Crestliner vs Lund
 

who has one and why????

For me personally it was a no brainer, I was raised in a Lund. My father bought his first Lund back in about 1975, just a little 14' fishing tub. We fished that boat for years.. Now we were not exactly your typical family, my father loved fishing and hunting he lived for it, and he being a logger had most of his summers off. We fished that boat from Babine lake in northern B.C. rite through to the coast and every pot hole in between. We lived in north east A.B. and spent every non working weekend wich was most out on lakes like Beaver, Touchwood, Heart and many others I would honestly hate to guess the hrs on that boat. And that boat still remains in the family, one of my brothers own it and it is used as a quad in boat on a small trailer. That boat is still solid as the day she was new, no kidding...
Next when my father retired in 1984 he bought a 16' Lund Pike, you know the style with the side console and pedistall seats, Lund was actually one of the first to come out with the style, well like I said he bought it when he retired. That man basically lived in that boat till he past away in 95. My parents spent half their time out on the west coast and half back home in A.B. that boat lived through 4 engines and still has a 30 HP Yammy on the back this I know because I own the boat now, father wanted me to have it when he past. Let me be the first to tell you that boat is as solid today as the day she was bought not a leak or a loose rivet in her. That boat seen more fish hit the bottom of it than most 20 boats in the country. My sons still use that boat its now been past on to them to use. I am quite picky with my new one so thay use the old Lund for their outings with freinds.

So you see for me it was a no brainer Lund boats have served my family for over 30 years and like I said we still have the first one and it is solid. When I went and invested in a new boat there was no doubt in what to buy, oh I looked at the rest but came coming back to the best... If you noticed I said "invest" because thats what you do when you buy a Lund, you invest in the future...

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Got a Crestliner this year, had a Lund before that. Lund and Crestliner are made by the same company. Crestliner is welded, Lund is riveted. Crestliner was far and away the better deal with a better layout than the comparable Lund. Lifetime warranty on the Crestliner plus 3 years on everything else in the boat that came in the package from Crestliner (ie. fishfinder, trolling motor). Cannot argue with that. Which one is better, that could be argued till the cows come home.

Crestliner for me
 

Well, it's like this. I do agree a boat is an investment and I love the lund. Price was a big factor for me as well as a welded hull and motor type. After that you can go into all the "fun Stuff" like depth sounder/GPS, dual live wells, etc.
After searching the market and seeing what was in my price range as well as what I needed (and what I wanted) the Crestliner fit all my needs.
I think you just have to do the research and see where your taste will fall. They are both good boats that will last you the majority of a lifetime but in the end getting what you want within your means will give oyu plenty of years of satisfaction.
For the record...I sit in it every night and hope to god the ice melts soon!

Happy Hunting!

Lund
 

I worked for Lund out of Steinbach Man for a number of years .

I bought a Crestliner last year , better finish inside , more HP.

per lineal foot , quieter . I just dont think those Lunds are the quality they used to be . Crestliner was about 5K cheaper for comparable product .
Also if you compare Free Spirit marine in Edmonton and Alberta Marine
in Nanton Apparently there is no comparison . I havent met an unhappy free spirit customer but there is no shortage Ab. Marine ones ...

They have spent a fortune advertising Lund and if you believe the hype
step up and pay your bucks ... W101

Alberta Marine in Nanton and Broker Marine in Camrose quoted me by far the highest Lund prices.LacLaBiche Sporting goods and Rainbow Marine quoted me the lowest prices on Lund.

We just bought a Lund though Rainbow Marine and choose it because of the layout. Between the two boats it probably ends up to which layout you like better. Just a couple designs in the Lund that we liked better so we went with Lund.

If anyone has one that they want to give away, doesnt matter i will take it. :lol:

Wedding to pay for, new bow, I guess I have to wait on a toy like that.

Both boats are at the top of the market.
Both have upsides.

To argue which is better is almost impossible.
I like my bigger boats in a crestliner but the smaller ones in a lund.

The arguement is the brand hanging off the transom.


To be honest guys, the price difference is on the outboards.

Price out the boats alone and youll be suprised at how close they come in.

No Rivetts
 

I owned a14ft lund for years without a problem used it on calm days, than started fishing for walleye on the windy days when the white caps were comming in. I found that the rivets started to leak from the beating of the boat on the waves. I would also say that I did not take it easy on the boat as I would trim the motor down and run about 20 mph accross the tops of the white caps It lasted about 2 years without leaks. It was not one or 2 leaks they were every where, trying to fix them was a pain in the butt. I have since went to 18 ft welded and have owned my boat for 10 years I can cruise across the biggest whitecaps the local lakes can dish out and never have water in the bottom. Welded is the way to go with me.

After spending a fair bit of time in a Crestliner, I moved to a Lund, and I couldn't be happier.

IMHO, you get what you pay for (and the difference really isn't that much if you shop around and compare apples to apples), the Lund is a better boat all around. I'm not in any way saying the Crestliner isn't a great boat, just that in my opinion, the Lund is a little better.

The used boat market would seem to support that opinion as well.

Waxy

Good thread. I have owned a Lund for several years now and love it. However, I have always wondered about the welded vs riveted argument. In my mind, I can think of no reason why a welded boat would not be BETTER than a riveted. I would think a weld would hold out to a pounding better than a rivet any day. Thoughts/comments?

Aircraft, from jumbo jets to fighter planes, are riveted. Most of the joints in the steel structure of skyscrapers are riveted.

Rivets are incredibly strong and durable.

This topic has been beat to death on forums and around campfires forever. Both have their strong points and weak points, it's not an argument that anyone can "win". For every leaky rivet I've heard about, there's a cracked and leaking weld, or a transom that's falling off. Fortunately, we have the choice as consumers to go with the product we think is best.

Waxy

Interesting commentary there Waxy. Tell truth, I have not seen this discussed either on forum's or around campfires, so I am a bit ignorant about it.

As for cracked weld vs. bad rivet; fair enough, my assumption was that a weld would be stronger.

How about actually repairing these things. Is it easier to repair a weld or a rivet? I would assume rivet...

Do a quick Google search on welded vs. riveted hulls, you'll know more about it than you ever wanted to know!

It's kinda like Ford vs. Chevy or Coke vs. Pepsi, there's no shortage bandwith being burned up. :lol:

I don't have any real experience with repairing rivets, only what I've read, but based on that, they seem to be about equal when it comes to doing repairs, both have ups and downs in their favour.

To be honest, welded vs. riveted really wasn't a factor in my decision.

Waxy

To each their own
 

I went with what they use one the west coast don't see many rivets out there. Don't they have to replace rivets on airplanes after a certain amount of hours? I wonder if the airplane aluminum is lighter gauge perhaps easier to rivet? Had rivets went to welds no comparison in my books, just bought my second welded boat.

as far as broken welds Crestliner comes with lifetime warr.

So does the Lund, transferable to every owner for the life of the hull.

So no real advantage there one way or the other.

Waxy

I really like my Crestliners, as I stated above but I tend to prefer riveted boats. I like Crestliners due to their layouts and options...not the hull

I have restored 7 boats, almost all riveted.

Replacing and fixing on riveted boats is much, much easier then welding.
That aluminum is thin and to weld it, only weakens it.
Riveting adds strength without applying heat.

Fixing riveted boats is no walk in the park either. They have a rubber gasket between rivets and I cant count how many old boats I looked at that had weld repairs that ended up ruining the entire hull.....heat that rubber gasket up and the boat will leak like it has a 1 inch hole.


Heres the way I look at it folks.....

They all have extremely good warr. backing their product.
If you have problems with the hull, take it back for repair.

Legend
 

What about Legend Boats? Anyone know anything about them. Good or Bad

They are priced right and look good but i havn't heard anything about them.

As times change so does the company and product quality. At one time Lund may have been the built better than they are now I don't know but I have heard that a lot. Ma bey there are more manufactures that are just as good/ better??

I bought my boat in 04. I shopped around and came down to the Crestliner and the Lund. I picked the Lund but the Crestliner was just as nice, ma bey nicer. I got a 17' Fisherman with a 115 Honda and a Minkota Auto pilot trolling motor.

The very best part of the whole set up is the Auto pilot motor. I could'nt give a **** what name is on the side of the boat or how big it is just as long as I have that Auto Pilot. It's that good.

ROA
Where did you get your auto pilot motor from?
and how much installed?

About the Legends... they are just as much or more after you calculate in all the extra bull**** costs and put a proper size motor on it. The advertised price is a scam, reason enough not to buy one.

I got mine from Rainbow Marine when I got the boat, I *think* it cost me $1500 installed. it is a 74lbs thrust 24 volt and has more than enough jam to pull the boat. The one thing to look at is the shaft length. The Fisherman is a tall boat and in about 2 foot of chop the motor was coming out of the water. I got the longest shaft installed on it and it helped a bit.

Batteries are important, the ones that Rainbow gave me were a joke, I might have gotten 3 hours out of them. They were good to me and refund them and gave me the biggest ones I could cram into the battery trays. I can easily go 8 hours on them now, infact I have never ran out so long as they were charged the night before. I also got a minkota in board battery charger. I highly recommend it as it charges quickly at first then backs off as the battery's get full then goes onto float to maintain charge. I can get my big batteries charged up in 8 hours with it.

My new boat came with a Motorguide bow mount. It's a real nice unit - wireless, 80lbs thrust, easy to stow/deploy, etc...

I'm thinking about trading it for a MinnKota strictly to get the AutoPilot feature. I had it on my last boat, and after you've had it, it's REALLY hard to live without.

Waxy

I catch a lot of fish (brag alert:D ) and I realy don't have the time to be running a trolling motor to stay on structure AND be reeling in fish every 2 minutes:D


Autopilot... a must have for people that catch a lot of fish in windy bad water and want to stay on course.


I guess the guys that might only pick up a few fish a day and troll all over the place (in circles while taking fish of the hook) might be happy with a straight foot controlled.:evilgrin: