Which brand has the widest beam?

[Mike S.]

My buddy Brett, who is BassinBero on here, bought an 03 Champion 196 last summer.  It is an awesome boat.  It is wide from bow to stern.  Front deck is ginormous on that thing.  Amazing ride.  Has a 200 Opti on it.  Not a real fast boat, but I was impressed with the ride, and the fact that the two of us can fish from the front and not get in each other's way.  We're pretty good sized guys.  Got it for $18,500.  I really like the Nitro Z8's.  I looked at one at D and R last year, and loved it.  I know a lot of people don't like the Nitro's, but mine is 15 years old, and Brett beat on it hard for 11 years, and I'm not easy on it myself, and she runs pretty good.  Rides better than some other newer boats I've been on.  Just my opinion on the ride, so nobody get mad.  The Z8 was very wide, and the front deck was huge.  Liked it.  But, it sounds like you're wanting the price of  the Champ I talked about, and the Z8 is nowhere near that.  Good luck man.

[djkimmel]

Vince, are they calling the 183 and the 202 "Champion Series"??         I was under the impression that the "Champion Series" for 2011 coming out of bankruptcy was only available in the 210 Elite.


BD.                               

As pointed out above, you can check on the Stratos website to see they have the Elite 210, 202 and 183 models available. They are Champion hulls renamed to Stratos Elite being made in Flippin Arkansas at the Ranger factory complex along with Ranger, Stratos and Triton.

[djkimmel]

As far as wood in Ranger boats, they switched over in 1999 to all fiberglass using ultra-high fiberglass to resin (70% fiberglass) pultrusion material in the 518 and then the rest of the 500 series VS for 2000. Some of the old R-Series boats were phased out between 2000 and 2003 into the new 185, 205, etc replacements for the R-Series, and those were done without wood also.

[djkimmel]

I test drove the Stratos Elite 202 down on Bull Shoals in December. It said Stratos Elite in one spot and Champion in another. Regardless of what it says or doesn't say on it, it was definitely a Champion hull. No mistaking the different way they ride from other hull designs.

[torch laker]

Skeeter has always had one of the largest usable decks by square inches in the industry