Colorado River Machines?

Advice
#1

Here is a question for those Whitewater paddlers whose paddling memories may reach back to the 70’s or early 80’s.

Do any of you remember a kayak company named “Colorado River Machines”?

Yesterday I was given an old slalom canoe, well patched, ridden hard and put up wet. The decal on the deck behind the right side of the cockpit gives the name and has sort of a squared off “Celtic Knot” design that I assume is the logo. There are remnants of a decal on the left side of the bow, but the only part remaining is a stylizes “NEEDLE P” followed by a missing space then lines crossing in an “X”.
The kayak has the typical look of a low volume fiberglass (possibly with Kevlar) slalom canoe from the late 70’s or early 80’s. Weight even with patches is just under 30 lbs. It is currently pretty ugly, but once I find a spray skirt with a small enough cockpit size I plan on giving it a try on the river to re-live some of my early paddling days. Yes, I was paddling whitewater back then before plastic kayaks took over, but all my were kayaks made here in the East, except for one Seda Climax in Kevlar and an imported Lettmann (made in Germany).

But back to my question: If anyone has any info on the maker, I would be interested in finding out a bit about this old 'yak.

#2

They were known for crafting high-performance fiberglass and Kevlar boats, including slalom canoes like the one you have. The “NEEDLE P” and “X” you’ve mentioned might be part of the model name or design specifics related to their lineup. But unfortunately, I don’t know anything else about them

#3

Thanks for the info. There were quite a a few small builders during that era that popped up but did build enough boats to become known on the national whitewater scene. I guess Colorado River Machines would fall into that category. It seems to be a well constructed kayak and I am looking forward to seeing how it handles on the water.