Grumman Canoe Vintage 18' Model (West Coast)

Up for sale is a vintage older nice aluminum GRUMMAN CANOE in the desired full 18 foot size (not the more common 17 footer). I have had a bunch of Grummans and this is by far the oldest I have ever come across. In very good shape (see photos), especially considering its age. Lots of licences/registrations on canoe including cool old original numbered Minnesota metal badge (tried to date canoe exactly to this Minnesota DNR registration badge and they told me they had never seen one before) and some late 50's Canadian registration stickers including a 1958. Includes an detachable older Grumman aluminum motor mount in great condition and likely the same vintage.

Located in commercial storage facility in NW Reno just off I-80. This is of course a pickup item. Don't know 100% about how to read Grumman serial #'s, this one is 352-M-5-18. Read back to front I believe the '18' denotes the 18' model. The '5' denotes .050 thick aluminum hull (standard).

The 'M' is a series date, I believe the 'M' places it in the 50's and could denote that canoe was made at Marathon plant (originally Grummans were made in Long Island I believe). The '352' means it was the 352th canoe made in the M series I think. Grumman could likely help with this and could likely tell you what years the 'M' code refers to for sure. This would make sense with the registration stickers on canoe (1958). At any rate a very older example of a fine canoe.

If you are a collector I have some awesome old metal Grumman Dealer signs I will be listing for sale soon. Note: sign is now listed for sale by same seller, would make a nice addition to canoe! The Gumman canoes are historic and completely changed the canoe industry. They are built to aircraft quality standards (Grumman canoes were a sideline to their aircraft business) and are nearly literally bombproof see the attached photos of close up construction details, rivets etc. Which is to aircraft quality standards and that is a high standard for obvious reasons.

The boats simply do not lose any value especially after fifty plus years!!! Not so many of these on west coast as they were manufactured on the east coast. These Grummans are still being made in Marathon, New York as they mostly always were. A 18 footer is a bit over $1700 today. Grumman was the single largest producer of carrier-based fighter planes in WW2.

They didn't really start production of the canoes until right after WW2 and the canoe division was intended to help them a bit after the war which it certainly did. These canoes proved very very popular and as I said revolutionized the entire canoe industry, before Grummans, canoes were wood and canvas, not much changed from the birchbark canoes and pine pitch canoes made expertly by native American craftsmen. This is a very early example of these boats, about as early as you will find, certainly earliest I have ever seen, probably at least 60 years old plus or minus! By the way these Grummans do not need any special care (other than to just keep them clean), maintenance or paint and can be stored outdoors (upside down is best elevated off the ground). The beauty of aluminum!

Buy this today and in ten years you can sell it for more than you paid (another beautiful thing about Grumman canoes)! Back in the day many of these were just left by lakes and streams for pretty much anyone to use as needed with no ill effects. When I started canoeing as a young kid this was the case, the owner left an old coffee can you could put the three bucks a day 'rental fee' in and it worked. I have camped under a Grumman canoe in the BWCA (on Minnesota/Canadian border) when it rained (which was often in the Boundry Waters).