Courtesy Tillman Studio
Earl Bentz had arrange an enviable retirement. He was residing in a pleasant place in Stuart, Fla., with a brand new fishing boat on the dock and a golf course close by.
“I had deliberate to fish or golf or hunt each day,” says Bentz, “however after three months I used to be depressing. I bought up one morning and instructed my spouse I used to be going again to Nashville. I used to be going to begin a ship firm.”
Make that one other boat firm. Bentz is a serial boat builder, the founding father of Stratos and Trident, each very profitable and revered fishing boat manufacturers. In 2018 he deserted his Florida retirement to begin Caymas Boats, a brand new assortment of premium freshwater and saltwater fishing boats. Bentz has simply turned 72, so that you’d assume that Caymas will probably be his final start-up. However we might not guess on that. It’s actually not in his nature to decelerate.
Racing Forward
Bentz bought off to a quick begin in boats. Born in 1951 on a farm close to Charleston, S.C., at age 14 he went to work at his uncle’s dealership, Jenks Marine in Charleston.
“My uncle raced V-bottom boats, and I might assist,” says Bentz. “My compensation was attending to run the race boat 60 mph on the river. After I was about 16 years outdated my uncle crashed a ship and was injured. He supplied me the prospect to take his place in a Galaxy tunnel boat powered by a 115 Johnson outboard.”
Bentz had an intuitive really feel for piloting a quick boat. Racing a customized tunnel boat referred to as Wild Geechee that was designed by his uncle and constructed by Bruce Robertson, Bentz started to win races on the Nationwide Outboard Affiliation circuit within the Southeast, beating a few of the established stars of the collection, together with Reggie Fountain, who was racing with tools provided by Mercury Marine.
“Reggie had a twin-engine Molinari that no person might contact, however I might beat him in single-engine boats,” remembers Bentz. “Reggie steered to Mercury manufacturing facility staff supervisor Gary Garbrecht that I ought to be part of the staff, and in 1973 I used to be employed by Mercury.”
Simply 22 years outdated, Bentz moved to Oshkosh, Wis. and joined Fountain and Invoice Seebold on a three-driver Mercury staff that may dominate tunnel boat racing in the USA and Europe.
“Shifting to Wisconsin was an enormous adjustment for me,” provides Bentz. “For instance, I found that grits weren’t out there within the grocery shops. I used to be paid $250 per week by Mercury, and in the course of the race season my share of the prize cash was typically greater than my wage. We three drivers agreed to pool our winnings at every race and break up it 3 ways, and we’d journey collectively to 35 races a yr. We turned very shut and labored as a staff, serving to one another succeed.”
When Mercury shut down its manufacturing facility racing effort in 1979 Bentz had gained 9 nationwide and two world championships. He raced on his personal for one more yr earlier than turning his consideration full time to boat constructing.
Bass Boat Efficiency
In 1975 Bentz had begun working as a guide for Hydra-Sports activities, a Nashville bass boat producer thinking about efficiency.
“I helped Hydra-Sports activities with some R&D and testing,” Bentz says. “Already I might see that bass boat house owners had been thinking about efficiency. Homeowners had been over-powering their boats and shopping for aftermarket velocity props. Mercury was about to introduce its Black Max V6 outboards, with the concept the motors can be used on offshore fishing boats. I took an 18-foot Hydra-Sports activities to Oshkosh and satisfied Mercury to place that V6 on the transom. They thought that was nuts, that the motor can be too heavy. I proved it will work and after the primary yr of gross sales, Mercury realized that 80 % of the brand new 175 Black Max motors had been happening bass boats.”
Hydra-Sports activities was struggling financially in 1981 when Bentz was named vp and basic supervisor. In three years he revitalized the model, and when the proprietor reneged on a deal to promote him the corporate, he struck out on his personal. With a monetary associate, Bentz in 1983 based Stratos Boats within the Nashville space, hiring away many skilled Hydra-Sports activities staff.
“We sought to construct a really high-quality boat, and to innovate,” notes Bentz. “Our boats had been all hand-laid. We had been the primary to interchange fuses with circuit breakers and to put in 6-gauge wiring for trolling motors, and we launched the flippin’ deck.”
In 1987 Bentz bought Stratos to Outboard Marine Company (OMC) – the dad or mum of Evinrude and Johnson outboards – and have become president of the OMC Fishing Boat Group because the engine builder acquired different fiberglass and aluminum boat manufacturers. By 1989 Stratos was promoting 6,600 boats a yr and was the primary bass boat model in the USA, and Bentz had began the Javelin model for OMC.
After leaving OMC, Bentz began Triton Boats, backed by greater than 450 former OMC staff in Center Tennessee. Triton constructed up an entire line of premium contemporary and saltwater fishing boats together with middle console fashions to 35 ft.
“Fishing has at all times been my ardour, even after I was racing,” says Bentz. “In Charleston I knew the way to navigate Stono Inlet and exit for every part from redfish to kingfish. And I like to fish contemporary water too.”
Courtesy Tillman Studio
Working With Winners
Bentz bought Triton to Brunswick Company in 2005 and stayed on as president of the corporate till 2018, when he deliberate to embark on that failed retirement plan. He arrange Caymas in Ashland Metropolis, Tenn., in a brand new facility near the previous Stratos constructing. Bentz says greater than 150 Caymas staff have been working for his boat manufacturers for 30 years or extra.
“I attempt to encompass myself with people who find themselves prepared to place forth the hassle to win,” says Bentz.
The Caymas administration staff, led by firm president Adam Adkisson and vp gross sales and advertising Todd Falk, is obsessed with fishing. Bentz says he stays “knee deep within the design of every boat mannequin.”
“We attempt to construct an distinctive product backed by a supplier community that gives premium service,” mentioned Bentz. “Unbiased sellers will at all times put service first as a result of their enterprise is dependent upon a relationship with the client, service they only gained’t get from a company supplier or some massive field retailer.”
As along with his personal staff, Bentz has maintained relationships with a lot of his sellers by Stratos, Triton and now Caymas. Andy Johnson, the proprietor of 72 Marine Gross sales in Elberton, Ga., has achieved enterprise with a Bentz firm because the Stratos days. In the present day he sells Caymas boats alongside his son, Bentz Johnson.
“Constructing relationships has been a key to Earl’s success,” says Andy Johnson, “simply as essential as the standard of the product. Over time, with the appearance of mega-manufacturers, I’ve seen a lack of private consideration to the product. I nonetheless know that if there’s an issue, or I’ve an concept, I can choose up the cellphone and speak to Earl. He treats all his sellers that manner.”
The energy of non-public relationships with staff, with sellers, along with his sponsored anglers and with clients has at all times been the muse of the unprecedented success – in enterprise and in life – Bentz has loved for near 50 years.
“My happiest days on this earth have been doing what I like,” Bentz says, “and that’s constructing boats and being within the firm of those that share my ardour for fishing and boating.”
