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.
