it seems a lot of singles around 24 chine walk after 75 or so my buddys 24 Super Boat has trs set up but starts at 74 to walk it got over 500hp but I wave good by to him in anything .well maybe next yr he will put some ex steering and a blower on. omc's suck from what I have herd. art

I'm glad that you are happy with your boat. Mine was a poorly constructed rattletrap. The handling was'nt a problem with me. I knew how to drive it and what to look out for. It was a nice looking boat and the Mercury Racing HP 500 ran very well and gave me zero problems. There always seemed to be something falling apart on the boat and I had a lot of wiring problems with it due to poor workmanship. I had to redo the whole hatch lift system because the stock actuator would smash the spark arrestor when it was in the closed positon!
Checkmate seemed to think that this was ok because I have seen several with the same problem. Another of the many issues I had was the way they mounted the engine. They used lag bolts to down into the stringers instead of using bolts to through bolting them which should be standard with a high performance boat. Again, they did'nt see anything wrong with this practice.
After the first season that I owned it, it went back to the factory so they could correct some of the problems that the boat had.
After ''retrieving'' my boat from the factory and experiencing their ''attitude'' I realized that I was on my own and that another trip to the factory was not going to solve any problems. I addressed the problems (many) at my own expense so at least I would get some use out of it.
My advice to any prospective Checkmate owner would be to avoid my experience and look elsewhere for a place to spend your hard earned money.

Roger 1

Did you buy your boat new or used? If you bought it used, It may be one that has had the things I'm talking about repaired.

The model year is a 2000. We purchased the boat in August of 2002 new. We replaced the swim platform within the first year because the original was slippery nearly causing two fairly serious accidents. The boat also came with a 454MAG which was upgraded by Tyler Crockett at about 215 hours. The only other mods we added was IMCO's full hydraulic steering kit. I am interested to hear about your experience. Always looking to learn more about our boat.

Sorry about that I did't see this post. Our local boat dealer dropped Checkmate after 2 years. This dealer has been in business for over 25 years. He said Checkmate's customer support needed improvement. I am not bashing Checkmate because I really like the product they created for us. I did get the sense at the factory they were all about building new boats and not servicing existing customers when I tried to order some cockpit carpet a few years back. I still think for the money Checkmate provides alot of boat. I have heard they are under new ownership, maybe the service issues will improve. What type of speeds did you achieve with the HP500? I would recommend to a prospective Checkmate owner to give the boat and the price tag a hard look.

Really, I always liked them............... What was so bad?

You can take the boy out da parish but ya can't take da parish out da boy.

259 Checkmate Convincer w/500. A nose cone settled it down a lot though.

1995 22' Checkmate with a big block. A buddy of mine had me go along for a test ride. I had never been truly scared in a boat until that day. The boat would move 2' to the left or right with no movement of the wheel. I told them to bring me back to the dock. The guy selling the boat still has it 2 years later. That thing sucked!!

Roger,
I went out to the lake yesterday to see if our motor mounts are through bolted to the stringers. They are and our boat came with a 454MAG from the factory. What year was your 259?