Rochester Post Bulletin Business
Section
July 6, 1998Can you canoe?
…………by Bob Freund
Japanese will soon ply rivers in boats made in Rochester
Entrepreneur Bill Plantan Jr. now is floating a
fleet of his canoes across a really Big Pond.
Thankfully, they won’t have the Pacific Ocean’s building sized waves breaking
over their bows. They’ll be riding high off the water in a container ship.
But with this first shipment of 32 canoes to
Japan, tiny River Ridge Custom Canoes of rural Rochester gets a big, overseas break in its
young business, which to date has depended upon single orders.
If the small, sleek boats sell as Plantan hopes, Japanese demand could account for a
large part of the company’s 1998 and 1999 sales.
Now on their way to Seattle by train, the canoes should be shipboard late this week and
arrive in Osaka by July 25.
Businessman Yoshihiro Takahashi, co-owner of Waterhouse Co. Ltd. Of Kyoto, was swept
away by the square-back design and the outfitting of the canoe while visiting a trade show
last year.
Plantan and partner Dave Frink of Cedar Falls, Iowa, are admitted fishing fanatics.
Buyers can float down a slow-moving stream in what Plantan calls a "plain Jane"
model.
But River Ridge mostly rigs its colorful fiberglass canoes for fishing. A fully
outfitted model comes with rod racks, battery mounts and hidden electrical wiring harness
for trolling motor, lights or depth finder, cushioned seats, tackle box and drinkholders
and ample room for coolers.
River Ridge sells both lake versions and a reinforced river version for streams where
rock bottoms are frequent.
Takahashi wants the canoes to become his entry in the fly fishing segment of the
boating market. His Waterhouse Co. already has suppliers for the deep sea, pleasure
boating and spin fishing segments.
Japan has many mountain streams that are crowded for fishing at points where access is
easy. "But you can put a canoe in and canoe through them" to more remote,
uncrowded spots, Plantan said. The country also has mountain lakes and ponds with fish
waiting to be caught, he said.
Plantan had Takahashi out casting lines in the Zumbro River this spring in a fully
outfitted River Ridge model. "He would like to market them all over Asia,"
Plantan said.
To date, Plantan, 41, who is the prime salesman and handles most company operations,
has done little marketing. The canoes have won notice from sporting magazines and outdoor
writers. He also has shown them at recreation shows. Orders have flowed one by one into
River Ridge, which is run out of Plantan’s home, and canoes have been shipped out to
Alaska, Colorado and other U.S. points.
The company got its start in May 1997 as Golden Hawk Custom Canoes, named because they
were made by a Wisconsin company and then customized by the two partners.
Since then, Plantan and Frink had a fiberglass mold specially designed by a
Florida-based yacht company, creating a second-generation product. The mold arrived just
in time to start filling the Japanese order. "We pulled the first one out of the mold
on May 4," Plantan said. Now, "we’re laying up a canoe a day."
Craftsman Mark Schoenmann and Cody Bennett from Schoenmann Boat Works lay the
fiberglass base in the mold at a manufacturing site in the Thein Well complex north of
Rochester. It cures and the raw canoe is taken to a nearby storage area, where finishing
occurs.
Frink hand-makes the accessories in Cedar Falls and comes to Rochester for two days a
week to install them on the canoes, Plantan said.
Under current operations, River Ridge might be able to produce 250 canoes a year. So
far, the company has sold about $100,000 worth of the watercrafts, not including the
Japanese order.
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