Goldman Sachs

Regardless of the reason, I'm really down after hearing this. Kip and Mike were always very accessible and helpful when I called for advice or a product. They still came across like a family-run company from that perspective. I had one color on my rear seat reupholstered locally and told the upholsterer I was going to see if Checkmate still had that material in stock. He laughed and told me to play the lottery if they do. Well, I wound up playing the lottery. Good folks. I hope they can make a comeback.

I own a checkmate and I am looking at buying another one(used now for sure) I like the brand. But I think the only way they would still be in business right now, is if 2-3 yrs ago they had started making a wakeboard boat line to compliment the CC line they started. We all know wakeboard boats are selling. If Checkmate would have leveraged their name on a wakeboard boat they would likely have sold a few. As a long time owner of a Checkmate performace boat I would have hated the compromise but it would have saved the company.

That is so true! I have been saying that for years and people look at me funny. Like they really drink Red Bull and Monster because it actually taste better then the competiton, or it "actually works" LOL! What a Joke. Pretty sad though

To bad they couldn't make a go of it in this economy. My first boat was a 15 ft. Checkmate with a 125 Evenrude, had many great times with it.

Very sad indeed! I like many others have owned and enjoyed all of my past Checkmates, our family has great memories of overnight stays throughout the great lakes, beach cookouts, etc, etc. getting into a few friendly races@!?..... Lets hope they can pull it off and beat the odds!!!!!

That's the problem today everyone wants to blame someone else. Today its all Obama's fault but before Obama it was all Bush's fault, before that all Clinton's fault. If we don't end all of this political hate this country will never rebound.

maybe it is just me but growing up Checkmate was a 16-21 foot sportboat, mostly outboard, and affordable to everyone. they were great boats but like MANY boat builders the size of the boats kept growing as did the price tag and the small boats went to the wayside. now they are all going belly up. I feel like if most of them had stayed true to what made them profitable in the first place they might still be in business. it seems to be the manufacturing equvalent of 'keeping up with the jones's'

There are so many angles to this thread. I worked at a shop in the early 90's that tried to specialize in the SO Cal Carrera brand. They added Checkmate to the line a year later. The 27' and 30' boats delivered were really solid, not flashy but well built built boats. Sorry to see them fold up, I'm sure they provided there repeat customers with a quality product.

There a alot of reasons why the performance boating industry is withering, #1 is the banks making it almost impossible to get 80%+ financing. It's hard to ***** about this as look at what happened after 2006.

As far as blaming the current president for where the economy is currently, get off your high horse and open your eyes. I was paying almost 6.00 bucks a gallon for diesel when Bush was in office. Premium gas was 5.50 a gallon. The economy went to hell in a hand basket when the " conservative" Bush was in office. I never cared for Bush, but the mess we are in cannot be put on his shoulders either.

Our government needs a complete overhual. They are all liars, theives and could care less what the condition of the US will be when they pass.

Just asking, opinions as to do you think current ownership maybe had something to do with the failure. Rumors not mine but a couple dealers did not get their motors as per order & paid up front from Checkmate.

Also Sea Ray Industries ( Brunswick) bought failing Baja back in the 90's under the same ownership when boat selling was good for everyone? Maybe a pattern here, I don't know.

Heck Malibu and Mastercraft are still selling 1000 + boats each a year at 80 k to 150 K plus Yamaha jetboats are selling 2000 boats a year at 40 K to 68 K per year. New Pontoon boats are on fire, some builders can not keep up - go figure.. Certain boats are still selling strong.