I am interested in a 1999 Javelin Venom 17 with a 115 Johnson that someone has for sale. Is this boat a good built boat?

I also remember Evinrude having a bad year some time ago and don't know how the engine is now. Any information would be helpful. Thanks!

Javelin is designed & built by Stratos. They are the same as Triton, Skeeter, Ranger, and Champion's tournament addition. These are all the same boats just with out all the options. Evinrude & Johnson are doing fine since being bought out by Gen-Mar.

thanks catt. so would a 1999 johnson motor be a risky purchase i read that was the year of the ficth problem?

CATT- "JAVELIN IS THE SAME AS TRITON, SKEETER,RANGER AND CHAMPION" YEH AND MY FORD PINTO IS THE SAME AS A CADDILAC WITHOUT ALL THE OPTIONS. NO OFFENSE, BUT EVINRUDE AND JOHNSON ARE NOT QUITE MERC AND YAHMAHA EITHER.

Beginning sometime in the late 70's or early 80's HydraSport and Javelin were made in the same plant and on the same molds in Tennessee. Triton was unyet even in business. Champion is/was an Arkansas based small family owned builder and Ranger was still owned by Forrest Wood and also built in Arkansas. This was not uncommon as ProCraft and AstroCraft - later just Astro - were the same way. In the 90's the outboard mfg's, lead by Mercury Marine, began to buy up boat companies to limit their competitors engines distribution and force the boat franchise dealers to carry that brand of outboard. Merc did it, OMC - Johnson/Evinrude did it and later Yamaha started when they bought out Skeeter. This created some openings for an independent conglomerate to begin buying boat companies and Genmar was created, who now owns Ranger and 12-14 other major boat builders - also may own Champion... dunno. Outboard Marine Corp was in deep financial problems as the parent company of Mercury, The Brunswick Corp, gained strengh and was gaining market share through their super aggressive marketing. OMC began to downgrade certain boat brands and match Johnson engines with the "Promo" level boats and at the end of OMC's coporate life had tried to morph again to match the competition in the HydraSport/Javelin area by closing the antiquated Tennessee plant, building Javelin almost exclusively as a feshwater bass boat in a new smaller plant and concentrating on the larger saltwater market with HydraSports being built in a new high tech South Carolina plant. Both lines at one time had had 2 complete fresh and saltwater programs so that more than a single dealer could be sold to in the same market. When the bottom fell out in the late 90's for OMC and they went bankrupt from bad management practices, very poor quality controls in the engine plant and horrific warranty losses on even the carb'd engines and close to the entire production in some years of the new German FICHT high pressure direct injection technology, the Canadian company Bombardier bought out the OMC holdings in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy sell off. Bombardier closed the engine plants, refused to take the boat plants that were later sold off to Genmar for the most part or simply closed by the Bankruptcy Judge, and Bombardier attempted to fix the warranty issues on a restricted basis for whatever engine problems there were in the remaining outstanding Warranty periods. A close buddy of mine went thru this process on his 150 Johnson and his engine runs great now but the timing was super close on getting a new powerhead under Warranty.
So, If the engine has had a new powerhead or other major warranty issue fixed it probably is OK. If it hasn't and has been run regularly and can pass a mechanics inspection it probably is OK also. As far as the Javelin boat is concerned you would have to set a Javelin side by side with a similar model HydraSports to see the differences but they are there as Javelin was the promo boat at the end of OMC. Again if the boat passes a thourough inspection then it probably is OK. But Javelin has no relation to any other boat line except HydraSports, even within other OMC owned boat brands.
I don't follow Bassboats any longer and someone else can comment on what the current story is on Champion. Ranger has belonged to Genmar now for about 12-15 years. Yamaha has continued to buy out and expand their ownership of boat mfg's, with a very strong history of extreme improvement in the quality of a boat's design and manufacturing process and subsequent skyrocketing sales. Skeeter, VIP and Cobia/Century used to be one step above junk lines before Yamaha's buyout and now are benchmark quality market leaders in every measurable way to name just a few. Likewise, Bombardier has done a total turnaround of the Johnson/Evinrude engines quality and are also considered to be some of the best engines on the market right now.
These are my recollections from when I worked in the Industry in the mid to late 90's.
Ron

I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO TAKE WHAT I SAID WRONG. JAVELIN IS A FINE BOAT. I JUST WOULDN'T SAY IT'S QUITE A SKEETER OR A RANGER.

Wiley, thank you so much for your comments.The
boat looks in excellent condition with no scratches or hull damage. It has been covered since it was bought. I have been burned before so I am very careful. He asked 8500 for it and I countered with 6500. He came back at 7500. What scares me the very most is the Ficht problem. Was
this a major problem only in the bigger engines. I ask him about it and he acted like he never heard about it. The motor does not have any scratches on it. He said it has low use as his fishing buddy had health problems the first year and he had health problems the second year. I checked with his dealer and was told he took very good care of the boat, but I still don't know about the ficht with the 115 Johnson (1999)
Any help is appreciated.

I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT IT. YOU COULD HAVE PROBLEMS WITH ANY MOTOR. IF IT HAS BEEN WELL TAKEN CARE OF IT SHOULD BE FINE. TAKE IT TO A SHOP AND HAVE THEM LOOK IT OVER. KEEP UP WITH THE SERVICE AND ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT LEAKING LOWER UNIT OIL. I ALWAYS KEEP MY MOTOR ALL LOWERED AT HOME SO I WILL FIND A LEAKY SEAL IF THERE IS ONE.

To my knowledge there never was a FICHT injection unit ever produced for any of the V4's like this 115 is... only V6's. Just be super careful with the D####ed VRO oil injection system!!!! They can be pure junk ...or work like a charm...almost cost me an engine 'cause the warning buzzer failed on a low oil tank. Lot of the commercial guys using OMC's have had the VRO system diconnected and run premix just to be sure.
I'd still have a Bombardier Certified mechanic go over the engine and the boat. The soft spots just bother the H### out of me. I turned down a steal of a deal on a 19' HydraSport CC with a soft spot right under the steering wheel that was pristine otherwise because at my weight then of over 270+ I create a lot of PSI boucing around on the deck...even after 4 months of Atkins I'm still in the 235+ range!!! LOL!! But then I'd have a certified mechanic go over a boat that I bought from my mother after all the times I've been burned!!! I think the engine is the least of your problems .... that floor is indicative of a problem. At a $1000 to fix a rolled edge hull's floor you are just getting started. Go over the entire hull and tap it firmly with the plastic handle of a large screwdriver. Start with the soft spots and then the areas around the soft spots to get the feel of what I'm saying. You are listening for a firm solid sound not a dull thud. Think about the sound of tapping drywall over a stud and the difference when you get over the hollow part next to a stud .... that hollow sound is what you are looking for and indicates seperation behind the glass...and a probable soft spot... a dull thud sound indicates waterlogged or dry rotted wood where it should be a solid clunk or even a clang solid sound. You can use your knuckles too. Pay close attention to the transom and especially around the top where the engine mount bolts are and where the transom meets the hull on the sides. I mean every 6"s tap tap tap around every fixture and screw hole up and down and across the transom. When yoiu get the floor ripped out you can inspect the stringers and frame... it will blow your mind how thin that floor actually is!!!! Pull some screws like on the transducer mount and smell the screws and screw holes for a mouldy smell... as well as any under deck area you can get into especially in the bilge!!! Take a very sharp knife point or a an ice pick and gently probe for soft spots around all of the thru hull fixtures or inside any of the screw holes looking for soft rotted wood....don't dig just probe 'cause anything deeper than about an 1/8th inch shows rot beginning...anything over 3/8th's deep using an ice pick could be a problem. These boats probably are not made wood free like a Ranger or the better saltwater boats are. Any break in the seal will admit water and the rot starts there and can travel inside the fiberglass covering of a wood stringer or transom. Chances are that the soft spots will show as a rotted shim or a suface crack in a stringer that allowed water to rot the top where the floor made contact or a putty filled area under the floor that has had impact pressure of some sort and shifted....glass putty is a cheap way to level a floor and is sometimes knocked out of position when the floor is positioned at the factory which leaves the floor unsupported. Screw holes in a f'glass covered wood deck admit water and the rot starts... Yadda yadda.
There really is a reason to pay more money for a better boat ...if you have the money to start with....BTDT
1999 was a very bad year for anything OMC built but the majority of the problems were in V6's and for sure anything in a '99 FICHT... they were like lightbulbs...the good ones are still running untouched and with no problems and the rest got fixed under warranty if the owner was smart. I know of a beuatiful '99 or '00 Saltwater 225 Ficht that has had 3 powerheads replaced under warranty and there is a lawsuit to get the 4th one done. It was insured thru an aftermarket Warranty Company and now that they have used aftermarket rebuilt powerheads Bombardier won't touch it and the Warranty Company sez they are through after 3 fix's.
If you were in the DFW area I'd know who to send you to for an estimate on the hull. At Texoma B&B in Pottsboro on Hwy 120 North is the best OMC/Bombardier mechanic I know of....maybe they can direct you to a glass guy for an inspection. Good Luck.
Ron

Ok! What I said was Javelin is a "cheap" Stratos, to find Javelin on line you will have to go to Stratos web site. Just like Triton, Ranger, Champion, ect have "cheap" or tournament models. These models have the same hull but they have less opitions therefore the can be sold cheaper.

Catt is right about Javelin's uppergrade twin being Stratos. HydraSports also had a twin whose name escapes me right now...but both companies were owned by OMC. Catt is also correct about the mfg's blowing smoke with the name "Tournament" models by almost everybody as a desigination of f a cheaper - read less options package - boat. Go figure that one out... I would have thought that a Tournament Model would be loaded to the gills with all the goody options. When Ranger was still building bathtub boats their "Tournament" model came with a thicker hull...they stopped that when guys complained about the Tournament models being slower! Back before BASS lifted the 150hp restriction most the of the Ranger "memo" boats that I saw shipped to sponsered anglers were a cheaper 361 series boat... big gas tank, lighter hull, big rod box and live well..but still built like a Ranger with no empty space below the deck except for the bilge area and the drain tube down the center of the boat to the bilge...all solid glass or force fed structural foam from the keel and up into the walls. "Memo" billing allowed someone to be shipped a new boat every year, usually in late July or early August, and not have to pay for it until the next cycle...and the Pro's would then have an oppotunity to use the boat all year and sell it for whatever they could get and maybe even make a little money on the exchange... all Ranger wanted was to be paid 12 months after they shipped.
Ron
Just like General Motors with the Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Caddy set up... Merc Marine has made a success of offering pleasure boats in Bayliner (Chevy), Regal (Pontiac), SeaRay (Buick) and Cobalt (Caddy). Genmar and maybe Yamaha comes closest in fish boats to making this concept work. Skeeter is now offering a monterous selection as a dealers "foundation" line and I could now build a dealership on the Skeeter line alone..which is what Yamaha wants to happen. Same old adage about the 80/20 Rule applies...20% of the Maufacturers sell 80% of the boats.
RV

That right there is why Wiley Coyote is an Extreme Angler! I mean Angler Extreme!

Old age is H### ...too many brain cells lost to bad whiskey to keep all of it straight all of the time!!! LOL!!! Besides this is not a contest about anything ...just a place to share what little I know and learn something about stuff I don't know.
Ron

You got my vote on the VRO systems on the Johnson motors, it destoyed my 2001 115 hp motor. I have an 2004 115 now and they say not to worry about the VRO system, so im not, cause i have a 3 year warranty!!!

Now back to fishin's question about buying a used boat. My biggest concern is with the transom which can have internal stress cracks that are invisiable to the eye. This is especially true with boat that were used in rough alot, this can really stress the transom. When you hit a large wave wrong causing the boat to stall, the engine is still pushing, so something has to give. Do this enough times and you've got problems.