Crestliner Fish Hawk 1850???

I am in the market for a new boat. I will be upgrading from a Tracker Pro Team 185 w/50 HP Merc. I am looking for more of a multi-species boat(mainly bass and walleye on the Mississippi) and also a boat for tubing with the family. I have my eye on the Crestliner 1850 Fish Hawk with a 115 Opti bolted on and would appreciate any feedback from Crestliner Fish Hawk owners.

You’ll love the ‘hawk but your 1850 is grossly underpowered with only a 115.

I agree with Jason. The 115 would be bare min. for that boat. I think you would be much happier with a larger motor for that boat. Good luck in your search!

I should be more specific.

The 1850 is rated for 150 HP.

The current owner of that boat (or the dealer) is probably telling you that they can run at 40 MPH (+/-) with that boat/motor combo, which is all the faster that a guy needs to run.

That may be true.

But when you put 4 people in that boat and a full tank of gas, and then try to pull a tube or a skier, you’re going to be awfully disappointed.

Underpowered boats get off the showroom floor because putting a small motor on a boat keeps the cost attractive. But it hurts performance which decreases customer satisfaction, and it is damaging to resale (at least with respect to buyers who are “in the know”, as you are now).

Keep looking for a boat that has close to max horsepower on it….you’ll be glad you did!

(I should note that these comments are from a crestliner 1750 driver)

With a 150 yami hpdi, tops out at 50 with full fuel and 2 people. Dont skimp on the trolling motor. A 65pd on pool 8 barely keeps with the current I would try an 80lb…or bigger if you have room for 3 batteries. Co-pilot will appreciate a dual console. Pulls skiers/tubers with ease, but not the shallowest draft. Watch out for those wing dams!!
Thanks to K.Turner, we’ve been lovin’ the boat!

Gass- I have a 06′ Fishhawk 1850 with a 115 optimax and with a stain steel prop and full of gas with 2 guys and gear I pulll 42 mph. I chose to take the $2,000 from getting the 150 “upgrade” and put into a kicker which put me at the same price as a 150 hp buyer. I am very satisfied with handling, storage, stability in rough water, and spaciousness for fishing. I fish from Tobin Lake in SK, Mille Lacs, and Mississippi River and completely love the setup. I can’t tell you about pulling a tube or skier because i bought it for FISHING! With the stainless steel prop it “pops” right onto plane and handles great. Did i mention the in floor center rod storage? If you want to try to be the fastest on the water you might want the 150 but that won’t help trolling down to .5 mph and i find going faster than 40 mph hour usually is when the chance of hitting obstacles both floating and stationary becomes a factor. Just my 2 cents from a former Lund owner and a very happy Crestliner owner. (And i love my kicker too!)

Thanks for the replies guys!! A couple questions for you. I was considering putting a 75 lb thrust wireless Motorguide on the bow. I like to pull three ways slowly up current around the wing dams on Pools 12-14. Do you think that TM would do the job? Also, I am not a prop expert for sure. The dealer quoted an aluminum prop for this set up. What are the advantages/disadvantages of aluminum vs. S.S. on this package?

Thanks again!!

I run an 1850 SportFish with a 115 Johnson. I really, really love the full windshield and full covers. The wife and kids stay dry and out of the wind. We do use it for pulling knee boards and tubing.

I get around 40 mph loaded(GPS). That is with a slightly dinged aluminum prop. I’m not sure how it would do with a stainless prop, but from what I have read it wouldn’t be worth the money for me.

If you can swing it in the long run you would be happier with a 150

Glad to hear all the positive comments on the 1850. I just ordered one and cant wait to get in it. What kind of price for the boat and who are you dealing with ? I went with the 150 Merc because I have always been a believer in putting max hp on my boats. I also went with a 80 pd Minn Kota trolling motor with built in transducer. It might be a few more bucks for the extras but what the hell we only live once

I run an 1850 sportfish with a 140-4 stroke. With the wife and kids, dog, fuel I can get to about 44 mph with it and 5600 rpm’s. That is with a stainless prop. I had an aluminum and will never put another one on my motor. The 4 stroke is quiet, no exhaust, easy to maintain. The drawbacks are it is heavy and I lose some power and speed, but for me it works great. I pulled kneeboards and skis behind it and it seems to do just fine.

I have a 2yr old 1750 Fishhawk. You will find the 1850 VERY fishable!!!!

Like the other guys are telling you…Get the biggest motor rated for your boat if you can swing it.

gas11..

I cant help you with the boat, but the trolling motor.. I have some info.

My boat I had a 65# minnkota on last fall until it was stolen(trolling motor)… it would get my boat to 4.9 mph in calm water. I aquired a 73# Motorguide to replace my Minnkota.. more thrust should be better right? I lost 30% of my run time at least, and I now top out at 3.2 mph on a dead calm day.

Spend a few extra bucks on a Minnkota, they also last longer.

Pool 8 Lax,
The boat is a 2005 New, never been in the water. Trailer w/brakes, 115 Opti, 75lb, Motorguide wireless, 2 extra seats & poles, 2 bank 10 amp on board charger, X52 lowrance = total damage before taxes just under $20,000. I may have to jump to a 80lb thrust TM. Seems like a decent price to me.

Gass- I just went to the stainless after getting sick of having to fix aluminum props since i fish rivers alot. I have yet to test the durability of the stainless by hitting something but the performance is alot better. Don’t pay more than $250-$275 for a good quality stainless steel prop with the dealer, PM me and i will advise you whom to call to get one for $250.00 (hub included) right here in MN so you can keep the aluminum as backup. Plus when i switched from the aluminum to stainless my RPM’s dropped to 5100 range from 5300 range and but MPH’s went UP from 38.5 mph to 41 mph. Good luck with your purchase.

Like most others have said here the number one rule when buying a boat always max out your motors, main motor and trolling motor you will not be sorry. I made this mistake on my current boat, never agian.

I also run an 1850 FishHawk, and mine is an ’02. It’s got a 115 Merc ELPTO on it, pretty plain motor, and it runs pretty well. I agree with above posts that it may be underpowered, but it’s plenty for me. Especially the fact that I can save fuel by running only two cylinders a lot of the time on our 5mph waters we have a lot of around here.

The electric you’re going with up front will work just fine. I have a 74lb thrust MinnKota on the bow, and it does everything I need it to on this machine. I can lindy all day with it, keep the boat in the trees for crappies, or hover on ledges while jigging, it does it all. I would definitely not recommend that you go with anything under 65lbs for sure.

I think this boat is very well built, very sturdy, and I expect it to last a long time. I love the floor layout the most, and I also would not have bought it if it had a walk thru windshield, but that’s just me. With two of us, a full fuel tank, and the 15hp Yammy, I can get a top speed of about 36 on a good day. Ya, probably a little slow, but like I say, it does enough for what I need it for. I’d love to have a 135 Opti on it, but that’s nothing I’m worrying about now.

It handles multi-species pretty well, too, in my opinion. I fish a lot of crappie out of it as well as walleye, and I also fish for flatheads out of it a lot as well. Even with the dual console, there’s a LOT of room in it for rods, gear and people.

It’s a great boat and I’m very happy that I put myself in it.

B Rob… do you have any pictures of the layout of the interior for that year?

This is the only other one I have right now of the inside, but if you need another pic or need to know something about it, I’ll sure help you out. The big hatches on each side up front are storage, there’s lots of stuff in there. The front livewell is right behind the seat base, and there’s a rear livewell with bait bucket, too. Rod storage along the port side you can stand on. I had an Alumacraft Tourny Pro, and I think they are also very well built boats, but the floor layout in the Crestliner is much better and I have much more room.

I don’t think the ’05 has the center rod storage which is very nice feature to keep the boat clutter free. Nothing i hate more than a messy boat. I bought my ’06 fall last year and it was $19,669.00 total with tax, license, etc. It has a 2800 lbs capacity EZ Roller trailer, a second console, 85 lb auto pilot and three seats/posts, and all the other great features of the Fishhawk.

I also have a 1750 (07′) and have nothing but great words about and I love the opti max on it. I have a 115 rated for 125 i think and would not wanna go anything less I can top out around 45 give or take gps claims alone one day I was at 48 so who knows but with 3 people last Saturday afternoon out running the rain we were at 43.8 top speed with a full rear livewell so not bad at all. The storage is insane in these things now with the center rod locker, side rod locker, 2 livewells plus a seperate big baitwell also. I put the 101 terrova with the built in transducer and a 522c-igps and it works SWEET!!! Overall the fish hawk in the last 3 years has made some great updates and changes you will be happy