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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - DECEMBER 2011
Gary Anderson, CEO of 1,000 Islands
Airboats, says: “Hovercrafts are good but
when you bring them to northern conditions,
the ice cuts the bag that keeps it afloat. And
when you go from a hard surface, the ice, to
a rolling surface, the water, where the bag
has to work at 100 per cent to float the boat,
sometimes it does not when the bag has ice
cuts in it and the boat rolls over.”
The friend who lost his life owned one of
the biggest factories in Gananoque and, as a
result of his unexpected death, about 600
people lost their jobs. The Anderson brothers
took it upon themselves to create new em-
ployment, and build something that would
keep people safe. This was 1993, the early
days of 1,000 Island Airboats.
The first couple of years were slow and
Terry got a second job and left the company.
Gary began to run the company by himself,
and enlisted a friend to create a website.
“After the website was up and running we
sold the first two boats in the first three
weeks,” says Anderson. “Since then we have
been up and running, back on the build
again.”
DEVELOPING TO SUIT CUSTOMER
DEMANDS
After being in business for five years, An-
derson put everything on CADD, with the
help of a professor at Queen’s University. At
this time, 1,000 Island Airboats became the
only airboat company in Canada to attain
Transport Canada approval, which means it
can sell to any commercial market anywhere
in the world. The approval process took 18
months from start to finish, with
representatives coming to the shop to watch
a boat build.
The building process continues to evolve,
as the company keeps itself open to ideas
and suggestions from its customers. “We get
a lot of input from people who actually use
our boats, which is helpful because they use
our boats every day,” says Anderson. “I never
close my ears to new ideas. It may be that 90
per cent of them do not work, but that 10 per
cent are really good ideas and are
implemented in the next boats.”
1,000 Island Airboats have 100 per cent
flotation, which makes them very safe. When
a boat is custom ordered, whether it be for a
fire or police department, the customer sits
down with the team, assess what they should
have based on past experience, and then the
boat is built over eight or ten weeks.
Anderson adds: “We can build the boat up to
a certain point and then the customer
determines how they want to finish it.”
For instance, when 1,000 Island Airboats
built boats for northern travel company
Arctic Kingdom, the boats were secured
more in the back with added layers of
fiberglass.
The company has built boats for a variety
of different industries: northern travel,
1,000 ISLAND AIRBOATS - INDUSTRY FEATURE