2005 21" SX Model

[Mikep79]

Guys looking at purchasing a used 21' 8" Champion SX with a 225 Yamaha HPDI. The price is around 23,000.00. It has 25 hours on the motor. The boat is extremely clean and the sharpest looking fish and ski of any model that I have found. It has been garage kept under a cover. I have a few questions surrounding this purchase. How fast is this boat (no test drive yet), how does it fish (only fish and ski for the wife and kids-mainly a fishing boat), resale value good or bad, any drawbacks to the engine or the boat itself, is it too expensive for the facts that I have given. I would be converting from a Stratos to Champion and really know nothing of the Champion brand except that they look great. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Lea]

Hi, Mike...

I have never fished out of the boat, but we have a member here from VA who owns one and swears by it!!! Check via emaill, IM or post in the VA/NC fishing forum ...his name is VAfishing....

I do know it is a great riding boat! I seem to remember the hull is the 206 hull with the F&S top cap...

[Mikep79]

Anyone else have any thoughts on this boat? Is this the 206 Champion Hull. Is the boat underpowered with the 225? If the regular 206 is underpowered and if this is the 206 hull then this boat could be a dog, right? Are there any big issues I should know about other than gas mileage with the 225 VMAX. Thanks for the help guys.

[Bounce]

I'm lookin at the same model, different year. I don't know what the boat yer lookin at comes with other than the Yami, but I think that's a pretty fair price depending on the condition.

[Lea]

Hi Bounce...welcome!!!!

I need to check with Jeff (VAfishing) since I cannot remember what motor he has.....Will let y'all know...or you can IM him directly. He is in theVA/NC forum mostly...

[pattece]

I have the 206 with a 225 and top speed so far is 64 GPS. My boat is 20'6", the boat you are looking at over 21' and would probably be a dog with a 225. I would say keep looking.

[Lea]

The 21SX is actually 20'8" with 95" beam.

Jeff! Where are ya!!!

[Mikep79]

Lea you are right. I rechecked and it is 20' 8". Thanks for helping me out here. Looking forward to the info.

[Lea]

I just found a post of Jeff's...His siggie shows '04 21SX/225 Yamaha HPDI. Since Jeff fishes tournaments a lot, this combo has to be a good performer....I hope he will come into this forum soon. His website is http://www.fishingva.com

[Mikep79]

Thanks alot Lea.

[vafishing]

...and here I am. As Lea said I have an '04 21sx with a 225 VMAX HPDI. Boat runs low to mid 60's with a tournament load. It would be nice to have a little more top end but the price difference between the 225 and 250 was not worth the minor speed gain and anything more than a 250 would cut me out of a lot of the trails I fish. Anyway i fish a ton of tournaments every year and have never ever had an issue with the boat. Can't really tell you fuel mileage as I do not have a fuel flow meter but boat seems to do pretty well as I am one of those types that likes to cover a lot of water and do it full throttle all the time. If you want to discuss the boat in more detail drom me an im and I will give you my phone number to give me a call. Oh and the boat is built off of a 206 Hull. All differences are in the top cap...

[Lea]

aha! I was right about the hull...

Thanks, Jeff!!! I know the guys appreciate the info....

[vafishing]

I have learned over the years the key to making the boat run right is to keep the weight in the front lockers as minimal as possible. As I said it is a 206 hulll but the top cap for the 21sx puts the cockpit a lot farther forward so can tend to be a little bow heavy. I am a soft plastics nut so once I learned to put the 1000 pounds of those in one of the back lockers the boat just came to life. Also to help with bow lift some I added 2" spacers to the stock 10" jackplate so now I have 12" of setback. One more thing the speed numbers I posted before are with a Yammie 23T1 prop. I am definitely underpropped right now as the motor spends a lot of time up near the rev limiter. Next year going to jump to a 25 and should pick up some speed there.

[Mikep79]

Thanks vafishing and Lea. I'm going to pull the trigger on this boat. I took it out for a test drive this weekend. Absolutely unreal for a fish and ski. Hole shot and speed are great. Has not got GPS yet but by just its regular speedometer it was reading 70mph at 6100 rpm's. I don't know if that is correct, but it sure felt pretty quick. That brings up another question, what is a good rpm to run on this motor- 2005 Yamaha VMAX 225 HPDI. If I have it floored it is 6100 rpm's. I just want to protect the engine. Had it looked over by mechanic and it did only have 29 hours on the motor. Had them do the oil pump recall. This thing is practically new.

Here is a picture of the beauty. What do you think?

[Lea]

Wow! Looks good!!! Congratulations!!! Welcome to the Champion family!!!!!

As for rpms, if Jeff does not see this, check in the Yamaha forum.

[vafishing]

On that year they say 5500 rpms. You can run higher but 6100 is too high. Limiter on the motor is at 6150 so you were just under it. Probably a little under propped and then with it being cooler weather now you will run a little high. Next year when the water warms up see where you are at and if still high just go up in prop pitch. I will be running a 25 on mine so that is probably where you will end up too...beautiful boat by the way. Wish they still made these instead of going to the new 214 that is much less of a fishing looking boat

[Mikep79]

Thanks vafishing I will get right on that prop thing, want to take care of her as best as I can.

Mike