I'm not affiliated with Stratos at all, and have never owned one (or any bass boat for that matter). But I wanted to share this story with you all; I think you'll benefit from it:
It was fall of 2012; my local club had a tournament on the Pocomoke River in southern MD. It's a very narrow tidal river that is nothing but constant "s" turns.
One of the guys in my club, Tim, was running his mid-90's Stratos full speed between spots. It was afternoon, and the sun was high. He came around one turn and the sunlight blinded him. It blinded him just enough where he couldn't see the permanent duck blind in front of him. By the time he did, it was too late.
We all heard the hit. The collision of tree trunk and fiberglass at 50mph. Some boats immediately rushed to the scene. Meraculously, he and his co-angler, despite cracking the windshields off with their faces, we ok! Shaken but alive, their boat was towed to the ramp where they recovered for a while.
Incredibly, as we sat there at the ramp, we all noticed his Startos had huge cracks along the impact area, drivers side console. But wouldn't you know, the boat still floated! After 20 minutes of so, Tim declares, "To hell with it, I came here to fish!" He and his coangler got back in the damaged boat, dropped the trolling motor, and finished out the tournament.
The boat has since been patched, and still floats to this day. He uses it in a few electric only lakes around us. Many lessons learned that day: always wear your life jacket, beware of sun glare, take turns slowly, and when buying a bass boat; consider a Stratos! Thanks for reading! Tight lines!
