Wenonah
Boy! I sure don’t have the same issues nor experiences with Wenonah as some do. As far as them being a Big Corporation with a Big Corporation Mentality, I disagree. I’ve been there and they are very “Mom & Pop”. It may be an industry leader but it is a small industry. The factory is a small operation and very hands on by few indiviuals. Many wear several “hats”. The “head” of marketing is in the parking lot loading canoes on the trailer right along side of Cichanowski.
As far as them not answering their emails, I emailed them to ask about this rumor. They emailed me back in about 2 hours. I have emailed them many times with questions and often get a response in the same day. BTW - The staff there is unaware of wenonah buying Mohawk. If it is true, it is not yet public.
The “factory” is very low-tech. In fact, I wouldn’t call it a factory so much as a large workshop. There are no conveyor belts. Hulls are wheeled around some, but there are only a couple of “places” they can be: 1) the area the hulls are made (the fiberglass/kevlar area or the royalex area); 2) the trim area (seats, gunnels, etc.); or the warehouse (which is a pole barn a few feet from the “factory”).
Still, they won’t build you a boat…
... to your exact specifications and have it practically on your doorstep in just four days, correct? I had to wait for the next scheduled boat shipment to come to town just to get a footbrace from them through a local paddleshop. Mohawk would have shipped it directly to me the same day they got the order. That's not to say their service is bad, only that they don't put the same emphasis on it as the folks at Mohawk.
Actually …
they do … at least sort of. Most folks don’t know this but Wenonah does not do “assembly line”/mass building. They make canoes to order. There must be an order slip which follows the craft through assembly. The craftsmen make the canoe based on that order. They don’t make a bunch of canoes and ship them out. Now, your vendor/distributor/retailer may order a bunch of “stock” canoes and try to sell them to you, but they placed an order for them with Wenonah to be made that way.
They do offer several hulls that no longer appear in their catalogs. They will trim out a hull they offer anyway you want it. They will make alterations to the way you want it.
Now the “sort of” part. I know that Wenonah likes you to go through their dealers. I’m not sure if it is required, that is, I don’t know if they will do “factory direct” ordering. It may be that you have to convince your retailer to order the canoe you want. The assessories are probably the same (just as you related from your experience with the footbrace).
As far as time, you are probably right in that they wouldn’t have a boat to your doorstep in four days. I don’t know how much of a backlog they have. From the tours I have been on, I know that their composite boats take much longer than that to build (very labor & time intensive). The royalex material is more expensive but can be made much faster. Again, I don’t know their turn around time.
I had to wait more than a month…
…for my Royalex Vagabond, and that was ordered at the very end of the paddling season when I would expect the demand for new orders to be low, but maybe they are cranking up next spring’s production at that time. I ordered my Mohawk Odyssey in the spring, when most people are thinking about buying boats, and it arrived just four days later.
Again, I don’t dislike Wenonah. I just don’t want to see the Mohawk line up and style of service disappear. There have been so many good canoe makers that have gone out of business, and I fear the day when there are only one or two builders still going.
Perhaps no sale???
See Jose’s “no sale?” post above & stay tuned for further developments. It appeared a bit out of sequence and may not have been noticed by everyone. Thanks Jose.
I have to agree with Guideboatguy in that I also have nothing against We-no-nah – I just hate to see our list of options for canoe brands become smaller and smaller.
I talked to Mohawk …
I talked to a Mohawk employee today; if it’s sold, he don’t know about it!
BOB
Re. Footbrace
If you want an accesory from Wenonah, call, and ask for accessories. Most likely you will get Nick. If not, ask for him. If you leave a message he will call you back.
I got my footbrace for the Vagabond in about 5-6 days. Nick will give information and instructions where necessary, since most accesories don’t come with any kind of instruction information (don’t like).
Same result with the new seat in this year’s model which is a retrofit.
The phone number and ordering instructions are in the catalog, and on the web site.
Frank
I also emailed…
Mohawk yesterday. I got a reply from Craig at Mohawk today stating he know’s of no such deal.
I Just Got Off The Phone
with Craig at Mohawk. I was asking a few questions about a Sportline 14. Ive been looking a bit at canoes. Craig says that the company is up for sale but that it has not been sold.
More specific, he says that the Sportline has been discontinued as the mold needs to be replaced and is expensive. I guess making that kind of investment when the company is for sale … Anyway, he is checking to see if any Sportlines are available.
Happy Paddling,
Mark