1st Baja mold made by Checkmate?

[Tejas Raz]

Little rumor I've always wondered about. Supposedly way back when Baja first got started, they bought their first mold from Checkmate. I've heard this rumored before, but now that we have this nice little forum here, would someone over at the factory fill us in on where Baja started from? Also, if it is indeed true, when was it? Which model? Did they modify it or lay fiberglass straight from the mold? Any additional history would be interesting.

Thanks,
~Scott

1992 Checkmate Persuader 219
"Black Beauty"
350 Magnum / Alpha
http://community.webshots.com/user/tejas_raz

 

[Chris]

Scott,

THIS COULD BE WRONG, but this is the story as it was related to me!

Yes indeed, it's true, a guy started Baja using old Checkmate moulds. It was back in the early 70's, and this particular fella was a Checkmate dealer of some sort. He would make numerous trips to the factory to pick up boats for his customers, and he made a number of inquiries about getting some old boat moulds. Finally, after numerous inquiries, he was successful and Mate made a deal with him and sold him a few of their old hull moulds. I believe the moulds were from the old MX line of boats. It was his responsibility for developing his own unique deck moulds to match the old Mate hulls. So along with a few partners, in an old abandoned arena, with a few old Checkmate moulds, this fellas launched Baja. After he built the company up, he eventually sold it to Brunswick. I bet he made a few dollars on that sale!

Another company up here in Canada, also did a similar thing and started Panther boats based on old Checkmate moulds.

Anyway, that's the story as I understand it. Hopefully, I got it right more or less, but I'm sure there are a number of members that will come along who know even more about this interesting tale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[MERC-MATE]

Story I read in Powerboat mag. years ago was the guy was a chemical salesman who sold supplies to CHECKMATE and struck a deal to use old molds to build boats. Was called something else until he found out that name was already used. The deal was baja could not use metal flake gel or as nice interiors; cheaper boats! I think thats how I remember it. I've gotten a lot more compliments on my CHECKMATES than "friends" do on their bajas

 

[Checkm8fan]

Chris; Did you know that in the mid 1970's there was another copy of a checkmate made here in Canada.The manufacturer was in Ajax,and they sold the boats under the name Kennedy Boats.They had a 15 ft. version called the Stingray and a 14 ft. called the Barracuda. They also made some bowriders as well. Our first boat was a Stingray model we bought used in 1975. They were a very poorly made copy and we got rod of ours in 1978.I didn't know at the time where they had copied the deck from until I saw the picture of the MX15. This is because by the time we bought our Kennedy, Checkmate had a different deck design .
Also do you remember that Thundercraft boats from Quebec,( since bought by Doral) also made a 15 ft.copy of the I think it was the V-mate1.

 

[JW]

There was also another company in Canada that splashed a Checkmate or two and sold them. Was is 'Challenger'? I don't quite remember. But that didn't last long either.

Checkmates owned: 1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI. 1995 Persuader 183/4.3 LX V6. 1992 Pulse 171/1992 Mercury XR6 150 hp 2.5 liter.

 

[Chris]

Are you thinking of the Panther, JW?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[Chris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Checkm8fan:
Chris; Did you know that in the mid 1970's there was another copy of a checkmate made here in Canada.The manufacturer was in Ajax,and they sold the boats under the name Kennedy Boats.They had a 15 ft. version called the Stingray and a 14 ft. called the Barracuda. They also made some bowriders as well. Our first boat was a Stingray model we bought used in 1975. They were a very poorly made copy and we got rod of ours in 1978.I didn't know at the time where they had copied the deck from until I saw the picture of the MX15. This is because by the time we bought our Kennedy, Checkmate had a different deck design .
Also do you remember that Thundercraft boats from Quebec,( since bought by Doral) also made a 15 ft.copy of the I think it was the V-mate1.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I WAS NOT aware Kennedy and Thundercraft bought some old Checkmate moulds. You mentioned the deck looked different on one of the knockoffs. I wonder if Mate only sold them them the hull mould? That was what the did the Baja, so that could explain why it was different.

On another note....funny enough my uncle had a Kennedy boat. It was one of those old tri hull bowriders that were all the rage in the 70's. They were supposed to be better in rough water. But all I found they were, was slow and heavy. Anyway, my uncle ended up selling his boat, and the new owner ran it over a shoal very close to our cottage and tore the bottom right out of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[Checkm8fan]

Chris: If you look at the picture of Supergenius74's MX15,you will notice on the deck sides, along the cockpit area, from about the seat area rearward, there is a half round hump running to the stern.
The Kennedy had this as well.
I seriously doubt that Kennedy actually bought a mould, I would guess that they just copied the checkmate.
The name of the company that produced the Kennedy was Terrasyn.
It is possible that Thundercraft bought a mould as they were a fairly large company at that time, but I don't know.
One last note a friend of a friend back then also had one of the trihull bowriders, it was so poorly built that they actually had to hack the transom because the dimensions were wrong and the motor sat to high.

 

[Chris]

Mate have sold a lot of their old moulds over the years, but anything is possible. We'll have to ask Kip if he knows the real story.

Who knows, maybe one day we'll get some Panther owners who join up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[Chris E]

Hi Guys:

Ah... a trip down memory lane. As far as the Panthers go, I read an article in a boating mag when I was in my teens. The Panther folks, freely admitted that they knocked off Checkmate hulls. I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) Panther called them v-mate and v-mate II (among others). The v-mate II was the same hull as an exiter (i think), nut sure what the v-mate was. The panthers were built in Pefferlaw, Ontario by Quinn's Marine. Just off hwy 48. Last I saw of Panther, they were building OPP boats.

 

[Chris]

Here is the deal with Quinn's as I understand it fellas. And quite honestly, I could have some of my facts wrong!

Quinn's at one time was the official Canadian distributor for Checkmate Boats. So Quinn's bought boats from Checkmate, and then supplied all the Canadian dealers with their boats.

Quinn's bought some older Mate moulds and started building boats using the Mate moulds under the Panther name. I was told recently by a fella that worked for Quinn's, that he believed they still had the moulds they used to build the Panthers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[JW]

I'm fairly sure the Canadian company that splashed Checkmate hulls and sold them named the hulls starting with the letter C. SCT probably knows.........

Checkmates owned: 1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI. 1995 Persuader 183/4.3 LX V6. 1992 Pulse 171/1992 Mercury XR6 150 hp 2.5 liter.

 

[F150GT]

Chris You know about a lot of Canadian boats, have you ever heard of a "J-Craft"? They built outboard ski boats.
F150GT

 

[Chris]

Yeah, I almost bought a J-Craft last summer.

And now they're building them again. The guys over at Scream and Fly had a really good discussion about J-Craft not too long ago.

J-Craft Boats

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[Chris]

Here is a link to the thread at Scream.

If you are interested in J-Crafts, this more or less explains what's going on.

J-Craft Boats discussion at Scream

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[Chris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JW:
I'm fairly sure the Canadian company that splashed Checkmate hulls and sold them named the hulls starting with the letter C. SCT probably knows.........<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Was it Charger?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[F150GT]

Thanks Chris
I had one some years back, it was a great ski boat.

 

[Chris]

F150,

I don't know if you read that thread at Scream. But, J-Craft used to be located up in Orillia Ontario which is about an hour north of Toronto. I used to pass it every weekend on the way to the cottage. One weekend (if I remember correctly) we went by the factory and it was burnt more or less to the ground. And I think that finished them, but I don't know for sure.

Anyway, I guess one fella in Orillia has resurected the "name" and is building "J-Crafts" again. Although the boats look totally different and seem to be from new or different moulds. And they don't seem to be building the old flat bottom ski boats that most people associate with J-Craft.

Anyway, there are also other people that have old J-Craft moulds that are also building boats. John Spaeth is one fella that builds some from the old moulds. I don't know John personally, but he is considered one of the best glass guys around. The boat that I looked at last summer was in pretty tough shape and my plan was to buy it and take it to John. In the end, a young guy was willing to pay much more for the J than I was, so he got it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

 

[senator-holland]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris:
Scott,

THIS COULD BE WRONG, but this is the story as it was related to me!

Yes indeed, it's true, a guy started Baja using old Checkmate moulds. It was back in the early 70's, and this particular fella was a Checkmate dealer of some sort. He would make numerous trips to the factory to pick up boats for his customers, and he made a number of inquiries about getting some old boat moulds. Finally, after numerous inquiries, he was successful and Mate made a deal with him and sold him a few of their old hull moulds. I believe the moulds were from the old MX line of boats. It was his responsibility for developing his own unique deck moulds to match the old Mate hulls. So along with a few partners, in an old abandoned arena, with a few old Checkmate moulds, this fellas launched Baja. After he built the company up, he eventually sold it to Brunswick. I bet he made a few dollars on that sale!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

the funny thing is that the members of their forum are shitting on mate's but if they did knew the whole story, they had to shame theirselfs.

Z06 did go on till 150104 with his war on the baja forum, he could not win. but that is a fact we knew in the beginning....

-----------------------------
helmich
Checkmate senator special edition V8 5.7L-260HP
info@oost-west.nl

 

[Chris E]

Just to add a little more to the story. I remember (think it was late 80's early 90's) J craft built out of a small shop on hwy 48 and durham road 23 outside of Pefferlaw. What is it with Pefferlaw and boat building? I used to drive by it on the way to the cottage. Some point after that they closed the shop, but they would still build a boat on demand and you could get parts. Maybe building those awful watercraft trailers did them in!!