TOPIC: 40th bday gift to me: mint 73 Crestliner Muskie 15

What an AWESOME time capsule!! Dude you owe your FIL a bottle of his favourite libation!! What a gem and a great looking boat!

Took the Muskie out for the last run of the season before we store her for winter. It's not every year you get 78 degrees and calm & sunny on October 11th around here! The girls got to drive a little bit too, we had the lake to ourselves.

I'd been struggling the past few weeks with a cylinder dropping out under load on WOT, and I was finally able to track down 2 issues with the ignition system:

1. My lower cylinder's spark plug wire had gotten pinched in the engine cover guide pin, damaging the wire - replaced the coil and wire.

2. The middle cylinder was arcing at the plug boot. Probably due to a poor connection between the wire and terminal pin in the boot. The arcing had torched a carbon track in the boot, and it was arcing to the outside of the plug. Pulled the old boot off and threw it away. Cut back the wire a 1/2", restripped it, and repinned the terminal pin correctly, since I finally figured out how it's supposed to be done. Slipped a new boot on, and finally changed all 3 spark plugs for new ones. No more arcing, and she's firing on all 3 cylinders again.

Splashed it yesterday to test and burn off the last little bit of fuel left in my two tanks. She ran great!Learned a valuable lesson about boat plugs, though. Apparently, they're ADJUSTABLE....oops. Ours was too loose and it popped out at 30mph. I looked down as I was changing the fuel tanks and saw the lake screaming by in a white flash of foam through the hole. "Honey, don't slow down, " I said.

We were fine. I jammed a rag in the hole and we were able to land and trailer off no problem. Took on maybe a 1/2 liter of water, no big deal. Note to self: keep a spare plug in the tool kit onboard!

BONUS: My father in law called us about 2 weeks ago and said he'd found the last piece of the bimini cover. So the boat is in fact complete!

Picked up an anchor so we can pull up at sandbars and do some swimming.

This winter I will spend some time working on little stuff to get her ready for next season:

1. Find / replace fenders on the trailer
2. Install guide posts to the back of the trailer to aid in landing.
3. Install 12v accessory outlet
4. Repair/replace missing/damaged snaps for the cover
5. Replace keel rollers
6. Toss a copy of the engine key in the glove box (for when we forget the boat keys!)


All in all, it was a very informative summer. We learned a ton about our new boat, and I feel like I've got a handle on it for next season. We should really be able to enjoy it next year!

Glad he found your top. I recently saw your email about the top in my spam folder - sorry. Mine has a tiny tear on a seam that was easy to mend, so good that neither of us needs a new one.

Glad you got to get it out one more time this year -- we can boat for another month or two here (days will be in the 60's through December). Still 70's-80's now (water still warm enough for swimming).

What plugs did you go with? I went with the NGK BUHX 2522 surface gap plugs - idles better than it ever had, and never loads up. Amazing hole shot now, even when cold started (also loving the OMC Viper 13 7/8" 17 pitch stainless prop - picked me up 3 MPH.

Hey Smalltownguy -

Here is what I put together for guide-ons on my trailer (The factory made ones are too expensive and look odd against the scale of a 15' boat.

Cost me less than $30.00 in parts.

PVC Tee Fitting (1x1x3/4 I think. (2)

Pre-formed PVC Conduit elbows (2)

adaptor to go from 3/4 to 1" (2)

1" PVC about 3' long (2)

1" pvc cap (2)



All glued together after the tee is attached to the trailer with 2 U-Bolts - see pic:

Also flexible enough to take the stresses of drift while loading, but firm enough that they don't vibrate or smack the rub-rail while trailering. I sprayed the caps orange to make really easy to see.

WOW , this is a interesting thread.. CONGRATS GUYS ON MATCHING AMF dark blue rigs.... That white OMC motor looks like a SHORT shaft size.?? With the drop down transom and a 15 ft size those could possible be SHORT shaft mid-section.... Many of those motors went on to be race rigs.

I would have mentioned early on like member "75-GT : about a weak Coil.
being that the motor went unused for a long period of time.

20" Long Shaft Motors. It is unusual that we were both given identical boats around the same time - one with a Johnson 65 and one with an Evinrude 65. Pretty cool, indeed!

Does anyone know where I can get windshield clip snap studs for my windshield? I bought some online, but quickly found out they are WAY too small. The biggest ones I'm finding online are for 7/8" window frames, but I'm pretty sure the frame on my windshield is 1-1/4" wide?? Is that right?

They are 1-1/8". I just purchased 3. They cost $3.50 each. One of the forums members has them. Here is his info:

Joe Poole, Jr.


Ferguson-Poole, Inc. (Marine Sales & Service since 1951)

www.fergusonpoolemarine.com

Contact Joe and he will take god care of you.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Thanks a bunch! I'll shoot him a message.

Summer is here, and we're on the water again!

We've Christened our boat the "Mini Winnie" as the boat spent the first part of its life with my father in law with New Hampshire registration. My wife spent many summers on Lake Winnipesaukee as a child, "Lake Winnie" for short. Our dog Winter is also nicknamed "Winnie."

I added some guideposts to the trailer this spring, and also replaced the fenders. I will probably re-paint the trailer next spring.

We took her out to Cedar Lake for Memorial Day. There's a very nice sandbar on the lake that often draws a crowd on nice days. 82 and sunny yesterday; a picture perfect day for a boat ride.

STUPID photobucket - broke all my images. Now I gotta fix my thread. Grrrrr....I'm going to need some time for this.

Heads up, this boat will be for sale soon. PM me for details.