Another Great one lost Bill Combs
 

Founder of Checkmate Boats, passed away last week

https://crawfordcountynow.com/obituaries/bill-combs/

Very sorry to hear about his passing,, I really liked Bill,,I owned 2 Checkmate boats in the past,,, both were great boats,, they looked great and ran fast ..

Had the pleasure of meeting him a couple times, through the factory many times, selling them, owned 3 (so far), as a kid w/nose stuck to car window as we passed the factory every weekend on the way to our families cruiser.

One of the most under respected brands of all time.

RIP Mr Combs snd prayers to Kipp and the rest of the family.

May he RIP, my 1st boat was 1986 17' Checkmate Enticer open bow, with a 130 Yamaha O/B. Great little boat.....

RIP,

I can still remember on the river in Indiana on that had a "tower of power" 200HP merc on it that used to scream with nothing in the water but the prop. That was in the 70's,,,,, aging myself now.

My third boat was a new 270 Convincer BR. I have yet to find any boat that had prettier gelcoat. R.I.P.

Started my obsession for all things aquatic and fast in a Checkmate 13MX with a 50 hp Merc. At 13 years old that little black and silver flake boat was the coolest thing on the River. RIP Mr. Combs, you started the best days of my life!

I was at Kunkels Marine yrs back, to look at a 25 Convincor and they had a 27’ Fountain parked right beside it. In the shoe room.

They took it on trade and kept it as a sales aid.

You could stand in the cockpit of the Convincor and look over its bow and the Fountain beside it and compare mold work, gel, finish, etc.

I was blown away at the difference.

In the early days of OPC racing, their vee bottoms held every marathon record their was.

Our sales rep of the day (Tom Stykle) held most of those records.

Was a fun breed to rep/sell.

Nice boats RIP !

Great Boats, Great Man !
 

Very sorry to here. Loved my 251 GTX and my ZT 280.
Arrived at Checkmate Factory for a owner’s event with my 280 in tow. Boat was powered by an M4 Procharged 540 and rigged as custom as any Checkmate ever.
Mr. Combs asked if he could bring a platform out and set up so that each employee could come out, see the boat, and be proud of the brand and their work !
Thinking of Kipp, Mike, and family.