Checkmate Boats
 

Anyone in Ohio close to Checkmate know what happen to them. Wonder if another sportboat manu out of biz sure looks like it and rumor thru the boat mill is they are totally gone. Sure hope not so anyone knows the scoop.

I looked at a new 1 in jan. at the boat show, it was bad a$$ Hope nothing has happened to them.

rumor is they shut down,,too bad hope i am wrong

according to the Checkmate Owners Forum, the doors are closed while they wait for a back log of orders to come in. They don't have the money to stay open. And also that Doug Smith has some health issues. But in another thread, they say good news is coming. Lets hope for the best--hate to see another performance boat mfg go under!

Economy sucks! Which means closings for some boat manufactures in the last couple years. Which means more people should buy boats. But then physiciatrist may be out of jobs. Haha Had friends with checkmates hope they come back up!

I know someone at the Bucyrus FD that had to go do an inspection on the sprinkler system because they shut their doors and are closed for good.

D*mn.

:picard1:

Does this affect XT at all? I thought they shared a building. Surprised to hear of this as I thought checkmate was still doing ok and signing new dealers, etc. This sport really needs reasonable lines like this. Guess there still just aren't enough buyers out there to keep anyone afloat.

XT is in seperate buildings. One of their builds is a couple miles down the road from checkmate

The numbers on production boat companies simply don't work........

They have priced the common man out of a boat......

So it's no surprise that Fountain, Baja, Donzi, Checkmate & a whole host of other boat manufacturers are tits up.....

It doesn't look like any want to face the music & drastically streamline their margin structure.

Bad news for brokers as they are running out of old boats to flip to the next sucker in line.... Oh wait all the suckers are gone....

(Just look at the Fountain section in the classified :eekdrop:) With 102 boats for sale good luck dumping your beak to the fool in line. When Reggie exited the stage so did the loyal owners.....

Great, couldn't remember how it was setup down there. Thought they were tied into one of the checkmate buildings.

Looked over on the CM forum, it sounds like they are calling it a hiatus and plan to restart production at the end of June, but I suppose only time will tell.

Looking at the MSRP on their website, I can't believe how much new boats are going for.

What checkmate forum>?

Doors closed buildings empty molds spread all over .

Employee's told to remove personal items...does not sound good.

Hate to hear this. Thought things were going ok over there

That plan to build restyled Bajas as Checkmates was terrible. Sadly the 41/42 Apache looks like it will be an orphan like the Chief boat.

I liked their 24 BRX with the 300 ob......

Two of the first boats I ever owned were used Checkmates. Damn fine boats. The people at Checkmate were wonderful to work with and super helpful and friendly towards there old and new customers. I very sad to hear they might be going out of business.

These sentences sum up the state of the industry.

None of my peers (Early 30's - Decent income - few or no kids yet) are buying new boats.

I agree Flysfloatsor. With high unemployment and stagnant wages, new boats seem to be out of the reach of the average working guy nowdays. That was the customer base for Checkmate, Baja, some what Fountain, etc for a lot of years. Wonder if this is the end of the production style performance boat companies.

Mercury has put the common man out of boating

I agree. Production costs in general.

Sad News for sure Have Owned a checkmate for Years and Its Build quality and Gel are second to None for Inland lakes .This was there 50th Year In Biz a Milestone in a soggy bottom industry.


Pic Up Your dream ride while You can the performance Boat industry is shrinking and Used are Not avail Like they Once were.

Just try and find Merc or Yamaha service dealer that can work on large outboards ....


This was the Working Mans weekend cottage craft, and with the Blue collar Jobs under water it another Victim of the economic times.


Love when on the lake in my 21' merc OB Starflite Black metalic 4 color gel inlay that have way Less than 10K in. People always stop, many who have $300,000 plus Boat say they Love the Boat and Had one years ago etc .

Price a 250 or 300hp Merc sell that to momma for the cottage craft. You will be glad to a find quality used Running if you Can

its to bad have friends with checkmates, they were a great boat for the price kept us average guys in the market .