Thank you Jeff. I was getting frustrated with all the off topic nonsense and bickering...I've owned boats for over 25 years now. I ran a Fountain, Hustler, Velocity, Mariah, Active Thunder dealer in the 1990's and worked as Active Thunder's factory rep til 2000. I've owned many boats both big and small including Sea Rays, Velocitys, Fountains, Talons, Sleekcrafts, Hydrostreams, Scouts, and Checkmates. I can honestly say that I respect and admire Checkmate's product line. They've been in business for over 40 years and until recently were owned by the Combs family who built the company with a lot of hard work and pride. I've had many conversations with both Mike and Kip Combs and they were always helpful during my restoration projects. Their boats, glasswork, moldwork, and performance have always been great and priced affordably. I'm on my 3rd Checkmate right now and currently buying a very rare Checkmate 2800SX outboard. There were only a handful built and raced in the mid/late 80's with the cockpit moved aft and splashwell built for mounting outboards. I can't help but applaud Checkmate for taking on this project and I'm sure alot of good will become of it. It will bring an entire new market buyer into Checkmate's dealerships and broaden their product line. I wish you the best with your new boat and I'm looking forward to seeing the completed project!

Awesome looking boat Jeff. As popular as the Checkmates are up in our neck of the woods, hopefully a local will step up and bring one to the area. Love the old school look of that boat, hopefully you guys are able to get all the little details straightened out to make that thing run.

Keep going brother! Isn't it great when an old timer tells you that you "can't" or it is the wrong way, or you will never be as good as he once was? What is he doing right now?

Driven- we all have things that drive us, many sucess stories start with someone telling them they can't.

I was at a seminar once, they talked about "Listerine" and how at one time it was the only mouth wash on the market. Listerine is known for tasting bad, and they marketed the horrible medicine taste as "you know it is working" The topic was "be different" When scope started they could have just made one that taste WORSE, or the same. But they decided to be different and now own the market "no medicine mouth". Point is don't be afraid to try something different, it just may work, turn out to be genius, and build a legacy!

Did I read some where that Checkmate built a new 43 :lolhit: Boat looks Great best of luck with it.

+ 1 Best of luck to Checkmate on a fine boat !!!:hijack:....:signs043:....:boat:

Boat looks great! Can't wait to see it on the water somewhere.

Same here!:boat:

Sounds great! Post some pics of the Punisher step by step during the building process. It's good advertisement for the new powerboat & great for the OSO membership to learn how they are constructed. Good stuff all the way around!

Really? Its a checkmate thread you ass.


Again, Congrats to Cheackmate for a great looking boat!

Right on Jeff!!! again, can't wait 2 C that bad boy at Boyne Thunder!!!!