99 Stratos and FICHT questions

I kinda know the answer on the FICHT but welcome insights as well, more looking for insight on the boat though.... looked at a 99 Stratos 283 fish and ski the other night. Boat needs seats($1000) and good cleaning/buff. My plan would be to part out or sell the ficht complete and hang my 200 johnson gt and jackplate on the boat. Im looking for experience with these boats, is the transom strong enough to hold up to 6" setback? Should I just run that ficht till it gives up? I've heard stories of them being great engines for a few people....this guy says his has been great for him and no issues, he is second owner. It sounds like these boats have all composite construction which is my main reason for the interest in it. Let the opinions fly.

Don't know anything about Stratos bass boats. They were owned by OMC, I believe, and therefore sold in packages with OMC engines.

Let the FICHT run until it blows up. It is probably worth more to you than to anyone else.

I no longer remember when the 3 liter FICHTS came out, but if the 99 is an early 3 liter, make sure that whatever service bulletin needed to be applied to make sure that the cowling did not get filled with fuel/air mixture and go kaboom was applied.

If it is a 2.5 liter (150 or 175), the 175 supposedly had more problems than the 150. Unless the cylinder heads have been exchanged to the version with bars protecting the spark plugs from the injector spray (I think that is what they called FICHT RAM), it will only last if run at WOT. Otherwise, it will get carboned up.

Thanks, any other insights, especially on the boat?

they are good knock around boats ...we ran loopers on them with jackplates with no problem at all..if the transom isn't waterlogged you should be fine with the 200 on it...the straight skis had a wide pad...they were a little faster and had a flatter wake...the fish and skis are vee bottom ...wake has a bit of an edge but still ok ...we had bunches of customers at the dealership i worked at with stratos boats...they all seemed happy with them and they held up well....not speed demons by any stretch, but they worked fine...

Thanks for the insight, this boat has the all composite construction so shouldn't have to worry about a soggy transom. For 5400 I should come out ok I'd think. I'll probably run the FICHT for the summer and install my 200 and jackplate this fall/winter. Probably have to part out the fight to get any money out of it is my thought....

Well built boats. You'll be fine with your 200. The ficht is worth more in parts than whole. If it is still running well run it. There are stll a few Wednesday fichts around 😆

I had a 1997 Stratos FS. Bought it with a evinrude 175 intruder. 65 to 67 mph. Quickly swapped to a evinrude 225 vindicator. Ran
74 mph and was a fun boat. Best prop was a 24p Raker. Then i went one step to far. Bolted on a Mercury 300xs. Boat ran 88 mph
and most people at the Island hang out spot had a intervention with my girlfriend. The topic was the idiot in the Stratos you are riding with is going to crash and hurt you. They told Lisa that my cool to me 88 mph drive by was chine walking so bad the rub rails were going under. I tried to explain that i was a boat driving Fool. I was told i looked more like a Fool driving a boat. The second weekend the transom decided it was done carrying the 300xs. Gary "Instagator on here" got a good deal on a Stratos hull and trailer.

You've still got butt-hurt over that? Move on, life's too short.

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Originally Posted by Stoker1

You've still got butt-hurt over that? Move on, life's too short.

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I am very slow on my reading skills. After reading all post on the page. I can not find any sentence or word that leads me to think someone is butt-hurt now or has been butt-hurt in the past about a Stratos boat. Can you dumb it down to my level so i can get it on the story?