Alumarine – 3 years later

March 21, 2022 in News
Explorer: Spring 2022

January 2022 marks the 3-year anniversary that Alumarine Boats was purchased and its operations moved from the existing base in Manitoba to Prince Albert. “The move to Prince Albert was the key to our success,” said Ron Bonneau, General Manager of Alumarine. “In three short years, we’ve created new jobs in the area and expanded our dealer network to 18 dealers across the country from BC to southern Ontario. We’ve started having inquiries from the northern US dealers as well.”

Alumarine Boats have been around since 1967. Before the move to Prince Albert, Alumarine already had a solid reputation, especially in the north, for building the strongest utility/camp boat on the market; one that could handle any conditions that the lake could throw at them. It’s been highly prized for being light, tough, dry and requiring lower horsepower. “Our goal in the last three years has been to continue with the design and specs that customers are used to, “said Bonneau. “It’s a really great boat with a long history. What we’ve done is focus on improving production, quality control and safety. We are always committed to hearing what our end users are saying. We have made significant strides in the interior layout of our boats.”

Alumarine started in Prince Albert with four full time employees. Three years later, the company has grown to 13 local people full time, including 8 Indigenous employees from Black Lake, Lac La Ronge, Sturgeon Lake, Frog Lake, Peepeekisis, and Buffalo Narrows. “Our ownership group is 50% northern communities, and Indigenous employment is important to us,” said Bonneau. “We’ve made a consistent effort to employ more local people, more Indigenous people. We’ve worked with the Prince Albert Grand Council, who was very helpful. We now have a very strong and diverse team, and I am proud of the work every one of these guys do each day to build the best utility/camp boat in the world.”

The pandemic has not slowed down the demand for boats, but it has brought challenges. “The demand for all recreational products has been high this last couple of years, and we’ve certainly felt the pressure to build enough boats to meet the demand,” said Bonneau. “We have more orders for 2022 than we had the last couple of years. And some of the raw materials have become harder to get, and more expensive. But our team has so far been able to manage these challenges and we’re able to continue building a high-quality product and growing our business.”

Athabasca Basin Development, an investment company owned by seven primarily Dene communities, has 50% ownership in Alumarine. For more information, please visit www.alumarineboats.ca