Who has the Venom molds?

**CUDA** · 11-23-2019, 05:28 PM

I knew Jimmy when he designed this boat and I thought he did a great job,( had ex Allison workers) is it that this type of boat just does not sell anymore?

Andy Driver proved it's performance potential, I'm I missing something?

I heard that some boats were built, ah improperly, too light, but it was a Great design, please enlighten me.

I grew up a Hydrostream fan in the 70's, no Allison dealers in my area, Niagara Falls

But it's a great design?

**tcrabtree** · 11-23-2019, 08:01 PM

Pretty sure chub at stroker still has the molds. The venom has dominated lakeracer in odba & dsra the past few yrs, winning jasper the last 3 yrs in a row. Nowhere close to the build quality of an allison but great boats. Best driving v bottom made & dang hard to beat em outta the gate, wish they were still being made.

**XstreamVking** · 11-24-2019, 08:49 AM

IMO the most impressive HydroStream out there. That bottom just works so darn well. Goes flat on plane out and flys real easy when powered up.

**David** · 11-24-2019, 02:48 PM

As near as I can tell the Venom was the last ever 20' V6 boat design. A good one too. Does it work with today's huge motors?

**outboards4life** · 11-24-2019, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by David

As near as I can tell the Venom was the last ever 20' V6 boat design. A good one too. Does it work with today's huge motors?

I've seen them run real well with Etecs.

**sick_nick** · 11-24-2019, 07:44 PM

i've seen videos of them running 100 plus with a 300x and an evinrude e-tec. They can definitely run good with the heavy motors of today, but i'm sure they wont run as good as with a 2.5 as they were originally designed around. One of the few boats that can be repowered with more modern power and still handle good enough.

**CUDA** · 11-24-2019, 07:55 PM

As long as they are 15 inch

**Petey** · 11-25-2019, 10:16 AM

Oh they run with new power

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**nitro_rat** · 11-25-2019, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by tcrabtree

Pretty sure chub at stroker still has the molds.

This is correct AFAIK.

**LakeFever** · 11-25-2019, 11:42 AM

Make more, whats the hold up?

**BarryStrawn** · 11-25-2019, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by LakeFever

Make more, whats the hold up?

No buyers is my guess.

**Gordon02** · 11-25-2019, 01:33 PM

Ok, I must have been sleeping when those were still available. I'd love to see some photos of the Venom - top, bottom, sides, rear ect. I used to catch as many OBDA events as I could, but 2001 was my last one at Jasper. I don't remember any at those events.

Thanks, Gordon

**nitro_rat** · 11-25-2019, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by BarryStrawn

No buyers is my guess.

When announcing plans for production there's a large cheering section online and everybody and his brother-in-law is going to buy one. Put the 'glass in the molds and --- crickets.

I understand the first "new" viper is still in the molds at Chubb's...

**LakeFever** · 11-25-2019, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by nitro_rat

When announcing plans for production there's a large cheering section online and everybody and his brother-in-law is going to buy one. Put the 'glass in the molds and --- crickets.

I understand the first "new" viper is still in the molds at Chubb's...

Keep one complete hull built in stock, dont go crazy with custom graphics or super expensive finishes. Make the bread and butter model that does the job with no frills, simple timeless color scheme and advertise it. When it sells do another and so on. Thats the only way to operate in a niche market and theres surely to be some buyers out there its a big world and with internet exposure and reach these days its not that hard to find your prospective buyers. I know custom car guys who do this with old 30's coupes and the like. They build one, take it on tour til it sells then build another. These guys are retired hobby builders but they make coin at it.

Could also be a cost thing too on these hulls I have no idea what these cost to produce or how hard the tech in building them is so that could factor in. IIRC the new J-crafts are over $30K, not sure how well they are selling just recall someone saying thats the price. Maybe some helpful things I dunno

**David** · 11-25-2019, 08:20 PM

There's no market for mass produced low quality 20' outboards and not much of a market for well built and therefore expensive boats either. At least a year ago you could buy a new 18' Charger DL (think scaled down Challenger 21) for very little but no one was buying.

Proper materials + care in construction = real money

Our 2 year old J Craft is great. But a DL would have been way cheaper.