Originally Posted by
Bass Cat Boats
The 210 from Tennessee was a Alan Stinson makeover of a former Champion hull. Alan worked hard to increase speeds and the loyalist felt he lost some of the Champion ride in the process of trying to make them perform better. According to Stinson, he gained all he could in performance from that hull and sacrificed a little ride. While we certainly believe Alan opinions vary.
Champion went down in fall of 2000 in Mountain Home, and Viper/Cobra went down within weeks of that demise. The brand was granted to Irwin Jacobs as the major debtor, as he acquired the Finance Dept from Borg Warner/Deutsche in exchange for retail financing of GENMAR brands. That was from floor plan amounts unpaid. The state of Arkansas was owed appx. $250,000 on the building and AEDC note at that time.
Prior to that it had suffered a questionable fire in the early 1980’s in Mountain Home, followed by a late to mid 1980’s bankruptcy with John Story being awarded the company for unpaid royalties. Then being sold to the Porthouse families entity and eventually them closing it during the time frame above.
Following the court action, Irwin moved everything, including some building fixtures that were to stay, to Tennessee and “GENMAR Tennessee” at that time. GENMAR Tennessee filed bankruptcy, along with 15 total GENMAR entities independently filing bankruptcies (Ranger, Carver, Fourwinds, Glastron, WellCraft), the same EXACT day as General Motors, June 1, 2009.
Eventually the court auctioned off those assets and Platinum Equity acquired several of the failed companies forming Recreational Boat Holdings LLC, and Fish Boat Holdings LLC. The TN companies were acquired under Fish Boat and moved to Arkansas. Champion was the weaker of those three and eventually Stratos consumed it as a brand within a brand. This was for more dealership opportunity in the post recession climate when dealerships were definitely lesser.
Eventually the decision was made by PE and the management team to end the life of Champion as an offering around 2012. That pretty much closes this chapter.
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