14 Canadian Yachting JUNE 2017Story and Photos by Kate Fincham
alking in to the small showroom at the Rossiter
Boat factory, the company values and evolution of
tradition become immediately apparent; it is a
small but thriving manufacturer that truly cares
about exceptional quality and customer relationships. A wall of
framed emails and letters from delighted customers line the
walls like children’s photographic timelines in a proud parent’s
home, which Captain John Armstrong and I peruse in between
sipping mugs of hot tea offered by the amiable Trisha and pet-
ting the affectionate office dog belonging to the company’s
owner, Scott Hanson. We soon discover what is only further
enhanced by the ensuing two-hour tour: the company is heav-
ily invested in its modest beginnings and is an organization
where quality service comes with a place in the extended
Rossiter family.
The history of Rossiter Boats is one that combines passion,
fostering of tradition, and an eye towards the future. It all started
40 years ago with 19-year-old George Rossiter repairing the
wooden canoe of a fellow cottager on Go Home Bay. As word
spread about his woodworking abilities, George was continually
sought after to undertake various restorations of wooden crafts.
After completing a marine engineering degree to further his
knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of composite mate-
rials, George Rossiter began the transition from restorations to
boat building. Expanding from the classic all-wooden crafts that
he had been restoring, he created a traditional style of rowboat
that was composed of a fiberglass hull and handcrafted wood-
work finishing. This same style, with slight changes and addi-
tions for improvement, still remains Rossiter’s best-selling
rowboat - the Loudon.
In the infancy of his boat building days, George would
locally sub-contract the construction of fiberglass hulls before
doing all of the wood finishing himself. Unable to get suffi-
cient hulls at the pace and quality he desired, he established
his own fiberglass shop in a small three-car garage in Meaford,
Ontario, with the help of two craftsmen from Owen Sound,
Ontario. Around this time the first Rossiter powerboat, the
Rossiter 14’, was created.
Needing to significantly reduce his workload, George began
looking for someone to take over the business that he had lov-
ingly created and grown for 30 years. The opportunity presented
itself at a Christmas cocktail party in 2006 when George ran in
to Scott Hanson, whom he had met at the Collingwood
Maritime Academy a few years before. At that time, Scott was aModernizing Tradition at
Rossiter Boats
CANADIAN BOATBUILDER PROFILE
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