- Joined
- Jan 16, 2009
- Location
- SouthEast Arkansas
It amazes me sometimes what I can find pokin around in the corners of the computer world.........Done found one of the ex-owners of the Swift bass boat AND some pics
Swift Boat Company was located in Theodosia, MO. The black boat listed for sale is a model 495. It was not poped from a Blazer. The 19 footer, SX200/SDX200 was poped form a Blazer and changed 10-15% and called a Swift. The 490/495 was designed and hand built by Gary Wilson, who started Swift Boat Company around 1987, after leaving Ranger Boats where he worked for about 17 years. The boat is very unique in looks, style and ride. I'll put it up against any other boat in rough water. Yes, it is very pointed on the front and I've been told it looks like a crank bait and people are afraid that if it noses a wave, it will dive like one too. I've had one SDX200 and two 495s. I've been on Lake Falcon in 8 foot waves in one storm and survived a tornado in another. I sponsored a team for a tourney on Sam Rayburn and I was told my my boat was bouncing across 4 foot rollers at about 40 MPH by a Gambler owner who said no one else was up on plane. The boat has lots of storage, however, rods longer than 7' won't fit in the rod box. The gas tank is only 33 gallons. With the design of the back, there is a lot of backwash over the back deck if you don't bump the throttle as it just sits down in the water coming off plane. Due to bad management and bad financial decisions, we had to close the doors in Oct 98. I do still have the 490 and 495 molds and hope to make them again some day. Gary's intention was to build a fast, dry riding boat that anyone could afford--and outrun anything else in it's class. My brother now has my first demo w/Yamaha V-MAX 225 that is running 80 on radar. As far as I know, the only boat that has outrun him on Bull Shoals Lake was a Viper w/Merc 300.
As for the boat listed for sale--if the motor is in good running order, it's well worth $9995. Yes, the black carpet will be very hot, but could easily be changed out to gray. Replacement parts are easy to come by as we bought standard marine parts from US distributors. I see it has the newer style windshields that we switched to. The Lowrance depth finder w/GPS is a good bonus. I've sent this info to a possible prospect in MO and hopefully for him it hasn't sold yet. The seats were made at Dean's Top and Canvas in Mtn. Home AR and would not be very expensive to recover. I also had them make a cover for my boat, which I think was around $500. Let me know if
Swift Boat Company was located in Theodosia, MO. The black boat listed for sale is a model 495. It was not poped from a Blazer. The 19 footer, SX200/SDX200 was poped form a Blazer and changed 10-15% and called a Swift. The 490/495 was designed and hand built by Gary Wilson, who started Swift Boat Company around 1987, after leaving Ranger Boats where he worked for about 17 years. The boat is very unique in looks, style and ride. I'll put it up against any other boat in rough water. Yes, it is very pointed on the front and I've been told it looks like a crank bait and people are afraid that if it noses a wave, it will dive like one too. I've had one SDX200 and two 495s. I've been on Lake Falcon in 8 foot waves in one storm and survived a tornado in another. I sponsored a team for a tourney on Sam Rayburn and I was told my my boat was bouncing across 4 foot rollers at about 40 MPH by a Gambler owner who said no one else was up on plane. The boat has lots of storage, however, rods longer than 7' won't fit in the rod box. The gas tank is only 33 gallons. With the design of the back, there is a lot of backwash over the back deck if you don't bump the throttle as it just sits down in the water coming off plane. Due to bad management and bad financial decisions, we had to close the doors in Oct 98. I do still have the 490 and 495 molds and hope to make them again some day. Gary's intention was to build a fast, dry riding boat that anyone could afford--and outrun anything else in it's class. My brother now has my first demo w/Yamaha V-MAX 225 that is running 80 on radar. As far as I know, the only boat that has outrun him on Bull Shoals Lake was a Viper w/Merc 300.
As for the boat listed for sale--if the motor is in good running order, it's well worth $9995. Yes, the black carpet will be very hot, but could easily be changed out to gray. Replacement parts are easy to come by as we bought standard marine parts from US distributors. I see it has the newer style windshields that we switched to. The Lowrance depth finder w/GPS is a good bonus. I've sent this info to a possible prospect in MO and hopefully for him it hasn't sold yet. The seats were made at Dean's Top and Canvas in Mtn. Home AR and would not be very expensive to recover. I also had them make a cover for my boat, which I think was around $500. Let me know if
