Who made my kayak?

Advice
#1

I bought a Heritage, 10 foot sit in fishing kayak from Academy Sports. Who actually made it?
I would like to find an Owner’s Manual for this actual model and a source for parts.

Thanks for any help.

#2

Heritage used to be a good company and made great kayaksin New England. Around 2006 they were sold and the models were changed to “fishing kayaks” They have been sold a couple of times. A quick search did not turn up recent info on where the kayaks are now made.

Here is some old info

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#3

I have a early 2000’s Heritage Dolphin, must be from before the company sale as it was not set up for fishing. Can’t believe I have had it over 20 years now! Still looks and works great. Nice little SOT. Anyway, for parts, most things like rigging are pretty generic and widely available. You may have to be creative with a seat replacement and find something close. Several “parts stores” on the web. I don’t know that I have ever even seen an actual owners manual for a kayak, only the generic be safe and have fun sort of stuff.

edit- remembered I had some parts that came with another boat, from Topkayaker.com, they have a lot of stuff and may be able to help you out.

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#4

I found a web site ,hindecoder.com/, I entered my HIN and the manufacturer was identified as KL Industries in Muskegon, MI. My kayak was built in October of 2023.

#5

KL was sold to Canadian based GSC Technologies, who make Future Beach kayaks.

My cousin in Muskegon worked for KL for a while back in the mid 90s when it mostly made molded plastic pedal boats. Eventually I think they were making SunDolphin boats (they named the street in the industrial park where they were located “Sun Dolphin”.) I worked for an industrial electrical contractor in Muskegon in the early 2000’s and recall one of my mobile crews doing service calls there. KL’s factory was only about 1.5 miles from our shop.

Lots of poly casting and blow-mold shops in southern Michigan due to the abundance of demands for plastic parts for cars and office furniture, two of the state’s dominant industries. If you have the equipment and CNC to pop out office chair shells and interior door panels for SUVs, you can easily shift to making boats, I guess.

Most recent news item I could find about them is 5 years old: