# New to me boat- Is this a 16' Alumacraft?



## thill (Jan 8, 2015)

I recently bought a 16' 4", V-bottom aluminum boat with a 40 Johnson on the back. Decks and transom are solid, and it has a big, 30" diameter round livewell under the front deck. Looks like a great fishing boat. 

Here are some pictures:






















The title says, "pre-1972," with no brand name. But when I look on the side console, I see Alumacraft stamped on the capacity plate. From the bolt patterns in the side of the boat, I think this boat used to have three bunks, and the middle one was removed to open up the floor, so this console may not be original either.

This looks like a Crestliner or Starcraft to me, as all the Alumacraft boats I've seen are hard-chine. This one has round chines with a spray rail that starts high in the bow, then drops down almost to the chine in the rear to act as a lifting rail/chine.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts?


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## rscottp (Jan 8, 2015)

Nice looking boat. I would guess that you have an Alumacraft console in a different hull. I think someone will recognize the hull and give you some input. Post some more pics if you do any mods!


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## gillhunter (Jan 8, 2015)

That looks like a Crestliner that I had, except mine didn't have spray rails.


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## jasper60103 (Jan 8, 2015)

That's a nice and deep boat. 
I'll try to remember to post some pics of my '77 Crestliner for comparison, but it does look a little different. Maybe due to model year change though.

Congrats and enjoy!

jasper


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## thill (Jan 8, 2015)

Putting them side by side, this is not looking so much like my Crestliner anymore. One BIG thing I notice is how few rivets there are in this boat in comparison. This boat only has perhaps 1/4 the rivets. I find this a bit alarming! But maybe Crestliner had overkill? I don't know, but I do know my Crestliner is 58 years old and doesn't leak a drop!

Here are a few more pictures to help ID the boat:















Does this boat look familiar to anyone?

-Tony


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## craigmc (Jan 8, 2015)

No idea on the make but nice looking rig. Well done


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## thill (Jan 18, 2015)

OK guys, I have an update...

I finally got an afternoon free, so I pulled the electrical system from the parts motor, and put it on this one. Coils, stator, trigger, wires, etc. Once I was done, excited, I turned the key... Still, no spark.

NO, NO, NO... REALLY??? Did I make such a dumb, rookie mistake??!!?? 

Yes, I did. 

I unplugged the control cable, used a remote starter switch, and she fired right up. The kill wire was grounded. DUUUUHHHHH!!!!!! Okay, so I wasted a couple of hours. I call it practicing my skills! Next time I have an electrical problem, I will be really fast at changing it out. The good news here, is that she's running!

I didn't feel like chasing down the ground, so I just swapped controls for another one I have. Took maybe 15 minutes, no sweat. Hooked up fuel and water, and fired her up. She ran terribly, wouldn't idle. Cleaned the carbs, turned the key, and VROOM! She's running nice!

Now for the water test. Took a few days, but I finally got a break, and got her to the ramp. Dropped her in, and she sat pretty! Here, look:













She's idling in the pictures, smooth as silk.

Untied her, and went through the no-wake zone. Gave her some gas and she leaped up, and did some strange stuff....

She leaned very hard to the right and threw water straight up in the air. The nose of the boat was plowing, as if there were 500 lbs up there. I trimmed her up, and the nose lifted a little, and something was very wrong. Water was shooting WAY up in the air, maybe 15' up. I looked back over the transom while running, and the motor was BURIED. It was mounted WAY too low on the transom. Also, the transducer for the hummingbird was set way too low, and that created the taller of the two fountains of water shooting up in the air. Even like that, she ran up to 27 MPH on the GPS. 

I brought her back in and took her back home. Called the prev. owner, and he confirmed that the boat shot water in the air anytime you got on plane He said that three guys sitting in the back made the boat run much better than when alone. That was interesting to hear, if I can believe that.

Anyway, I lifted the motor to the top hole on the motor, and re-bolted. Went back to the ramp and launched again. This time was marginally better, The boat was still plowing, but this time, there were no fountains of water. I trimmed her up, and the nose lifted a little higher than before, but she was now leaning to the LEFT pretty hard. That's when I remembered that the trim tab above the prop had been turned hard right. I didn't have a socket with me, so I ran her a little, and called it a night. It was getting dark, and it was cold. 

Again, she only reached 27 MPH. Interestingly, if I backed off to about 20 MPH, she leveled out and ran pretty nicely.

That makes me wonder about this boat. Do I only need to adjust the motor & prop setup, or is something else going on? Could it be that this hull simply cannot handle this kind of horsepower? Could it be a hull that's only rated for 15 HP, and someone was trying to make her something she was not designed for? I once over-powered an old hull, and had the same kind of experience. That particular hull liked 18 MPH. Anything much over that, and she would plow and bow steer, and show terrible manners. Back off to 18 or so, and she ran beautifully. That is almost how this one feels.

I plan to straighten out the trim tab and run her in the lake tomorrow morning. Will post the results.

-TH


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## DrNip (Jan 18, 2015)

Hell yeah she looks like a great boat!!!


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## jasper60103 (Jan 19, 2015)

thill said:


> ...
> 
> I brought her back in and took her back home. Called the prev. owner, and he confirmed that the boat shot water in the air anytime you got on plane *He said that three guys sitting in the back made the boat run much better than when alone*. That was interesting to hear, if I can believe that.
> 
> ...



Congrats on getting the motor running.

IMO, that boat looks like it should handle a 40. 
And it shouldn't take 3 guys on the back end to raise the nose. :lol: 
I'm surprised trimming it out didn't make much difference?
Anyway, I would take a look at the height more closely. Get a straight edge
and measure where the cav plate hits the bottom of the hull.
It should be about even. As you can see mine isn't the best example, but it works.

Keep us posted.

-jasper


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## earl60446 (Jan 19, 2015)

Amazing what a carb clean can do for ya sometimes. I think 27mph in that boat motor combo is good and would not expect more. I have a 48hp spl on my 16fter and it has a top speed of 30mph with 2 people. In any case, nice boat.
Tim


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## DaleH (Jan 19, 2015)

I had a similar experience w/ a friend's light 16-footer with a 40. His had the wrong prop (check via a tach) and we added a SE Sport 200 (small) fin. They are the TOP-rated fins. That got the bow up and she was a scream for 2-3 people. When running alone, however, he still had to keep away from WOT or it would still try to BURY the nose.

Be aware - 'bow steer' is dangerous!


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## thill (Jan 20, 2015)

Jasper,
Thanks for that. Mine used to be about an inch lower than yours. I raised the engine to the highest holes without re-drilling, and the cav plate is now flush with the bottom. I put the trim tab straight, from the hard right that it had before. I also pulled the big battery out of the front of the boat, and put it in the transom.

I took the boat out yesterday afternoon with two other people. With me (195 lbs) and Dewey (240 lbs) in the back, and Brandon (160 lbs) sitting near the middle, the boat jumped up on plane the same, and no leaning anymore- Cool! It definitely ran better. I was able to run 25 pretty nicely. But if I opened her up further, she would do that scary bow-steer thing, and I would have to slow down. 

Still somewhat strange behavior, but getting closer...

-TH


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## thill (Jan 20, 2015)

DaleH said:


> I had a similar experience w/ a friend's light 16-footer with a 40. His had the wrong prop (check via a tach) and we added a SE Sport 200 (small) fin. They are the TOP-rated fins. That got the bow up and she was a scream for 2-3 people. When running alone, however, he still had to keep away from WOT or it would still try to BURY the nose.
> 
> Be aware - 'bow steer' is dangerous!



Finally, someone else with a similar experience! Thank you for posting.

You say, "a light 16-footer"... Do you know the HP rating for his boat? I'm thinking this boat might only be rated for a 15-25, but have no way to really know. It floats the 40 just fine, not squatting in the rear, but it handles strangely at speed, just as you describe.

That idea of a fin passed through my mind, but I dismissed it because I thought they were hydroplanes, and LIFTED the back of the boat, pushing the nose down- the last thing I needed. I know DoelFins are, and they work great for that purpose, especially on smaller fiberglass hulls.

But maybe not all of them behave in that manner. I have several different fins laying around that I can install on this motor. Some of them look pretty flat, particularly the ones on a 48 SPL I have out there. I think I may even have an SE sport, but I don't know if it's the large or the small one.

I will definitely give it a try. 

Thanks for posting your experience. Hopefully, it will help! I'll post the results, when I get time to get her back out there.

-Tony


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## thill (Feb 26, 2015)

Guys,
A local saw this post and called me, asking if I wanted to trade boats. I had no intentions to go in that direction, but when he told me what his boat was, after thinking for a bit, I said "Maybe, but you should come see the boat first. It likes to bow-steer when you get over 25 MPH.

Well he came and fell in love with her. He said he had one years ago that did the same thing, and the FLAT aluminum fins worked great for him. 

So I just traded my boat for his project boat, a gutted 1990 Tracker 17-TX, plus some cash in my pocket

He is very happy with his new boat, and I'm very happy with my new project and the cash back in my pocket. THAT is my definition of a great deal.

He kept most of the parts from when he gutted the boat, so I've got a pretty good base to work with.

I wanted to give a special thanks to you guys for all the helpful info. I really appreciate it!

-Tony


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## thill (Feb 26, 2015)

My new project...


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## Bull68 (Feb 15, 2016)

Tony,

How has the boat been treating you? I had many good times on it!


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