• Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
    By joining our free community you will be able to:

    » Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
    » Post topics and messages
    » Post and view photos
    » Communicate privately with other members
    » Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
    » Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

Checkmate Powerboats to be Dissolved

P

PaulLoGi

New member
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/1/19

At the beginning of October, Checkmate has attempted to extend the current lease with the landlord, however an agreement could not be met. Therefore, after much thought and consideration of the current situation, the owners of Checkmate Powerboats have decided to dissolve the company, selling the molds, all the parts for completed boats, and the intellectual property. Checkmate has been around the boating industry for over 56 years, having an assortment of 17 different models in both sterndrive and outboard offerings. If you have interest in acquiring the Checkmate molds and intellectual property, please give us a call at 631-208-2933.
 
JUPITER PULSARE said:
Very Sad Day for all Checkmate owners. Maybe someone with the capital and enthusiasm will step up to the pump and keep Checkmate alive...
Click to expand...

It certainly is sad news. I was fortunate to get the 2nd last boat they built (2400 LD / 300R and it is gorgeous). I know the guy getting the last one. Dean Reynolds is an awesome guy to work with. If Dean and a few others had some financial backing, I think he could really revive Checkmate.
 
Will all inventory of parts and pieces be liquidated? I take it the upholstery shop is shut down?
 
Rats! I mean crap, this sucks!

Hmm, if I order another official checkmate shirt will it arrive at my door?
 
PaulLoGi said:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/1/19

At the beginning of October, Checkmate has attempted to extend the current lease with the landlord, however an agreement could not be met. Therefore, after much thought and consideration of the current situation, the owners of Checkmate Powerboats have decided to dissolve the company, selling the molds, all the parts for completed boats, and the intellectual property. Checkmate has been around the boating industry for over 56 years, having an assortment of 17 different models in both sterndrive and outboard offerings. If you have interest in acquiring the Checkmate molds and intellectual property, please give us a call at 631-208-2933.
Click to expand...

Its very unfortunate, that in this outboard dominated market it was that difficult to find success with the storied name and reputation associated with this product. Its been my experience, when at the dock, there is never a shortage of complements about my boat, heck they would start at the gas station before it was even off the trailer or at the stop light on the way to the gas station. But, one question that almost always followed was,,,, Hmmmm Checkmate....are they still in business?? As we all can see from this outcome, it’s difficult to be successful and grow, when customers don't even know you're there!
 
jjg said:
Its very unfortunate, that in this outboard dominated market it was that difficult to find success with the storied name and reputation associated with this product. Its been my experience, when at the dock, there is never a shortage of complements about my boat, heck they would start at the gas station before it was even off the trailer or at the stop light on the way to the gas station. But, one question that almost always followed was,,,, Hmmmm Checkmate....are they still in business?? As we all can see from this outcome, it’s difficult to be successful and grow, when customers don't even know you're there!
Click to expand...

I could be putting my foot in my mouth but, Global Marine, imo had done very little to promote the brand. Yes, they brought a few boats to various boat shows but there has virtually been no advertising, no promotion, a webpage that has not been maintained or updated, no involvement with social media where our beloved Checkmate brand is populated, etc. etc.
 
JUPITER PULSARE said:
I could be putting my foot in my mouth but, Global Marine, imo had done very little to promote the brand. Yes, they brought a few boats to various boat shows but there has virtually been no advertising, no promotion, a webpage that has not been maintained or updated, no involvement with social media where our beloved Checkmate brand is populated, etc. etc.
Click to expand...

Well said Jup! And my point exactly, you cant sell much when your existence is unknown!!
 
My opinion, price has a lot to do with selling boats... and not just Checkmate. What's it take to purchase a 21-22-23ft boat?? $80,000 or more


Never been there, does anyone have photos of checkmate factory?
 
PA-Checkmate said:
My opinion, price has a lot to do with selling boats... and not just Checkmate. What's it take to purchase a 21-22-23ft boat?? $80,000 or more


Never been there, does anyone have photos of checkmate factory?
Click to expand...

The bigger issue is the price of today's motors. If you take Checkmate's most popular model over the past ten years, it would have to be the Pulsare 2100. To really make a Pulsare perform outstandingly the most popular choice would be a Optimax 300xs. When the motor alone, without rigging costs $18K and then you add the labor to rig the boat, jackplate, gages, stereo, hyd steering, batteries etc. etc. the price climbs quickly. Most manufacturers took the opinion that it takes as much time to build a 21' boat as it does to build a 28' boat. Let's focus on selling bigger boats and charging more money (even though the cost of materials is not that much more to go from 21' to 28') for bigger boats. That thinking started the nails in the coffin. Many of us did not want bigger boats or wanted to pay even more money. So many great performance boat companies are now out of business, barely building or sitting idle. It's a sad state of affairs for the smaller performance boat market. All the brands that started our addiction are now gone:
Checkmate, Hydrostream, Action, Talon (although they've been bought) Velocity (supposedly under new ownership but have not seen nor heard of any new boats), Active Thunder, Pantera, Power Play, Power Quest, Black Thunder, etc. etc. Even the brands that have been brought back to life are barely building new product: Fountain, Baja, Donzi..
The reality is that Mercury has priced themselves out of the market in the small high performance boating world and they seem not to care. There are enough wealthy people gobbling up the high dollar motors for giant center consoles and modern cats. Unless we get something from Suzuki or Yamaha (which have managed to keep their pricing less than Mercury) we're **** out of luck. A new 21' boat should not cost $50K but that's what we are faced with paying. What happened to the days when you could buy a brand new 21' boat for $25K to $30K?? If I remember correctly, I bought my first new boat in 1987, a Sea Ray Seville with a Merc 3.0L I/O for $9995.00. The following year, 1988, I ordered a brand new Velocity 230 with a Mercury 454 Magnum/Bravo One for $26K! Even when I worked for Active Thunder in the late 90's, you could still buy a 24' Tantrum in the $40K range!
 
JUPITER PULSARE said:
If I remember correctly, I bought my first new boat in 1987, a Sea Ray Seville with a Merc 3.0L I/O for $9995.00.
Click to expand...


Hey, I have a 87 Seville 18' bowrider with a 3.0 in my driveway right now!



I think another problem is there just isn't the demand for performance boats like there used to be. You used to be able to use a Checkmate type boat for water skiing, too. Now everyone wants to throw a monster wake for wakeboarding, which our boats just don't do. That and the outboard center console are what I see when I go boating, not so many closed bow boats.
 
PA-Checkmate said:
My opinion, price has a lot to do with selling boats... and not just Checkmate. What's it take to purchase a 21-22-23ft boat?? $80,000 or more?
Click to expand...

When you look at wake boat pricing at $100k+, pontoon pricing in many cases $50k all optioned out with a single 300, and remembering boats generally are a luxury item for our type of use, pricing is negligible. And when compared to worthy adversaries Checkmate is at the low end.
My first boat was a 1994 17’ nitro bass boat with a 115 merc, I paid $19,600 new, boat value was $7500, and motor was valued at $10,200 and the trailer was the balance. And this was a chopper gun boat!
Checkmate is a hand built hull, and for that rare craftsmanship its gonna cost a fair bit of money. If you don't like the price, buy a bayliner!
Now, when you have a capable line of OB boats, especially the rare option of a 24’ SOB rated at unlimited HP, and no one knows they are for sale, this strategy
will cause the outcome we all see here.
 
jjg said:
When you look at wake boat pricing at $100k+, pontoon pricing in many cases $50k all optioned out with a single 300, and remembering boats generally are a luxury item for our type of use, pricing is negligible. And when compared to worthy adversaries Checkmate is at the low end.
My first boat was a 1994 17’ nitro bass boat with a 115 merc, I paid $19,600 new, boat value was $7500, and motor was valued at $10,200 and the trailer was the balance. And this was a chopper gun boat!
Checkmate is a hand built hull, and for that rare craftsmanship its gonna cost a fair bit of money. If you don't like the price, buy a bayliner!
Now, when you have a capable line of OB boats, especially the rare option of a 24’ SOB rated at unlimited HP, and no one knows they are for sale, this strategy will cause the outcome we all see here.
Click to expand...

Yes very poorly marketed of late, plus they were timid into the fishing/CC market and they didn't seem to be set up to build boats in any volume or reasonable timeline. Randy(Wildman) has reported that the wait to get a hull was unmanageable as a dealer. He didn't want to stock Checkmate's anymore for his own reasons but he also couldn't sell custom order boats because they took so long to get. It was like they didn't want to make it easy for a dealer to sell a bunch anymore, just not much dealer support. A real shame.
 
Wow.....1.34M for the building. Didn’t the owner only pay 3-400k for it a couple of years ago? The economy is doing good but Bucyrus is not a booming metropolis.......
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top