The Pierce family of Bass Cat Boats entered into an agreement with the Suthers family for the sale of Yar-Craft to Bass Cat Boats.
Bass Cat is now in its 40th year of ownership and operation by the Pierce family. Yar Craft is a walleye boat with a heritage of more than 40 years in the marine business. Yar Craft was acquired in 2004 by Corey Suthers and Norlen Inc. As Norlen grew with it’s Tomcor business arm, they sought to reduce their marine arm, making room for it’s core business structure. Yar Craft will be an independent line, with production alongside Bass Cat Boats, and manufactured in Mountain Home, Ark.
“Yar-Craft is an exciting move for us,” said Rick Pierce, owner of Bass Cat Boats. “We were looking at Yar-Craft about four years ago with Corey, and the timing was just not right for us then. We are much more prepared now to bring Yar Craft past where Corey and his team have the brand. He, Dean and Paul have all done a wonderful job to this point building a walleye platform. We hope we can continue to do as well as they have done.
“This all came together pretty quick, I was eating dinner with an marine industry friend in Louisville, Ky. last October. I was explaining how we just finished reviewing the data on the walleye market and how we were intent on entering the market, developing our own brand. After we finished dinner, I retrieved my e-mails and there was a memo from Corey wondering if we were interested in revisiting a Bass Cat purchase of Yar Craft. It was really a no thought decision this time, especially considering Yar Craft is a functioning product line. It all came together very fast. Plus we just finished looking at the viability of the walleye market in depth.”
“We are very excited for the Yar-Craft name to be associated with the Pierce family and Bass Cat Boats,” Suthers said. “I am a proud person today knowing that Yar-Craft is moving to a family owned business. I purchased Yar-Craft in 2004; I owned two Yar-Craft boats prior to purchasing the company.”
