Crestliner owners might want to check your transom for rot. I have a 2006 1850 Fish Hawk in mint condition garage kept and never left in the water. Notice the transom cap was loose and went to tighten the screws to find to my dismay the wood at top was rotten. Took it to the dealer Basa Marine and they basically told me to deal with Crestliner directly. After numerous emails and correspondence with Crestliner they noted in case you don`t know there is NO warranty on transom. Had to pay to get transom replaced which was badlt rotted. Uopn repair it was noted that no caulk was used on bolts, wood did not appear to be marine grade plywood and all edges were exposed wood. Repair shop I found in Illinois D&S Marine did a great job replacing the transom, with marine grade plywood , fiberglass wrapped and all exposed edges coated with marine grade caulk.Here is some photo`s of my old transom.
Boats & Motors
Crestliner Transom Issue`s
I just replaced the transom in my 2003 Crestliner 1850 Fish Hawk. Seems that it was not draining water near the base of the transom and it was wicking water into the wood. It was almost rotted all the way through.Instead of wood the transom was replaced with synthetic material that was referred to Ron Meyer Marine Mosinee,WI by one of their clients who had the exact same experience in his Crestliner.
My boat was in a lift, or garaged its entire life. Sounds like poor engineering on Crestliner's part.
I had a bad transom in my boat. How do you know? If you can make the motor rock back and forth, as I could, your transom is rotten. After I installed a new transom, I could not rock the motor back and forth. (Into boat and out of boat.)
It was kind of scary to see how bad mine was and that I had been using it before I realized something was not right. It took me two weeks of work to remove and replace my transom. Now it is solid as a rock.
Yes. Every hole drilled into the transom should be filled with caulk and sealed!
That Sucks ! Good thing you found it out before you got in trouble on some rough water. Always make sure that you seal any holes in the transom when you add something .
Bass Addict,
My boat has always been stored in the garage, and because I moved last year it was stored for 18 months in a dry garage. When I removed it this spring while I was getting it ready I noticed nickle sized bubbles in the paint on the outside of the transom. When I broke one of them water came out and there was a pin sized whole in the aluminum. I did recall that the last 3 or 4 times I used it, when I took the boat out of the water after a day of fishing about a gallon of water came out, when in the past the boat was dry. Alumacraft initially said that the corrosion is typically because someone probably grounded an electrical component directly to the hull. My boat is original, I have not added any electronics to the boat, so the dealer may have screwed up. They have not found anything yet though, they are still taking the boat apart to determine what happened. They have had it two weeks now. But I am not complaining, because if they give me a new version of the aluminum transom and pick up the tab, I'll be happy.
Musky Maniac glad to hear Alumacraft is backing their product. Crestliner only offered to pay $750.00 on $3100.00 cost. They did also suggest I bring it back to the factory for repair. Based on what I saw how they installed it when built I am glad I did not bring it there. Aluminum one piece transom makes a lot of sense to me.
Let me know how it turns out, next boat might have to be a Alumacraft.
My boat is at Alumacraft right now, its a 2007 Classic 165 CS. Their engineers are looking at replacing my transom with the new Aluminum one piece. They may pay for all of the repairs. They were originally going to pay a dealer in Illinois $1600.00 to repair it but the dealer said no. So I brought it directly to the factory in MN.
I'll let everyone know how it goes. I was surprised when I dropped it off, there were two boats there that were probably early 1970's in for repair.
Basa Marine is a joke. No help at all and acted ike this was not a common issues with Crestliner while they know it is. If you are looking for a new boat would suggest Alumacraft since all 2017 boats will have a aluminum transom so there will be no rot. No bolt holes were caulk from the factory either and the foam installed trapped water in hull. Poor design that's why they do not warranty their work.
replacing-the-transom-on-my-2002-crestliner
it appears your dealer does not seal up the bolt holes
after drilling into the transom
