Grumman Boats

In 1944 the Vice President of Grumman Aircraft Engineering William Hoffman took a trip to the Adirondack Mountains. He spent that summer fishing trip portaging a very heavy wooden canoe, which gave him the idea to build a canoe that used the same lightweight aluminum that had been used by Grumman to build the WWII fighter planes. In 1945 the first 13 foot aluminum canoe was manufactured at the Grumman aircraft plant in Bethpage, Long Island. By the end of the war Grumman’s boat division was producing six different size aluminum canoes that ranged in length from 13 foot to 20 foot.

The boat making plant was relocated in 1952 to Marathon, NY. It was here at the Marathon plant that Grumman designed the 22’3” boats to be used in the Great Lakes. OMC out of Illinois purchased Grumman’s boat division in 1990. Then a group of former Grumman investors and managers formed the Marathon Boat Group in 1996. They then bought back the canoe and boat operations from OMC that same year. By 2000 Northrop Grumman and the Marathon Boat Group had reached an agreement about licensing and the legendary canoes and boats were once again wearing the Grumman name.

Pricing

Used Grumman canoes can range in price from $2,000 to $9,000 US.