1990 Crestliner Phantom SST 180

[crkranz]

I bought a 1990 Crestliner SST a few weeks ago real cheap. Hull is straight, no dents, but paint is in poor shape. The interior is trashed so it will be a complete gut job. I am planning on replacing all the foam and every piece of wood in it.

The Crestliners are fully welded so no rivets to deal with and I haven’t found any cracked welds so far. This one has the SST (space saving transom) extended transom. I’m still trying to decide if I want to replace the SST transom wood or not. It doesn’t seem rotten, but I probably will end up doing it just to know it is good. There really isn’t an ‘inner’ wood transom on the rear of the main boat. The SST is bolted to is bolted to kickers to tie it into the main hull structure/stringers. However, there is a piece of ¾” ply between the transom skin and the kickers which is rotten along the bottom edge. Not real sure the purpose of this other than to act as a spacer and maybe provide a little cushion between the two assemblies. It looks like a real PITA to replace this.

 

[crkranz]

Started tearing out all the side panels and flooring...


You can kind of see how the SST is attached...

 

[crkranz]

Pretty impressed by the construction of the hull. Seems to be well built. That said the interior is put together with way to many pieces of wood and takes forever to disassemble. There are 1000s of screws and bolts holding the various interior pieces together. Seem to be a very inefficient way to build. I am going to simplify things when I put it back together and hopefully lighten up the boat a bit.

 

[MarkNY]

I will be paying close attention to your post as i have a similar project going on a 1990 24' Crestliner Sabre G/L with the same transom. I've been working on getting that 3/4" sheet of plywood out or the rear of the boat. Its been a bear as the wood is swelled and rotten. good luck, mark

 

[crkranz]

A couple more pictures of the inner transom. I have come to the conclusion it is going to be a huge amount of work to get that piece of plywood out of there. It looks the kickers might have been welding in after that piece of plywood was put in. Definitely the SST was welding in afterwards as it is notched over the ply. Trying to evaluate my options right now and they pretty much all suck. The other problem is that the outside portions of the SST were filled with foam and makes getting to the nuts impossible without digging it out through the 3" holes.

 

[MarkNY]

Aside from the foam in there you pretty much have the same setup as I do. Check out my crestliner post. Yes its a crappy job but i think its a very important part. My plywood is shot. I had my metal guy cut a notch out of splashwell so i can lift the wood out vertically. It was a pain getting all the bolts out and now because the wood has swelled i got the wood jammed in there. Its been coming out in pieces. So much for using it as a template. I have an oscillating saw coming which i hope i can cut into the ply vertically and take it out in pieces. Mark

 

[crkranz]

Aside from the foam in there you pretty much have the same setup as I do. Check out my crestliner post. Yes its a crappy job but i think its a very important part. My plywood is shot. I had my metal guy cut a notch out of splashwell so i can lift the wood out vertically. It was a pain getting all the bolts out and now because the wood has swelled i got the wood jammed in there. Its been coming out in pieces. So much for using it as a template. I have an oscillating saw coming which i hope i can cut into the ply vertically and take it out in pieces. Mark

I'm not sure how important it is, but I would definitely like to replace it. I am thinking about cutting the welds connecting the braces to the stringers and then have them welded back on later. I will have to weight the pros and cons of each method. How are you going to repair the slot?

 

[crkranz]

Here are a few pictures of this afternoons carnage. I got all the foam chopped out. I am convinced that pour foam has no place where water can get on top of it, which is pretty much anywhere on a boat. There is no place for the water to go but into the foam - forever. The pour foam also guarantees the boat will not drain properly either. I will never put pour foam in any boat I own.




Here is a picture of my favorite defoaming tool.

 

[crkranz]

I also replaced all my leaky air tool connectors with new Milton Hi-Flo V type. You can see how much better they will flow compared to the cheap Harbor Freight ones. Both are 1/4". Highly recommended!

 

[MarkNY]

That slot that was cut out is not structural. My metal guy will just weld in the piece that was removed to create the slot....

 

[crkranz]

Updated more accurate cross section of SST transom...

 

[crkranz]

That slot that was cut out is not structural. My metal guy will just weld in the piece that was removed to create the slot....

How much harder would it have been to remove the entire splashwell?

 

[crkranz]

There is a bunch of old gas in the tank, I need to get a pump to empty it so I can get it out of the boat. What is the best way to clean poly tanks? I'm thinking it might be a good idea to replace the fuel hoses, but I'm sure that will be expensive.

 

[nsjames]

just pop the fuel line from the motor and use the primer bulb to start a siphon. Empty it into a drum at the back of the transom.

that's how I emptied 30 gallons from my junk.

as for cleaning poly tank, just hose it out with water and a mild detergent. Let dry for a few days, done.

fuel line is not expensive, not compared to the damage a leaking one does. Replace it if it's old. old lines also sluff off rubber on the inside and will make a mess of your carbs.

 

[crkranz]

just pop the fuel line from the motor and use the primer bulb to start a siphon.

Good idea. Heading out to garage to go try this right now.

 

[crkranz]

My attempt at siphoning failed as my bulb is shot so I'm just going to use a pump.

I did get all the foam cleaned out. 8 bags and probably 200lbs worth.

 

[MarkNY]

Looking good.,, I used a cheap manual pump from the auto store to pump mine out. Pumped about 30 gallons out... So your foam was saturated with moisture? Guess i need to test and see if mine has water in it.....How did you remove your carpet? mark

 

[Tnstratofam]

It seems most boats are built with foam that retains water. I think most manufacturers use an open celled foam. Most boat restorers here will use closed cell pour in foam for fiberglass boats, and or the pink insulating foam board you find at Lowes or Home Depot. The pink wall board foam is closed cell as well. That type of foam doesn't allow water intrusion. The foam is important for flotation, and it also stiffens the structure on some boats. I would add some type of foam back for flotation. Check out some of the aluminum boat restorations in the Starcraft forum for some ideas on foam. Great progress so far by the way. I think your transom setup is pretty cool. Seems to allow for more space in your stern area for casting than most outboard setups.

 

[crkranz]

I just pulled the carpet off. It came off pretty easy. I will use stripper to get the glue off.

I would say about 20% of my foam was wet. The foam seals off all drainage and water has no place to go but into foam. It ends up weighing a lot. I will be replacing with pink/blue foam board while making sure it is able to drain.

 

[Woodonglass]

One of the advantages of using the Pink Slab foam for your flotation foam is, if you stack it vertically it naturally creates drainage channels for you...