I was looking into buying a 1996 Crestliner Pro Am 1850 that weigh in at 1490 lbs dry.

I've always wanted a boat like this but could never afford one. Still can't actually but this guy has it cheap because it only has a 70 hp on the back. The guy I'm buying it from was going to put a 150 Johnson on the back but that didn't work out so I'm thinking of taking it with just the 70 hp anyway. I have a couple of engines available to me. A 150 Johnson and a 175 Merc.

The 70 will get the boat on plane and get to about 25 mph. Not much but that's good enough for fishing the lakes around here, at least for now until I repower.

My question is this. How hard is it to change out a motor? What kind of problems could I expect? The 175 I have also has a manual jackplate? Does a jackplate make that much difference speed or ride? I'm not a speed demon by any stretch of the imagination so if it only adds a couple miles per hour, I wouldn't care much about that little difference in speed. Also, all the boats are 18 footers but the Crestliner is 15 to 18 inches wider so would all the wires and things just transfer over to the Crestliner or do I need some additional hardware?

I appreciate any help you can offer.

A couple of things you need to double check. Look at the Coast Guard data plate and see what the hull is rated for. If it's only rated for 140hp, some states have pretty healthy fines if you exceed that, and if you're going to insure it, most insurance companies will not insure an over powered boat.

Second thing you need to check is the laws for the lakes you plan to use. I think some of the lakes in AZ are federal and you may not be able to use a two stroke engine on them.

As for swapping motors, if they are the same make and similar year model, it's normally not a big deal, just disconnect the control cables, unbolt it and get it out of the way, and install the other motor and connect the existing cables back to it.

If they are different makes, then it can be an expsensive nightmare. The control handle assy and cables will probably have to be swapped out. Sometimes you can buy adapter kits that will let one motors controls work on another but I haven't seen any of those things in a long time, and you still had to do a lot of rework.

Even a big difference in year models on the same make motor can create problems because many of them have changed controls several times on the years.

I know you really want the boat, but if it's that much underpowered, it's not going to be any fun what so ever to operate. It has to be proped down like a barge just to get on plane, and then it will still be very weight sensitive. Put a little extra weight in, like a couple of people and cooler, and you will find someone will be walking up to the bow just so it will lay over coming out of the hole.

Unless you are just buying the boat, and it's dirt cheap, and the guy is throwing in the motor because he doesn't want it, I would have to walk away from it. When I say dirt cheap, I mean like he's almost willing to pay you to haul it off because you are going to find that doing an engine swap is going to make the total cost of the boat when done, more than it's worth.

I personnaly have no desire to have a grossly underpowered boat, and wouldn't want to throw good money after bad doing an engine swap, unless maybe I already had a good engine that's the same make as theone on it so I didn't have to mess with swapping out control heads. Again though, if the motor you have exceeds the hull rating, you need to check with the state and see if you can even use it, and don't plan to insure it.

A couple of things you need to double check. Look at the Coast Guard data plate and see what the hull is rated for. If it's only rated for 140hp, some states have pretty healthy fines if you exceed that, and if you're going to insure it, most insurance companies will not insure an over powered boat.

Yes, I was going to check that. I am planning on insuring it so the size of the engine was something I was going to look into. I want to power it with something at least close to max hp.

Second thing you need to check is the laws for the lakes you plan to use. I think some of the lakes in AZ are federal and you may not be able to use a two stroke engine on them.

No problem there. Almost all the lakes around here except for a few up in the mountains north of Phoenix have no restrictions on 2 strokes.

As for swapping motors, if they are the same make and similar year model, it's normally not a big deal, just disconnect the control cables, unbolt it and get it out of the way, and install the other motor and connect the existing cables back to it.

If they are different makes, then it can be an expsensive nightmare. The control handle assy and cables will probably have to be swapped out. Sometimes you can buy adapter kits that will let one motors controls work on another but I haven't seen any of those things in a long time, and you still had to do a lot of rework.

Even a big difference in year models on the same make motor can create problems because many of them have changed controls several times on the years.

Both motors that I own, have all the control cables and stuff. These are running engines on other boats. I don't know because I've never swapped out an engine before but given that I have the control units, would they just swap out along with the engines? Also, the engine that is currently on it is the same year Johnson that I have on another boat. Would a 70 hp control unit work on a 150? Just curious.

I know you really want the boat, but if it's that much underpowered, it's not going to be any fun what so ever to operate. It has to be proped down like a barge just to get on plane, and then it will still be very weight sensitive. Put a little extra weight in, like a couple of people and cooler, and you will find someone will be walking up to the bow just so it will lay over coming out of the hole.

Yeah, I'd like to get it but I also don't want a money pit. If it just isn't going to work, then I'll pass on it. I'm just trying to get it powered correctly so I'll be happy with it. I'm not picky either. My current boat for the last 5 years has been a 1984 Bayliner Trophy bass boat with an 85 hp Force and I've been very happy with it. Now that I've moved to Arizona, I want something a little bigger and a little taller. The lakes here are much larger and can get ugly very fast so I wanted something I felt safer in.

Unless you are just buying the boat, and it's dirt cheap, and the guy is throwing in the motor because he doesn't want it, I would have to walk away from it. When I say dirt cheap, I mean like he's almost willing to pay you to haul it off because you are going to find that doing an engine swap is going to make the total cost of the boat when done, more than it's worth.

I personnaly have no desire to have a grossly underpowered boat, and wouldn't want to throw good money after bad doing an engine swap, unless maybe I already had a good engine that's the same make as theone on it so I didn't have to mess with swapping out control heads. Again though, if the motor you have exceeds the hull rating, you need to check with the state and see if you can even use it, and don't plan to insure it.

I'm with you. I wouldn't like being so underpowered but if I can figure out a decent engine swap, I'd do that but if it was a nightmare, then yes, I'd pass on the boat. I have enough headaches in my life. lol.

If they are both OMC's of similar year, about the only difference you might run into would be if the motor you're installing has power trim and the one you're taking off doesn't. (T&T is a seperate cable from the main control cable) You can get around this by installing a seperate switch, or you can install the control for the other motor. It's just doing this can be a real PITA getting the cables down the gunwall on some boats. You can take it apart and leave the cables and just swap the control handle out but that's can be more of a pain than swaping the whole thing. The two controls should be completely interchangeable as far as function and cables go, just the tilt/trim switch won't be in the one on the boat if the motor does not have tilt/trim. Both motors will have the same connections at the motor so it's just disconnecting from one and connecting to the other