Got the opportunity to buy an old neighbor’s boat. This boat has spent two decades sitting in a garage and has been out on the water twice in the last 5 years. It’s super clean and I can’t wait to get the engine tuned up for spring. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum sub-category.
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Nice. Congrats. 
Still have my 98′ 1650 fish hawk. Only owner. You’ll love that boat. Congratulations
Congrats.
You’d be wise to plan a few failures.
Monitor your wheel bearings on your first road trip. They should not get warm at all.
You batteries could very well be shot, use a Load Tester to check them.
You can run your motor by putting your motor into a tank of water, or by using “Ear Muffs”, You will want to get it to a shop to repair before the shops get busy this spring. Likely you’ll have an issue with the fuel pump diaphragm drying out.
You can check the bilge pump to be sure it is working.
Make sure that spare tire is bolted down well.
Check to be sure you have proper tongue weight on the trailer. You should have 100-200 LBS on the trailer tongue. If it is feather light that is dangerous on the road. You can adjust the boat to sit forward on the trailer if this is the case. Tires look to be way back, which would be proper for a light weight boat.
Sit in the seats and rock, be sure the floor is in good condition and not rotting.
Change the lower unit oil.
It would be wise to replace the fuel line/bulb coming from the tank to the motor. They can degrade over time.
If there is old gas in the tank, find a way to dispose of it and start with fresh no ethonol gas. Be sure to mix properly with oil.
Get insured.
Get licensing.
Check to be sure you have lifejackets and throwables.
Check the trailer lights.
Good Luck. You can have it ready for spring, or wait for spring and possibly miss half the summer if you need to wait in line at a repair shop.
Then again, maybe it’ll all be working fine!
Wow, what a great find. Looks to be in great shape.
Congrats, gonna be quite the rig for you 
Congrats.
You’d be wise to plan a few failures.Monitor your wheel bearings on your first road trip. They should not get warm at all.
You batteries could very well be shot, use a Load Tester to check them.
You can run your motor by putting your motor into a tank of water, or by using “Ear Muffs”, You will want to get it to a shop to repair before the shops get busy this spring. Likely you’ll have an issue with the fuel pump diaphragm drying out.
You can check the bilge pump to be sure it is working.
Make sure that spare tire is bolted down well.
Check to be sure you have proper tongue weight on the trailer. You should have 100-200 LBS on the trailer tongue. If it is feather light that is dangerous on the road. You can adjust the boat to sit forward on the trailer if this is the case. Tires look to be way back, which would be proper for a light weight boat.
Sit in the seats and rock, be sure the floor is in good condition and not rotting.
Change the lower unit oil.
It would be wise to replace the fuel line/bulb coming from the tank to the motor. They can degrade over time.
If there is old gas in the tank, find a way to dispose of it and start with fresh no ethonol gas. Be sure to mix properly with oil.
Get insured.
Get licensing.
Check to be sure you have lifejackets and throwables.
Check the trailer lights.
Good Luck. You can have it ready for spring, or wait for spring and possibly miss half the summer if you need to wait in line at a repair shop.
Then again, maybe it’ll all be working fine!
thats one heck of a checklist………but a darn good one!!!!!!!
That hull looks light enough that you could pull it on to the trailer, with the rollers and such. My suggestion is to permanently tie a 25′ line to the bow eye, and mount a cleat on the winch stand. Pull the boat up, tie-off the line, attach the winch strap, a few cranks and she’s ready to pull out.
Congrats, looks to be in great shape.
HRG
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Nice find. Crestline makes a EXCELLENT boat. Those 40 HP Johnsons are Great. I have several friends who probably have lots of hours on theirs with almost no problems. ENJOY !!!
Wow. That thing is in absolutely terrific shape. Looking at the skeg and the keel strip at the bow, there’s almost no wear. Can’t hide it in those spots.
The late, great forum member KWP has a Night Hawk at up at his cabin in the Canadian sub-arctic. Literally thousands of walleyes have been caught out of this boat and everything including the lights and livewell still work.
I dubbed it the Wetliner and I constantly threatened to bolt a soap dish in the back so that the driver could take advantage of the, uh hemh, ancillary benefit of the lack of flare in these boats. Needless to say, in a good chop (which is just about every day in northern Canada), it can be a little damp running one direction.
BTW, that Johnson as others have mentioned, is a wonderful outboard. That is from the absolute golden years of OMC design and if tuned and taken care if, it will last FOREVER. Do NOT let know-nothings talk you into removing it. If it doesn’t run perfectly, get it fixed and it will be great.
Grouse
You can have it ready for spring, or wait for spring and possibly miss half the summer if you need to wait in line at a repair shop.
Definitely don’t wait until April on this otherwise you might be waiting quite a while.
Great find. Get your boat title and trailer registration transferred now. If there are any snags you’ll have time to get them straitened out before the soft water season.
I would replace the tires if they are over 6 years old. Tread wear doesn’t matter.
You can tell how old tires from the last 4 numbers in the DOT#. Say they are 2615 as the last 4 numbers means the tire was built in the 26th week of 2015.
Wow. What a find!
My last boat was a Crestliner Angler tiller. Great boat. You’ll love it. Congrats.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I hope to replace the fuel lines and remove the old gas out of the in-floor tank first. That could be challenging.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I hope to replace the fuel lines and remove the old gas out of the in-floor tank first. That could be challenging.
Nice boat! These motors work great but in past experience and talking with mechanics they are very prone to blowing up. You might be best to mix your gas and oil to ensure the motor doesn’t get run too lean…?
Maybe they have a better fix now? I’d recommend talking with a good mechanic.
A little preventive maintenance will go along. Good luck!
I would 100 percent mix my own gas
Nice rig! Congrats!
One thing I would pay close attention to in addition to the main fuel lines are the lines and t-connectors that supply the carbs too. They rot, get brittle, leak and create a lean condition at the wrong time and poof…don’t ask me how I know that. 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I hope to replace the fuel lines and remove the old gas out of the in-floor tank first. That could be challenging.
Generally not difficult. A $10 hand pump at Harbor Freight will suck the fuel out of that tank just fine. I’ve done it on many boats. It isn’t the fanciest solution, but even if the tank is nearly full, 20 minutes will pump it out with minimal effort.
If you spend a few minutes to figure out the right combination of PVC fittings, you can connect the pump to the outboard fuel line and suck the fuel out through the in-tank pickup. Then raise and lower the front of the boat to run the fuel toward the pickup to make sure you get as much of the old stuff as possible.
These motors work great but in past experience and talking with mechanics they are very prone to blowing up. You might be best to mix your gas and oil to ensure the motor doesn’t get run too lean…
Sorry, but this is wrong. Rumors and myths about VRO systems “blowing up engines” are vastly over-played and as with anything mechanical, owner abuse is usually the real cause, but never gets any of the blame. Also, we never hear about the guys that delete the VRO and then forget to mix the gas and toast their engine that way.
Here is a good article by someone who understands the VRO system and can debunk the myths: http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html
The VRO system is as reliable as any other oil injection system of that era, which is to say very reliable. If you understand the system, you know there are failsafes built in to prevent “no oil” conditions and, if anything, the systems tended to over oil because they were calibrated to use high-quality oil, so if you run cheap hardware store junk, they will smoke badly, just like a Merc or a Yamaha of the same vintage will.
Grouse
Don’t do a delete and mix fuel/oil unless in an emergency situation. That makes my arse itch just thinking about how many guys have ruined engines who aren’t mechanically inclined. Yeah for gear heads it works…..sometimes. But more often than not it just creates other problems.
Look at the value and inventory of used 40hp omc tillers, unbelievably expensive if it runs and is in decent shape. Add a tiller and tilt and trim and good grief they are expensive cause guys know they’ll last forever.
Great looking rig and good luck with it.
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