No, that is not related to Bass Cat.
That is a Challenger boat, from Tullahoma, TN, made by Buster Dobbs. Originally the company was supposed to be Challenger Boats, and it was incorporated as Challenger, INC. Buster started about the same time on the TN/AL boarder. He named his boat Challenger and Ron decided to rename the boat brand.
Buster built a few hundred boats a year at most and was strongest in the 1980’s. Eventually he went on to a private label with Louis DelHomme Marine, out of Houston, in the mid 1990’s. They were a large dealer then and Busters main consumer. Eventually around the 2000-2001 Louis DelHomme sold or closed (aging owner) and the left Buster without a major distribution as he was not focused on sales to independent dealers and had changed his marketing methods. They never had strong marketing, though relationships were lost and dealers he had were closing through that time frame
Buster was a friend of Ricks (Pierce) from back in the Nick-A-Jack bass boat racing era of the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Buster also raced some and hung that up about the same time in those mid-1980’s years. He died sometime back from a deer incident. A buck jumped through the windshield of his truck on the main highway while Buster was going to lunch.
We understand his widow sold the parts and molds to Bumble Bee and they had little value without Buster. Bumble Bee eventually closed from economic challenges and hurricanes of the 2001-2004 era.
In 2007 a new company leased the Bumble Bee facilities and equipment to start a new brand from their molds, Bee Line. Bee Line was a start for Hank, Theresa and Gary to begin Phoenix Bass Boats. They did not continue the Bumble Bee look and product and closed Bee Line as a brand. They hired Greg Strahm and he began retooling from another hull and deck origin he was more familiar with. Eventually vacating and moving out of the Bumble Bee facility to their existing location. The Phoenix line is not in any way associated to the roots of either brand, just their source of beginning.
Which leads to another story on the start of Falcon some years later.
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