noyzee

just for what its worth.
i have a 2003 26ZT has a little over 300 hours on the time clock (im sure its a bit less then that) it was run on lake winni from 2003 to 2006 then i brought it to the ocean from 2007,8 and 9.
i run it pretty hard, just about every time i go out there are 2-4 footers, lots of boat trafic. i ran the sound once and it seemed very close to my area. the day i was out there it was better then most days in my area.

i have been out in some real big stuff. not fun at all, but i wouldnt want to be in any 26 footer in this stuff and try to crush through it.
done this a few times, been with a couple 28-30 foot cruzer boats that turned around and i kept going.

i have had a couple screws come loose, but that will happen on anything, but knock on wood no stress cracks.

boat doesnt run super fast do to lower power, but i still cruz it pretty good.
i take very very good care of it, i know i have 2 little scratches on the hull. and thats it!

i would have no issue buying another checkmate. like mentioned above with the old owner of baja on board im thinking checkmate is going to be a great great over all boat, even better then before

bimini run

To all who have posted, thank you for providing honest opinions. Apologies that it got a little heated, but I do know that Checkmate owners are very passionate (I know, I was one). Truth is, I do miss my Checkmate, that boat turned heads, even at 17 ft. The colors were beige with bronze marigold mist trim. The boat sparkled like gold in the sun, and I babied it like no one's business. I definitely miss my straight 6 merc, too (although at speeds above 60, she did get a little loose around the edges!). Anyway, thanks again, all these responses provided me with the info I wanted to know, and all are greatly appreciated.

mookymonkey

oh well here we go. i am jln's buddy with the 26 convincer. we have run her in the ocean through barnagat inlet and down to atlantic city and back in 3-4 footers cruising at 40-45 mph. we have run her in the chesepeke in all kinds of stuff. she does have a few small hailline cracks in the gel at the rub rail but i think that adds alittle character. also, i usually don't back off the throttle to often unless it gets absoulutly stupid. the way i look at it if you don,t have a few cracks your probably not running your boat hard enough. what i can attest to is that she will run with the best of them in her class of boat, powerwise and hull length. we run from the goose in n.e. maryland just in case you want to join us. the other point is that everytime i call checkmate for anything they go above and beyond to help. i always get the person im looking for or they return my call at the end of the day. so the moral to the story is that be happy with what you have and don't badmouth any boat until you have a substantial ***** to complain about.

JROMY

None of us were badmouthing the boat, ever. We merely recommended some much, much more suitable boats for real offshore use.

PURPLE HORNET

A Checkmate offshore Race boat with twin O/B's in NY

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=NQUePDhRI30

Checkmates new OBX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl4Gx4JYQo4

jln

JROMY with all due respect , INDY wrote that your old boat was going to be "RUBBLE "and mastercraft240 wrote that the "gelcoat is awesome when not cracked in a thousand ways." Thats a little harsh IMO and some checkmate owners took offense.

Getchecked

And then when you call them out on it -- they cry like little girls with thier feelings hurt because they do not know how to retreat.
I said I was sorry to the guy just to end the chit. The fact is they can talk all they want. Imagine a guy who starts a thread looking for driving lessons -- bad mouthing a boat -- and then saying -- I never said anything bad. All these Pompous elites are full of themselves!!

Getchecked

Yes they were

Read the thread then make your judgement

mookymonkey

i agree on the point about an offshore hull and many boats have thicker and stronger lay-ups for sure. but to make a judgement when you never even owned one is kinda poor taste. i would love to own a cigarette one day and that would probably be my choice. second if a cat it would be a skater. the diffrence with that and my checkmate is night and day but so is the pricing. plus the big power you need to make those boats run can get very expensive. think im done for now.. mark

Mastercraft240

Since when do you have to own a boat to comment? My uncle owns a 256 convincor, ridden in it many times. It's a great lake boat with top notch gel work/customer support. IN MY OPINION, I would not want to be in a checkmate when the sea's kicked up for a long period of time. This is NOT to say checkmate is of bad quality, I would just prefer the ride of other boats. Any boating manufacturer supporting high performance boating has nothing but my utmost respect.

On a side note, Bimini got all the information he wanted. Re-surfacing old problems does nothing. My comment was remanded and clarified. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Happy boating!