Be interested in your comments over time vs your old Ranger. 496 is solid boat, just not a big fan of there branding but the boat itself is solid. Based out of Missouri more popular on Lake of the Ozarks. I don't see allot of them up here

Tom,I don't know if they are still in business but Texas Canvas on Belt Line @ Shady Grove used to make a really nice custom cover. Just an idea.

Just to clear up some confusion. The original early 80's Charger V hulls are a splash of a 86 inch beam ChampioN. Charger splashed/changed em enough to not get themselves in trouble back then. They tweaked them over the years to what they have left today 176, 186, 195, 296, 396, 496, 596, 797 etc. Those models are a close cousin and the ONLY company still making a deep V wedge hull bass boat. A few years ago they did a 100% hull splash off the 210 ChampioN and 198 ChampioN. A 203 is supposedly in he works and a 223 is rumored. Charger is built in Richland Missouri which is Lake of the Ozark Country, arguably one of the roughest lakes in the country. The past several years the main focus from them has been the 210/198 series, which are both fine hulls. The older models have been lacking top cap upgrading for years now. Shame as those hulls are just as proven. Charger isn't a large cookie cutter boat business, they also own Playcraft Pontoons and Hampton boats all in the same building. They've had a loyal following for years and over the past several years grown more popular with the release of the Elite series.

Oh and the OP's 496 will run circles around the Ranger (and i'm a Ranger fan).

Cover wises Deans Top and Canvas or Aurora are both excellent.

Only issue we have is no dealers in Texas, otherwise they would take off with the 198, 210 and 203 hulls. Many of old champs still running around conroe, sam rayburn and Toledo bend.

I have read Charger has a pretty good market in Japan.

I think J&J's at Fork used to be a dealer, don't know if they still are.

And yes sweet boat, I would love to have that motor on my BC Cougar.

what makes this " gold " block a mean muther ? details ???

Hand built by Mercury’s Racing Division. Puts out an honest 274 hp and Revs to 6300 rpms

Congrats Tom!

Great looking Charger

Very nice.

looks like a new rig . Nice deal on that

Methanol? Methanol is what they used to run in indycars before it was changed due to safety. I think you got some bad info 93 octane does include ethanol unless you get the E-0 fuel at one of these stations https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=TX

So does motor have 1 hr or 185 looking at tape in picture?

Good looking boat Tom! I think you'll be very happy with the Racing 250. It is slightly higher compression so that's why they require premium fuel. They also have a 6400 rpm rev limiter which is about 300 rpm higher than the 2 stroke 250 Pro XS. It should be 2-3 mph faster than the other Merc 250.

Sartin Marine at Fork is a Charger dealer. I stopped by to visit and they were rigging a new 2020 Charger 210 Elite with a Yam 250 SHO earlier this spring. Billy really liked the boat & the company but he told me they had just told him going forward the new 210 Elites would be $8K more for hull & trailer. That is a 20% increase. He told me he would still sell them if someone walked in the door insistent on buying one but he could not justify why they did it.

He picked up Falcon this spring so he would have another glass line to sell besides Bullet.