Champion Fish Hunter 26

[Salsipuedes]

I'm looking at an '89 Champion Fishunter 26 Pilot House with AD41A engine that is listed on Bloodydecks.

http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/members-boats-sale/286103-26-champion-pilot-house-diesel.html

A very knowledgeable boating source tells me these were built off the Blackman 26 hull with modifications to the Express top side to turn it into a open back pilot house. He even knew the name of the builder. The other obvious mod was to raise the gunwale around the cockpit so that you have fiberglass thigh high as oppose to just the railing.

I've been on the boat and it's a Blackman as my source says. You can see the Express lines inside the pilot house.

Engine has 751 hours and looks it. Fires right up, but I only observed it at idle. Owner says it's a very heavy boat, claims it weighs 10,000 lbs. He says the cruise speed is 12 knots at 2900 rpm, but he "babies it". He says that WOT is 3500 to 3600 rpm. I have the manual and that engine should run 3700 to 3900 rpm at WOT. It also can be run at 90% of WOT for cruising. I asked him what props and he wasn't sure, but thought A2 or A1. I have yet to sea trial it which should be very revealing.

My main question is what do the Blackman 26 fitted with the 41 series engine and DP290 drive cruise at? Full of fuel? Half full?

I have the AD31A in my Blackman 20 with the DP 290 drive with 1.95 gearing and A4 props. I'm heavy with a 42 gallon bait tank and stainless t-top. Full of fuel (80 gallons) I run 18 to 19 knots at 3300 rpm with the engine temp at 190.

[Pez Espada]

Stephen,

I have a 26' Billfisher with a 41a. When she's weighted down and loaded with three guys, gear, fuel, bait I cruise at 17 knots at 3200 rpm's. When she's light and at WOT she will do 23 Knots at 3850 rpm's. Sounds like the boat your looking at needs different wheels to free up the motor. This may not change the speed of the boat, but you will get more life out of the motor.

Hope this helps, Zack

[Salsipuedes]

Stephen,

I have a 26' Billfisher with a 41a. When she's weighted down and loaded with three guys, gear, fuel, bait I cruise at 17 knots at 3200 rpm's. When she's light and at WOT she will do 23 Knots at 3850 rpm's. Sounds like the boat your looking at needs different wheels to free up the motor. This may not change the speed of the boat, but you will get more life out of the motor.

Hope this helps, Zack

Thanks Zack. I really need to get my hands around the issue. I was out fishing Catalina yesterday and did a test with my Blackman 20. At 2900 rpm I'm at 12 to 13 knots. At 3400 rpm I'm at 19+ knots. If with the proper wheels to get the WOT right, I'm wondering if I'd see a similar incremental increase in speed from 2900 to 3400 rpm on this Champion? If so, then I'd buy the boat. If not, then that boat needs more power and the price would have to reflect that.

The owner says that John at Blackman does all the service. I placed a call to Blackman and left a message for John, but Steve Blackman returned it (I was on the water) and said he offer whatever help he could provide on the matter. Love the way they take care of family."

I like the boat, but do not like life at 12 knots. 17 knots I could live with. I'm looking at this boat because my wife recently had back surgery, still has a slipped vertebrae, and can no longer tolerate standing all day on my Blackman 20.

Update: Talked with Steve Blackman today. Apparently John does work on the side and he'll talk to him about this boat and get back to me. Steve said the 41A is the right engine for the boat. The difference in speed is probably due to being propped wrong. Then add bottom paint, growth on the hull, a ton of junk on the boat, etc. and you're slow.

Steve did not have much good to say about the Champion and tried to sell me an '87 Billfisher that he's brokering. Bottomline is that Champion (they make bass boats) hired a naval architect to clone the Blackman hull. He said they sold a few of them, but they weren't laid out as well and made inefficient use of space......sort of a marketing pitch for the 26 Billfisher, if you ask me. He said the 26 hull with the 41A should cruise at 20 knots at 3300 rpm when fully loaded with fuel, bait and 3 people. He said that his 26 hull would beat his 23 in a sprint with the same 41 series engine in it, simply because it's more efficient. He asked me what the price was on the boat and he went oh, and then agreed to talk to John to see if there are issues with the engine. The 26 Billfisher he was trying to sell me is an '87 up in Redondo and has a 41A in it. They've done all the service on it and the owner is asking $49K for it, but is desperate to sell and would take less.

Bottom line is if this boat can cruise at 18 knots with say new props and a clean bottom, it's a deal based on what I saw. If it truly is underpowered, then it's a repower situation and I would not pay more than $10K to $15K for it. I'd sell the motor out of it and repower with a D4-260.

[OUT~CAST]

I know this boat its in Campland Marina i have a Billfisher in there. Owner has put alot of money in it and has all work done by John from Blackman call me if you need more info 760 803-6054

[REEL NASTY]

:eek:
I may be wrong but this looks like the boat my friend Wes owned prior to his last 26 express. If it is the same boat all I will say is that it scared the shit out of me. The boat was set up and seemed to be a fine machine but I know Wes could not get rid of it fast enough. I know the few time I was out on it in semi rough Seas that thing rolled so hard going down swell we had to come in at 5 knotts and still rolled side to side and was taking water over the side.

Stay away

[Mac Attack]

Looks clean!!!!and it appears that it has sold.


Mike

[NoSlack]

If it has A1 or A2 props you really don't have room to go down much in size. It might have the wrong lower end gears. 1.78 vs 1.95

Ideally you like to have the right gears so you can stay within a couple sizes of A5.

Mike

[Salsipuedes]

Yes, the boat sold and not to me. Seller was never very cooperative in arranging a sea trial and a survey. I was all ready to do the sea trial on a Thursday AM and he leaves me a message that it will have to be quick as in minutes, because he has a job (contractor) that he has to get set up.

Normally I'm 100% travel during the week. I just finished up a 6-month assignment in Chicago, traveling home for weekends. I was on a two week leave/vacation. My wife is about 80% travel and she was coming home the night before the sea trial. We were ready to go do the sea trial and then he pulls his quickie BS. Really made me start to wonder as I needed to get to the bottom of the boat's speed problem which meant sea trial, pulling the boat and inspecting the bottom and the props, survey, etc. Then I saw the boat sold. Oh well, I guess someone bought it without doing the full due diligence I was planning to do.

Mike, your point on the A2/A1 props is precisely what I was focusing on. Owner thought they were A2s, maybe A1s. That tells me he really did not know his boat. I wanted to pull the boat to check the numbers on the props. If indeed they were A2s and it had this slow speed issue, there was not much left to work with and the boat was improperly powered. I never got to do this check, though I did buy a $1500 trailer to do this (I'll sell that fairly easily for the same price).

Steve Blackman did return my call regarding this seller's claim that John did all his service. John indicated that he never did any service on a Champion 26 Fishunter. So the story never really panned out on the service claims. I did not trust the seller. He really did not know enough about his own boat and engine and really wanted a uninformed buyer. That was not me, so I moved on and I guess he did too.

Anyone want to buy a trailer for a 26' boat? :-)