't need this at all.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Any idea where to get a replacement? I'd like for my speedo to work. Man was that thing brittle. Just brushing the cover against it broke that tube off.

 

[LDUBS]

Google "boat speedo pitot" and you will get a ton of choices.

 

[LaqueRatt]

OK, looks like this isn't going to be a biggie. Some of you may be chuckling, but I honestly thought this could be a brand/year specific original part which, of course, just my luck......would be NLA!

Just for the heck of it, decided to test the flip up feature. It flipped up, but that really did it in. Now it's in pieces. Either it's really old or a real piece of crap. So going to order a new one, but was wondering if silicone is the proper goo to put underneath the bracket? Looks like that's what the last guy used. Is the quality pretty much the same with all replacements?

 

[Driftless]

Man was that thing brittle.

Plastic tends to not age well. Sort of why I prefer aluminum boats.
You might want to check to see if there's a boat junkyard in your area.

 

[LaqueRatt]

There must not be much money in boat junkyards. I'm about as likely to find a yeti roaming the woods as a boat junkyard. Heck, I can't hardly even find a good parts motor. So what kinda goo should I put under the the pitot? It's due to arrive today and as soon as the rain stops I'll be installing it.

 

[flatheadsteve]

There must not be much money in boat junkyards. I'm about as likely to find a yeti roaming the woods as a boat junkyard. Heck, I can't hardly even find a good parts motor. So what kinda goo should I put under the the pitot? It's due to arrive today and as soon as the rain stops I'll be installing it.

Marine grade clear silicone is what I would use. It's been 20yrs or so since I've had a boat with a speed sensor like that. That boat was glass too a 16ft viking ski boat with a 73 evinrude 115hp.

 

[LaqueRatt]

I can't even get marine grade fuel line here in town, so doubt if can get that stuff. I want to get it done, so I'll probably end up using regular silicone. Since it's used in bathrooms it must be impervious to moisture and I'll never drop this boat into any salt.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Clear bathroom caulk. 100% silicone. Good enough. Now if can just manage to not knock the new one into anything. Looks kinda flimsy to me.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Making steady progress. Trailer lights now work. How come every trailer I buy has messed up lights? She's rigged and has bumpers. Cleaned out the carbs and now the Merc is growling nicely. Idling a little high. Not sure why. Tried to idle it down with the idle stop on the motor, but that didn't help a lot. Could it be the throttle cables need tweaking? Plan on splashing her tomorrow.

Anybody happen to know what the button towards the top of my throttle is for? It's the square under the trim switch. Letters are almost worn off, but looks like it says trailer, trawler, or troller. I'm guessing troller?

 

[MrGiggles]

Making steady progress. Trailer lights now work. How come every trailer I buy has messed up lights? She's rigged and has bumpers. Cleaned out the carbs and now the Merc is growling nicely. Idling a little high. Not sure why. Tried to idle it down with the idle stop on the motor, but that didn't help a lot. Could it be the throttle cables need tweaking? Plan on splashing her tomorrow.

Anybody happen to know what the button towards the top of my throttle is for? It's the square under the trim switch. Letters are almost worn off, but looks like it says trailer, trawler, or troller. I'm guessing troller?

Trailer. There is a trim limit switch on that prevents you from trimming the outboard too high with the up/down buttons. The "trailer" button bypasses the limit switch and will raise the motor as high as it can go for trailering.

I'm not sure if all models utilized it, but that's what it's for. My 84 60hp had it, until I started having problems with the switch and removed it. If you were wondering why it doesn't seem to trim up as far as it should, that's probably why.

 

[Striper57]

Since you asked why trailer lights never seem to work...

"Shortly after man invented the wheel, he invented the trailer. Ever since then, he has been trying to figure out how to hook up the lights."

“I know a man who claims the lights on his boat trailer once worked twice consecutively. Anyone with one or more trailers will instantly recognize this as an outrageous claim, but the man is a member of the clergy, and for that reason alone I believe him. On the other hand, he’s also a fisherman, so he may be exaggerating a bit. Possibly his trailer lights worked only once consecutively."

These are a few snippets from the late, great Patrick F. McManus on trailer lights. I paraphrase this every time I try the lights on any trailer I hook up. McManus was truly one of the greatest outdoor humor writers to ever put pen to paper and was what I always looked to in every Outdoor Life magazine I ever received.

 

[MrGiggles]

Since you asked why trailer lights never seem to work...

"Shortly after man invented the wheel, he invented the trailer. Ever since then, he has been trying to figure out how to hook up the lights."

“I know a man who claims the lights on his boat trailer once worked twice consecutively. Anyone with one or more trailers will instantly recognize this as an outrageous claim, but the man is a member of the clergy, and for that reason alone I believe him. On the other hand, he’s also a fisherman, so he may be exaggerating a bit. Possibly his trailer lights worked only once consecutively."

These are a few snippets from the late, great Patrick F. McManus on trailer lights. I paraphrase this every time I try the lights on any trailer I hook up. McManus was truly one of the greatest outdoor humor writers to ever put pen to paper and was what I always looked to in every Outdoor Life magazine I ever received.

There's a lot of reasons why trailer wiring never seems to work. 90% of it is junk components and poor wiring practices.

My local farm supply has 5 conductor trailer wire with a sheath on a roll, sold by the foot. It's good stuff, best thing to use if there is no conduit. With that wire, a ground lead that runs to every light (not using the trailer frame), and quality light assemblies, it should be pretty trouble free.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Well crap. 16 mph sustained winds today took all the joy out of the idea. Guess the splash is going to have to wait. I just didn't want to deal with a solo launch and retrieval with white caps on the lake. On the bright side I swapped out the sketchy looking cable winch for the nearly new strap winch on my spare trailer. The cable was actually tangled up like a birds nest on an old time fishing reel. Think maybe I dodged a bullet. It took me a half hour prying with a pair of screwdrivers to get it untangled. Wouldn't have been much fun doing that at the ramp while trying to keep the boat from floating away!

 

[Skunked again]

No, that is not fun! Especially since in a scenario like that, been there done that.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Since you asked why trailer lights never seem to work...

"Shortly after man invented the wheel, he invented the trailer. Ever since then, he has been trying to figure out how to hook up the lights."

“I know a man who claims the lights on his boat trailer once worked twice consecutively. Anyone with one or more trailers will instantly recognize this as an outrageous claim, but the man is a member of the clergy, and for that reason alone I believe him. On the other hand, he’s also a fisherman, so he may be exaggerating a bit. Possibly his trailer lights worked only once consecutively."

These are a few snippets from the late, great Patrick F. McManus on trailer lights. I paraphrase this every time I try the lights on any trailer I hook up. McManus was truly one of the greatest outdoor humor writers to ever put pen to paper and was what I always looked to in every Outdoor Life magazine I ever received.

That made me chuckle. Funny thing though. Once I sort out the wonky wiring my lights generally stay working. For some dumb reason if I do have a problem it's usually the ground wire.

 

[airshot]

Your experience is why I gave up on winch "cables" years ago!! Even my side x side winch has rope, no cables! As far as trailer wiring, mine works great every time as I took the time to run ground wires and used good connecters, not Chinese junk. All connections are sealed and waterproof. And of course led lights....take the time and effort to do I right and you wont have problems.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Interesting about the trailer button. I wonder if mine is bypassed? The motor goes up pretty high.

Check out the pic in post #1. If motor went up any higher it would be inside the boat!