“Crestliner Fish Hawks with 115 hp motors”

I’d like to buy an 1850 Fish Hawk and am finding may of them have 115 hp motors on them. I don’t want to buy an under-powered boat but also don’t want to have to pay for a Verado either (since that seems to be the other choice).

Those of you who have this boat with a 115 hp motor could help me decide if I need more motor in order to both fish on large bodies of water (LOW, Winnie, Bays D’ Noc, etc.) and still take the family out skiing (without having to leave everyone on shore while doing the ski thing). I will have a kicker on the transom.

I can only speculate Bob, but I think you will be very disappointed not maxing out the power. I have the 1750 and the 115 is just enough for that boat. Have you looked at putting the F150 from Yammi on it? Why not a 150 Opti vs. Verado?

Send a PM to Lip Ripper…he is looking to sell his fully loaded Crestliner…with a 135hp Opti on it!!!!

I have a 135 Optimax on my 182 Crestliner and find it good enough. The output of this under achiever is close to 147 HP I believe. But yes, no sense of buying a Verado. The 2 stroke will give you better power, better top end and be more fuel efficient. I would stick with a DFI 2 stroke. In your case I would go with the 135-150 Optimax.

If you want to take a look at my Crestliner give me a shout.

Bob, I run the exact same set-up as Kooty. FH 1750, 115 4-stroke and T8 kicker. Hax HP on my 1750 is 125 HP. I think putting a 115 on an 1850, which weighs 200 lbs more than a 1750, would be a big mistake. Put as much motor on that thing as possible to get the best performance out of your rig.

No no no no and NO.

I’ve got a 1850 with a 140 HP Johnson. It’s Ok for pulling skiers,but I’d go up to Max it out.Look at a Yamaha….They are a sweet unit.I get about 40-42 MPH gps speed on the river. I use it on Winni,Leech Mille Lacs and it’s been to Canada. I must say….I’ve never had a problem with it.

Here is one more reply for not going with a 115 on a 1850. I have a 1750 fishhawk with a 115 4 stroke yamaha and a t-8. The 115 is barely enough motor to push the 1750 if you are looking at a 4 stroke. A dfi two stroke will probably be a much better option if you are looking for speed and hole shot. I just bought a 90 etec for another boat and the difference in the low end torque between the etec and the yamaha 4 stroke is amazing. I love my yamaha but in the future I will be going with the etec all the way.

I have an 1850 Fishhawk with a Johnson 115 two stroke. It gets me around fine, even with a full tank of gas and two livewells full of water. Of course I am not pulling skiers and I’m too old to fly down the lake. My top end on the water is about 37 mph on the GPS. If I had to do it again I might have gone to 150; but this one does me fine.

I’ve been told never to go with less than 85% of the boats max horsepower rating. Otherwise it puts too much stess on the engine. I used to have a 18.5ft Tracker and I had a 115 and it wasn’t enough power. I could pull a skier but you had to know what you were doing to get up behind it. I now have a Crestliner and they are a little heavier boat. I suggest Lip Rippers boat. That thing is set up nice.

Max it out. That will also help you wehn it’s time to sell it down the road.

The guys are steering you to more HP than 115..I also agree. Lip’s 135 sounds like it does a nice job on the boat. You’ll be a sorry guy if you get the 115. One of my buddys has an 1850 with the Yamaha F150 and it’s matched very nicely. I believe he pulls in the high 40’s for speed. I “had” a Yam F115 on my Lund 1700 Fish and it wasn’t enough either so I upgraded to the F150 Yam..it’s a nice runner now and my best GPS speed has been just shy of 53. BTW..my boat supposedly weighs 1280 empty and I have lots of goodies on it including a T8.

You won’t be able to throw a Yammy on a c-liner unless you can sweet talk a dealer into buying one without a pre-rig. Then you will have to pay some major $$ to get it rigged. All C-liners and Lunds will be black from the factory.
Stupid in my opinion.

Yep, Brunswick wants those boats to be shipped from the factory with a Mercury on the back and hopefully a trailer under them too. They want to sell a package deal. They are losing alot of dealers because some of them won’t sell only black motors and only Brunswick products. Time will tell what happens.

Thanks, Bill

I only got the little 1650 fishhawk with a 90 honda 4 stroke. Its worth the money to have the piece of mind and never have to worry about if it will start what might go wrong ect……. I drop it in and within 1 or 2 turns of the key she’s off and runnin’ I don’t know how many times at the launch I have guys say ” does it start like that every time? and I can’t believe how quite that is.” I just smile and say yup!

with 4 batteries and a full tank of gas with 2 people at over 200lbs a piece I top out at 38 on the gps. By myself with less than a quarter tank I get up to 45mph

I think it should always start on the first turn. That has been my experience, even with a 2 stroke Yammy. Always start on the first without having to choke or pump the bulb. Of course, the Yammy ran louder than any 4 stroke. Hehe.

An Alumacraft Navigator 175 with a 90 hp 2-stroke Johnson, plus a kicker motor and 3 batteries, half a tank of gas [20 gals] and a bent up prop with a heavy person runs 40.4 mph gps. With a good aluminum prop it should add 3 mph as it did on the last boat. This boat is rated for a 150 hp motor. If you can afford it then max it. That doesn’t mean you need to run that fast but for big waters and for resale it helps.
Thanks, Bill

I run a fish hawk 1750 with walk thru windshield. I have a Johnson 90 hp two stroke. I can run 40 mph and have good hole shot. I have heard there is quite a difference when going to a four stroke. I think a larger motor would be good and would go to an etec next time, but this one does what I need it too.

I was very surprised at the speed I got with this boat [Alumacraft Navigator 175]. The layout of it is simular to the Fish Hawk but has the double bottom so a very smooth ride. I have only run it wide open once as just picked the boat up last Friday night. After playing with it alittle on how far I can trim it up etc and with a new prop it should run even faster. I’m not into speed and am more than pleased with its performance. This boat has a TON of room and a huge front casting platform and is soooooooo wide open. Its really a joy to fish from and I spent both days last weekend in it and love it.

Thanks, Bill

I think there is indeed a difference between a 2 stroke and a 4 stroke. I am not sure if it is due to the weight of the motor or its rate of torque generated. I do not have exact comparisons, but I think it is true that between a 2 and 4 stroker, a 4 stroker MAY plane slower than the 2 stroker.

Just want to bring some clarity to the 2-stroke vs. 4-stoke discussion here.

Prop selection is very important to harness the power of every 4 stokes reguardless of it’s size. For Yamaha’s – at WOT (wide open throttle) you should be in the upper 5K range for RPM’s. The boat should be loaded with your typical load so that when it’s lighter you will still run at or just under 6K RPM’s. This will then provide the hole shot and mid-range acceleration that you are looking for.

A few specifics on the Yamaha F150 – it the hottest four stoke they make, well over 150 HP at the propshaft. It’s lighter than their 2 stroke 150, more fuel efficent, etc. It is a second generation four stroke and has proven to be practically bulletproof.

Hope this helps.

Ted Merdan

I agree on that F150 Ted! I ran that motor on a V-185 G3 all summer, and ran the same boat with the F200 this fall. While both are fantastic motors, there is little drop off in performance in the 150 to 200! Plus the 150 is lighter, and has 2 less cylinders for economy.
I would go that route for 2007 given the opportunity.

Wow. I din know the 150 4 strokers were lighter than the 2 strokers. Is it the same for the below 115HP range? I guess I was making reference to low to mid-range hp motors.

Bill,

We have the same boat but in an 04 model, its rated for 135hp. We have a black clasic 90 with a lifter prop. It moves the boat pretty good between 40-45 depending on conditions ect. Boat has a fast hull, its faster than the 165.

Mark, How do you like your boat? I love mine. The hull has to be a fast one as my trolling motor even runs the boat faster than it did my other boat.

Thanks, Bill

Wat do u mean by a fast hull?? How do u know a hull is fast?

Because u go faster.

I’m sorry I didn’t see this post earlier….I actually DO have a Crestliner 1850 ‘Hawk with a 115 Merc 2 stroke, and it works rather well. My top speed is right around 35, which is plenty for most of what I do. For some guys, I know it just may not be enough, and I was worried about being underpowered, but when it’s real bad out, I figure I won’t be going that fast anyway, so no big deal. It is a heavier boat, but my hole shot is real good when all 4 cylinders kick in. Please don’t hesitate to send me any questions you have that I might be able to answer.