Champion Boats

[G3Boater]

Anyone have thoughts on 1990's champion bass boats? personal likes and dislikes? 

[Dutch]

Those were the Arkansas boats before Genmar got a hold of them.  They are good boats.  I  had one of the last Arkansas Champions for 14 years.

[176champion]

I have 2 Champion Boats...one is 1989 17'6" and the other is 1995  19'...they are good boats as long as they are maintained and taken care of as with anything.  Transoms are the thing too look at when buying, if they don't them sealed they well rot out as they are wood cored. I think there are one of the best riding bass boat out there and the front deck is a little narrower than most....over all they good boats. Go on Bass Boat central and check out the Champion thread...

My 176 is for sale by the way.

[G3Boater]

23 minutes ago, 176champion said:

I have 2 Champion Boats...one is 1989 17'6" and the other is 1995  19'...they are good boats as long as they are maintained and taken care of as with anything.  Transoms are the thing too look at when buying, if they don't them sealed they well rot out as they are wood cored. I think there are one of the best riding bass boat out there and the front deck is a little narrower than most....over all they good boats. Go on Bass Boat central and check out the Champion thread...

My 176 is for sale by the way.

What specific part of the transom? 

[176champion]

16 minutes ago, G3Boater said:

What specific part of the transom? 

As far as?...The whole back of boat is the transom where the motor hooks too....look for transducers mounted to transom to see if the was sealed or not. motor attaching bolts need to be sealed, there is a top strip angle aluminum piece on top of transom and under that is where the top cap and hull meet that needs to be sealed also. Look for brown or stained water marks on transom as this is a sign of rotted wood or if transom is wet it can be dried out and be fine......this is the same for any wood cored transom on a boat as all boats have there problems and as i stated before it's all in care of boat.

 

[fishinwrench]

I've seen Champions with stress cracks but have never seen one with a bonafide rotten transom.   After the early-80's pretty much all boat builders had figured out how to build transoms that would live forever even if the wood did become waterlogged.   Bad transoms are hardly even a consideration anymore.

[slothman]

I love mine. A 1992 Champion 190sc. It handles the water as well as any other boat I’ve been in. My buddy’s 21’ bass cat doesn’t handle the Lake of the Ozarks waves as well as mine in my humble opinion. It fishes well and is an excellent rough water boat. I could probably fit over 100 rods in this boat if I wanted to. It has a ton of rod storage space. Not as many storage compartments as some of the other makes, but I like the extra floor space I get too. 

 

I honestly didnt know know how good of a boat I was getting when I bought it. I would 100% recommend.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, slothman said:

 

I honestly didnt know know how good of a boat I was getting when I bought it. I would 100% recommend.

Not only that..... You've got one of the best outboards on it that has ever been built. 💪😊

[slothman]

15 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Not only that..... You've got one of the best outboards on it that has ever been built. 💪😊

And one of the best guys to help me when I need it too. 😉

[Volzfan59]

I had a 2001 19' ChampioN with 200 Mercury. Best boat ever! Lord, it rode like a dream and handled rough water better than any boat I owned. 2001 is the last year that ChampioN's were built in Arkansas. Wish I had never sold it.

 

I would highly recommend a used ChampioN, assuming that everything checks out.