Skeeter 22i

To Caney and back Thursday and Friday with two different student drivers and neither were close to spearing a wave.. On Thursday we make several trips across at mid lake. The driver although a young student was a very experience boat driver and knew how to run the waves. If any Z520 speared waves during Thur or Friday of the college tx it was driver error not the boat..

Their hasn't been one invented yet.

Sorry, but anyone spearing waves in 2-3 ft. waves doesn't know what they are doing. I know 2 teams that fished the event and neither one speared any so you are making a mountain out of mole hill because there aren't 50 people that will agree with you like you originally said.


Hit the other side of the trim button next time and try not to speak for 50 people, just speak for yourself.

Better check your research. Legend is damn sure no Champ knockoff. A lead sled with an extra strake maybe, but no
Champ. All have safe rides, I will have to stay with my Champ because, that is what I have. Stay safe.....

My boat has trouble waking up in the morning when it is windy.

Probably any boat with a hull designed by john storie, he founded champion, then went on to design hulls for viper, cobra which are no longer in production, and more recently hawk/legend. From what I understand the champions are his best work but the current legend line is a close second and only because he had some sort of no compete clause with champ that prevented him from trasfering some of its hull design features to his later designs.

I hear champion is pretty good

The only hull Storie ever designed was the 168 and that was a splash off a hydrostream hull.

Here's the story of Champion,Hawk,Viper/Cobra and the beginnings of legend, according to Pat Goff. In '76 Storie splashed a Hydrostream and built the 168. That boat, along with Pat Duncan and Bill Pace built Champion.
Believe it or not, the next boat was in fact the 201. First 20' bass boat built by anyone.
Then the 184
Then 176
Rocked along there for a while with the same 86" boats, all was well. Then the market started creeping towards wider boats.
1990 Introduced the 190 19' rated for 200
1992 or so came out with 180 rated 175, 204 V6 rating, both disasters.
1994 was the 191, 186, late in model year 202. All terrific running boats.
1997 or so the 221 22' bass boat. The 187 Also introduced the "bass n bay" 187 & 202.
1998 the 203 came.
1999/2000 The 206, 198, 223.
My history ends with Arkansas.
Other interesting boats..
The "swift" a 16'8" Ski Boat
The 201 Mini Miami Vice Ski boat, that was one very very hot boat. Looked like a miniature Cigarrette boat.

I've left out the "mean" 15, fish n skis and bay boats.

All the 201's were "V6" Rated, except the few "V8" Rated boats. 201,202,203,204,221 was all "V6" rated. Some of the crew drifted to some other boat companies. I know that Loren Smith is now plant manager for Tracker, he brought Lance Williams with him.

I'd like to find out where Dave Schlick turned up. He was the most talented boat designer I've ever seen. 202, 187, 221 were all his boats.

John sold champion to Dave Porthouse, and among other things, Dave had him sign a non compete contract which was quite clever. He knew he couldn't prevent Storie from building boats, that was his livelihood, so he prevented him from building only "deep V wedge" designed boats. Which is of course what the Champ hull is.
John simply splashed a 482 ranger, added a turning chine, and a little more setback, and there was his boat.
Porthouse bought champion from Storie in the early 90's, and had John continue to run the company for several years.
John wanted nothing to do with building anything besides the tried and proven 86" beamed boats. Bill Pace is the one who designed and built the first wide champ, the 190. John left to contemplate his navel for a few years, and managment was taken over by little dave. The later boats, 186, 202,191 were designed by Dave Schlicke, all very fine hulls.
Storie hooked back up with Bruce Benton, and they are the ones who designed the Cobra/viper/etc etc. Again, this was a hull that wouldn't interfere with his non compete contract.
To say they didn't want to build new boats is just wrong, they built lots of new hulls. But they were all based on the proven hull dynamics that put champ where they were.
I was with Champ from '84 to the demise in '01 I only know of Stories actions based on friends in Mt. Home who kept track of such things.
The "legend" of Stories boat designing skills are for the most part seriously overrated, for every minute he spent tweaking a boat, Bill Pace spent an hour.

Legend/Hawk/Cobra/Viper, they all run together.
Here's the scoop, and anything else you hear is just B.S.

John Storie was wanting to start another boat company, but he was locked down in a very strict non compete contract with Champion. He could build a boat, but couldn't build a deep V Wedge hull boat.

So, what he did was splash a Ranger 482, added a turning chine, and increased the lifting strakes, and he had him a boat mold. That was the beginning of the Cobra/Viper boats, and they did the Fisher glass boats there also, same hull.

Storie got runnoft from Cobra, they went flaming down, and he and Bruce Benton started the Hawk boat, same basic mold, same basic boat. '01 came and they didn't have the legs to stay in the race, so that died. The molds were bought and brought to Texas where they started building the legends, then bought again and moved to Midway Ark.

Just so it's clear...again...
John Storie hasn't had a hand in designing a champ since the 80's. Anything coming out of champion today is designed by Alan Stinson.
Legend/hawk/viper/cobras are all a splash off a ranger 482. Modified, but still in the same gene pool.

It's more honest and accurate to state the legend/clones are modified rangers than some breed of champ.

Now, here's the real scoop, the only Champion Storie ever designed was the original 16'8" back in the seventies. The rest of the boats were all designed by Bill Pace, Pat Duncan, and Dave Schlick.

John Storie is living in Oklahoma City right now, and has nothing to do with the boat business.

my 04 Ranger ran really smooth in winds up to 70 mph, of course it was on the trailer......

it suxed on the water in any wind, to be honest it suxed when there was no wind.

Cmack......you left the 193 Champ out, best riding rough water boat under 20' ever!

I have been in the worst you could imagine at Amistad. As long as my bilge was kicking out water I was fine. It is a pretty heavy boat to haul around is the only neg. point about it. Can't go wrong for the price either.

I recently purchased a Skeeter SL190 fish and ski. I fish quite a bit and it was a big step up from my bass tracker...but I was at Cedar Creek on labor day and discovered it wasn't great in rough water (believe me the water was crazy rough). I still love the boat and have no reservations about Skeeter, but I think some of the other makes are better for rough water. A good friend of mine told me his Triton was way better in rough water and now I tend to believe him.

David D my son was in the tournament with you guys on Thursday and relayed to me the same things you’re saying. He, probably like you has a lot of seat time in different brands and he knows how to drive a high performance boat. What you experienced is the reality of what you had to deal with. He too said the SHO has an awesome hole shot.

I have a champion 186 That I took through some monster water today

I have the 204 Champion and it rides better than anything I have been in period. I have fished out of just about every make, and really like the older champions ride. I bought this boat because of the ability to go through rough waters. Conroe is a bathtub and gets bad all summer. My son didn't want to go out in my old boat because we got beat up too much. It is more narrow than the others and doesn't fish as well as some of the boats I have been in, but I would rather be a little more crowded on the deck and have my son with me. Just my .02.

I would say a Legend. I had a Champion previously. Both are about equal. But with Champions problem lately. I'de go with the Legend.

skeeter i class

+1

champion 186 super v

BassCat...Jaguar....

for my 2 cents.... how a boat handles rough water is similiar to how good a boats "hole shot" is. I drive a 21 ft Gambler and have had numerous people comment on the fact that Gamblers r fast as hell but r horrible in rough water and have a bad hole shot... Well, mine is fast AND has great hole shot and is good in rough water. I am not sponsored or have my manhood tied to my boat brand (i save that for my truck! FORD TOUGH BABY! hahaha)and I have to agree with the guys who say its more about the driver than the boat. I am def not a superstar driver but I have had some great mentors and am a great listener/student. My partner and I got stuck several miles away from the ramp at falcon in a tournament last spring when a storm blew up and the waves got very uncomfortable. there were 5 boats fishing the same area we were and we all headed back about the same time. Several different boat brands and several of the same boat brand. I did what I had been taught and got back second. The guys who got back first were in a 18 ft off brand boat and they were drier than any of the rest of us. They also have been fishing Amistad and Falcon for over 20 yrs.... the last and wettest of us all were some mid 20yr olds in a $70,000 brand new famous brand boat. But on the other hand, I think even those hot dogs would have been fine in an old Champion... hahaha

CHAMP any size hands down!!!!

Augh...bullchit!

Well the Champ 171 has kept me dry(Compared to several different boats my friends drive), it will destroy your spine in a minute......Next time bigger for me. The 135HP keeps the nose up and jumps alittle(By alittle I mean I got the feeling back in my legs after a few days).