Crestliner CX 1754 Project

[Transplant]

my yard is all hill unfortunately, I’ve had to get creative to fit the boats and all my past projects in and unfortunately there’s just no reasonable way to get a garage in despite having lots of useless yard to work with. But I make do, and I’m not afraid of wearing snowpants and gloves to keep progress going outdoors in the winter months. When I can at least, sometimes I just sit inside the house and drink beer and patiently wait for spring.

 

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A couple updates after a good bit of work over the holidays. The front and rear decks are done, carpet on the floor and all hatches looks fantastic. I’m waiting on some more carpet so I can finish the sections inside the boat that I’m not pulling out (sidewalls, cockpit floor, and bulkhead for front deck). Current project is finishing up the wiring under the dash and then I’ll be moving on to cleaning up the seats, they need some minor repairs and a good cleaning. They’ll likely get reupholstered at some point in the future but that might be a project for next winter.

 

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Just to show what I’m using for the carpet application process, lacquer thinner, scotch brite pads and garage duty paper towels for adhesive removal, and Lepage Heavy Duty contact cement and tons of cheap brushes for glueing the carpet down. Of note, those metal paper clips are 100 times better than any clamp I’ve found for holding the carpet on edges for glueing when required.

 

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And finally for today, some helpful advice to confirm that carpet direction 100% matters. The first photo shows what happens when one hatch has carpet installed correctly, the second photo shows what happens when the carpet is installed backwards on one hatch. I have 3 hatches in my boat that are all the same size, I need 2 in one direction and 1 in the opposite direction. I did not confirm which hatches were which before glueing carpet on. This ended up being a minor issue because the hinges are not all drilled the same and can’t be installed in other locations without drilling new holes. But drilling a few holes is way easier than re-doing carpet so that’s what I did to get all the hatches installed and matching. Again, ignore the snowy footprints… it’s a byproduct of Mother Nature and December in Nova Scotia.

 

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There are very few jobs I can do while sitting in my living room but polishing the windshield was one of them. I had previously fixed the windshield which was cracked in half, I just used a gel type super glue and that worked well. For polishing I used a headlight polishing kit, it was effective at removing the haze from the windshield and a lot of the light scratches. Not perfect, but still a massive improvement for the windshield without having to buy a new trim. I still have a few big jobs left to do but it feels good getting to some of these cosmetic type jobs over the next little while.

 

[cyclops2]

Just bought & tested fireplace Fire Brick to insulate the big electrical generator from the garage door rubber bottom. Bought 8 bricks & stacked them on the long flexible S S exhaust pipe. 2 F temperature rise !! Now can raise the roll up door 8" . Which allows 18" of space at the top of the opening for the engine to breath.. Temp gun & my hand agreed. Feels good to complete that part. Next is the 150 gallons of Aviation gasoline in the outside trash can cabinet. Have to keep working to get those endless little jobs done.

 

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Small steps forward on some small jobs lately. I replaced the old oxidized light on the side of the dash with a new led light, and added a second light to the front of the dash assuming that one wouldn’t be enough. I also mounted a pair of speakers to the bracket that eventually will mount between the front bulkhead and the dash. These are just cheap marine speakers I got from Amazon warehouse. And of note, my list of things to do is now short enough to go on a piece of cardboard for a final list. This will likely need to be redone shortly as soon as I think of a few more little things that need to get done. And finally, before and after photos of the cleaned up floor drain, that got all the rocks cleaned out, cleaned and sanded, and heated up with the heat gun to get the oxidation cleaned up.

 

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And I’m super proud of myself for taking on a job I’ve never done before. Using the best advice I could get on YouTube, I popped the old trailer tire off the rim using a ratcheting strap annd floor jack, and got the new tire on. This was a 3 day process as I struggled with getting the bead set on the new tire. I eventually succeeded by using a bike tire tube to bridge the gap between the tire and the rim. YouTube will teach you everything you need to know, my only additional advice that youtube didn’t teach me was wear ear protection when that tire pops on the bead finally. And even better advice, just pay a tire shop to do this for you, that’s going to be my future plan at least.

 

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Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning vinyl? I got my seats to about 90% but I’ve got some lingering mold/mildew stains I’d like to get out. I’ve used degreaser, upholstery cleaner, and a diluted bleach solution up to this point, I’ve been reading that isopropyl alcohol might work but isn’t as good as bleach? Photo shows one seat cleaned and one just before cleaning so I have no complaints if this is the best I can do, but why quit now if I can do better?

 

[TheGrandestPoobah]

Might be worth grabbing an inexpensive agitator brush. I've grabbed sets that fit in a drill at auto-parts stores for just a few bucks. Just use on a test spot so you see how well the vinyl takes it. Can be a game changer

 

[Stand Up]

I use this on a lot of things that are stained and it works great.

https://www.amazon.ca/Niagara-Mist-...0++plus+pd831908+stain+remover,aps,177&sr=8-4
Also try a citrus cleaner concentrate. I use it to clean greasy parts and stuff instead of varsol and it works good.

 

[Transplant]

Might be worth grabbing an inexpensive agitator brush. I've grabbed sets that fit in a drill at auto-parts stores for just a few bucks. Just use on a test spot so you see how well the vinyl takes it. Can be a game changer

I forgot to mention that part as well is that I used a drill brush to give them a good scrubbing, man I love that somebody invented drill brushes.

 

[Transplant]

I use this on a lot of things that are stained and it works great.

https://www.amazon.ca/Niagara-Mist-...0++plus+pd831908+stain+remover,aps,177&sr=8-4
Also try a citrus cleaner concentrate. I use it to clean greasy parts and stuff instead of varsol and it works good.

Never heard of this stuff but I will definitely check it out. I tried undiluted isopropyl alcohol last night and it did nothing so I’ll definitely need something a little more specific to removing mold and mildew stains at this point.

 

[LDUBS]

Have you tried any mold/mildew remover products? I've not used it, but just read in another forum about "Nautical One" brand being among the best. But, I think before I shelled out $15 to $20 for a "marine" vinyl cleaner product I would try good old ZEP mold/mildew stain remover from my local hardware store.

 

[Transplant]

Have you tried any mold/mildew remover products? I've not used it, but just read in another forum about "Nautical One" brand being among the best. But, I think before I shelled out $15 to $20 for a "marine" vinyl cleaner product I would try good old ZEP mold/mildew stain remover from my local hardware store.

That stuff popped up when I was doing some looking, I think that’s my plan for the next attempt considering it’s cheap and local.

 

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I’d like to say the carpet is completely done, but when throwing all the parts back in the boat I found a small section of old carpet that I missed. I thought the throttle assembly would cover it, I was wrong. But I can say it’s 99% done and I’ll get that last bit ripped out and replaced before I start screwing everything down. I had a relatively warm day today to work in (got up to 2 degrees today) so I used a small space heater while working under the boat cover to get things warm enough for the glue to set. And also of note, I used painters tape and paper to make a stencil of the sidewalls that needed to be carpeted and it worked fantastic, I’m very happy with how that all turned out. Next on the list is reassembly of all the parts, and then I want to look at the bilge pump and live well pump and make sure everything is hooked up and functioning properly. I believe I need to add an aerator to my live well at some point but I need to sort out how everything works first before I decide if it needs to be upgraded.

 

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Carpet is done thank goodness, we’re on to re-assembly and a few small projects when I can do them in the shed or when the weather cooperates to work outside. The fire extinguisher cubby has been cleaned up and is looking fresh. I built a small aluminum step bracket to mount at the bow for the fwd fishfinder and as a place to store a few tools (that will get carpet). I used epoxy to cast a trolling motor mount for the transducer that came with the boat. It apparently had come off the transom and got hit by the prop so the mount was busted off it. I bench tested it and it seemed ok so I made a mold using abs pipe, cardboard, popsicle sticks and masking tape and ended up with a decent mount (I hope). There’s 2 slots molded into the epoxy where hose clamps can go through to fasten this to the trolling motor up front. If it doesn’t work I’ll use the universal sonar on my trolling motor, but I have a Helix 7 with side view for up front and I’d like to keep the side view functional if I can. And finally I tried to clean the pedestal seats but they’re shot, at some point I’ll have to break out the sewing machine to reupholster them, I’m in no rush to do that yet since I won’t use those seats most of the time anyway. Next on the list is battery trays, bilge pump, and correcting the horribly oxidized paint… weather pending.

 

[Transplant]

It’s been a while since an update, but there’s been lots of good progress as we progressed into the warmer temperatures of spring. I got the boat essentially finished in March in time to get the trailer inspected. I ran into troubles with a broken leaf spring and wonky trailer wiring, but that was all easily fixed to allow for fishing season to start. The boat is running fantastic with the only issue being cold starts, I believe the choke isn’t working and is causing a rich condition but I want to run it a few more times to work some things out. After the first few trips I ended up removing the existing fuse panel and replacing with new, that corrected a number of intermittent electrical issues I was having. I also installed a new bilge pump which is now working perfectly. The boat does 40mph with ease, is comfortable as anything to fish from, and I’m loving every minute of it. Except for that last trip out where a pothole jumped out and bit me, resulting in a very broken spindle mount that now needs repair or replacement once that axle is fixed up I might be ready to finally polish the paint and apply a couple decals, that’s my sign that we’re ready for derby season. And potentially just in time depending on that axle.

 

[Zum]

Congrats, jice fish

 

[LDUBS]

Boat looks great and 40 mph is terrific! That broken spindle pic makes me cringe.