In the summer of 1944, after portaging
a heavy wood and canvas canoe on a fishing trip in
the Adirondack Mountains, William Hoffman, Vice President of Grumman
Aircraft Engineering, had an idea: What about making a canoe from
the same lightweight, stretch-formed aluminum that Grumman
had used to become the single largest producer of carrier-based fighter
planes during World War II?
In 1945, the very first aluminum canoe, a 13-footer,
was produced at the aircraft plant in Bethpage, Long Island. By
the end of World War II Grumman was producing a
line of 13', 15', 17', 18', 19', and 20' canoes.
The plant relocated to Marathon, N.Y. in 1952.and in 1988, Grumman
produced the largest aluminum boat in its history at Marathon. Designed
for the Great Lakes, it measured 22' 3".
In 1990 the Grumman boat and
canoe division was sold to O.M.C. of Illinois,
who soon purchased the DuraNautic Boat Company's
tooling and assets and moved them to the Marathon Plant.
In 1996, a group of former Grumman managers and
investors formed the Marathon Boat Group to purchase the canoe
and boat operation from O.M.C., and resumed production
of Marathon canoes, identical in every respect
to the legendary Grummans.
