Crestliner Commander 1850

[Prof T]

Anyone have any experience with these boats? Getting an “itch”

 

What I’ve found is an 1850, powered with a 90 Mercury 4 stroke. I’ve got that motor on my 196 SeaNymph and it does fine. Top speed is 32 and it planes fine. But the Commander is 1500 lbs vs 1050 lbs for the Nymph even though they are within 4 inches of each other.

 

Factory lists 90 as minimum, 150 max.

[Andre wallyandre]

It's underpower by a large margin

[scobar]

here is link from the Crestliner on new models of the 1850, scroll down but it says 90-150HP

 

Crestliner 1850 Commander | 18 Foot All Welded Aluminum Boat

 

 

[Bozeman Bob]

Yes a 90 will move it but you add weight and gears and that engine will be working hard . The standard for powering is to be within 20 -15% of the max marked on the boat. The minimum I would run would be 120 hp. The extra 500 lbs in weight vs what your running it on now is huge on a small single engine boat. The boat will be a slug and pretty much have to be run at WOT to stay on plain and that isn't good for the engine , your working it to death.

[Netbender]

+3 - under power

[Prof T]

I appreciate the support. I was pretty much on board with not wanting to be on the light end of power, just looking for opinions.

 

I think that commander is a good boat for me. I’m in my late 60’s and like a lot of freeboard. It’s one of the reasons I repowered the Sea Nymph 6 years ago. I’d have to work pretty hard to fall out of it. I fish walleye after dark, alone at least 50 times a year. I went with a Merc’ with Smartcraft/Troll control so I could troll on the main motor and get rid of my kicker. Boat squatted pretty good with the 4 stroke vs the 90 Evinrude / 9.9 2 strokes.

 

Problem is I managed to accumulate over 700 hrs in 5 seasons. Think I want to go back to a kicker to take some of the stain of the main motor. Tough to find west coast style boats here. This commander seems to fit the bill. It’s 5 years old with next to no hours with a merc 9.9 pro kicker. 
 

Going to try to get a price on an engine swap and make an offer accordingly.

[Shakemsam]

If the price is right, I wouldn't hesitate with the 90. Is it underpowered...yep... but it will plane just fine especially if you are alone quite a bit. Also, being a bit underpowered means easier to deal. 

[ifishy]

If your mostly trolling the under power is less of a problem that said the boat itself is a wonderful platform especially if you do a lot of trolling it's very well built to fish out of the back and was on my short list when I was shopping this past spring the right one just didn't come up but if it had I would have jumped on it even with a 90 hp can always work it hard a couple years and save up for a repower

Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[mathews_hunter]

Take a ride in 2 footers before you drop any cash down. 

[MCF]

When those 19 Sea Nymphs were sold new there were a lot of packages that had the 70 hp on it, instead of the 90.  Boat was slow with that.  The Crestliner will be proportionally slow with the 90 vs the 115 but if you are fishing solo a lot, that lightens obviously what is being pushed through the water.    I had a 19 Sea Nymph that I put a 90hp four stroke on,  so I know the boat.  The Crestliner weighs more plus improvements over the years will make it ride better than the Sea Nymph.  I have liked the Commander since they first introduced it several years ago, so I say if the deal can be made-go for it.   

[mathews_hunter]

The commander is great if you only fish smooth days.  I owned a 2050 handled big water but I thought ride was sub par. I felt it was rough riding even with a smooth moves seat. 

[ifishy]

The rougher feeling ride is a compromise for more cockpit space the farther forward the helm is the more it bounces at speed the smoothest part of the boat is the stern boats made to fish solo a lot or fished from the driver's seat have the helm way rearward lund has some pro v models where you can touch the transom from the helm if your doing a lot of big water trolling with two or three people the commander is a great model and if it's that rough go slower lake o has a lot of days where it's better to be paitent and slower on the way in and out and all that dance floor can make the fishing comfortable how you intend to use the boat makes a big difference in the models that work well and there is definitely a place for some of the West coast style aluminum big water trollers on the great lakes crestliner also makes the authority which is pricy but has some extra amenities and was also on my list but probably not in my budget
My last boat was a sea nymph 196 great lakes special so I have some appreciation of where your coming from I loved my seanymph and know the commander felt right

Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[outback kennels 2]

On 2/1/2022 at 7:26 PM, MCF said:

When those 19 Sea Nymphs were sold new there were a lot of packages that had the 70 hp on it, instead of the 90.  Boat was slow with that.  The Crestliner will be proportionally slow with the 90 vs the 115 but if you are fishing solo a lot, that lightens obviously what is being pushed through the water.    I had a 19 Sea Nymph that I put a 90hp four stroke on,  so I know the boat.  The Crestliner weighs more plus improvements over the years will make it ride better than the Sea Nymph.  I have liked the Commander since they first introduced it several years ago, so I say if the deal can be made-go for it.   

I have to say The 20 ft commander is a buty to fish out if 

[Prof T]

Update. I bought the 18.5 ft Commander in March and was able to find a new owner for the Sea Nymph pretty quickly. We are both very happy with our decisions.

 

The 90 on the Commander gets it on to plane just fine, but I've yet to put more than 2 in the boat. Old motor was a Command Thrust and that big prop bit a lot better. Top speed on the Commander is 32. Comfortable cruise at 26 (4200 RPM)

 

Huge difference is fishable space for a few reasons. Beam is a foot wider, and console to rear splashwell a foot and a half more. I troll a ton, and old rod holders were Ram, which put a good portion of rod butts inside of the boat. New boat has Bert's tracks and holders. Entire rod outside of boat. I never considered what a difference that would make.

 

Big windshield has pros and cons. When closed up and draft curtain in place, its a very warm ride. Side triangles help a lot. At night, I used to look over my windshield for better visibility. To do that now I have to stand.

 

Put a Troll Smarter controller on the kicker. Gives you a remote throttle control which I like, as I steer with my Terrova and can stay right in the back of the boat to tend to rods, bottom bounce, etc.