Déjà Vu (all over again)
December 4, 2025
Several things happened on the same day, lighting up a giant bulb over my head. First, I came across an article on the Greavette Streamliner, published in our magazine in November 2018 . Then, on the news, the CBC was visiting the Chapman Ice-cream factory in Markdale, ON and a pre-fab home builder in the Soo. Their angle was that entrepreneurial Canadian businesses are springing up in the face of tariffs etc. Seemingly, Canadian business initiative is popping up alive fueled by reborn nationalism and economic necessity.
So why not boats? When I was a kid, my friend Russel’s uncle worked in the Greavette plant in Gravenhurst. It meant not much to me at the time, but there they were building what arguably became the best boats in the world, so excellent they sell today for 25 times what they cost in the 50s.
Canada has been a force in the boat business, starting small in garages (George Hinterholler’s Shark) and building into world class like Doral, Thundercraft, Campion and of course C&C, who owned the world sailboat market in the 70s and 80s.
So let history repeat itself. Building boats is not big business even if you’re Beneteau. Canada is the right place for medium and small business. Today, there are a few small longtime builders in Canada and some new ones like exciting ones like ENVGO exploring electric boats. We should not be daunted – consider Axopar, a started-small boat company with a dream that is now an international powerhouse based in Finland (Finland!!! Population 5.6 MM!)
We can do this. The initiatives don’t have to be huge. Build 100 boats and you’re world class. For example, there’s a demand for both Sharks and Martin 242s suddenly – the used market is sold out. Couldn’t some dreamer turn their garage into an industry?
‘But we need to get raw materials and parts; stuff is expensive,’ you worry. Those fantastic Greavettes were built of mahogany. That wood wasn’t logged in BC or the forest of Quebec, but importing didn’t slow the Greavette geniuses down. Parts and materials not an obstacle – we have some right here, but more importantly we have the people and skills. We can recreate what the domestic builders of the past did. Think small – grow larger.
John Morris, Online Editor
