Boating Industry Canada June 2015 - (Page 10)

ImpaCt rOB ruLe anD mapLe CIty marIne tOp 100 FamILy BusIness! It's Great tO see a family business succeed and flourish. Rob Rule of Maple City Marine is now running his family's business and he has taken that success a step further; they are now a Top 100 dealer as well. Here's Rob's story. In 1948 Rob Rule's grandparents set up an Evinrude dealership in southwestern Ontario selling Peterborough and Lakefield cedar strip boats. They bought the boats semi-finished and then they would actually go in, finish them off and rig them according to what their customers wanted. They were on dry land and the business was primarily a gas station selling fuel. But, Rob's father, Bob was a boat racer and the family was in fact, already one of the oldest Evinrude dealers out there when Jim and Marion Rule, Rob's grandparents first set up the Maple City Marine business. Today, Rob's son Grant is the fourth generation to come into the family business and they absolutely have a succession plan. Maple City Marine is on the east side of Chatham, five minutes from the water. They can easily launch boats into the Thames River and they water test every day through the season. While it's a dry land operation, they are near some wonderful boating areas with big populations. Lake St Clair and Lake Erie are both close by and it only takes an hour to get to Sarnia and Lake Huron. The Thames River is navigable all the way out to the big water, so even running larger boats is not a problem. While the business was built on smaller boats, there is a market for larger vessels and Maple City is famous for being tuned in to their customers' wants and desires. For some time, Maple City Marine The colorful lineup of new boats and an excellent highway sign reminds passersby that Maple City Marina is the place for boaters. 10 Boating Industry Canada JUNE 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada June 2015

Insight
Industry News
Impact: Rob Rule
Industry: Marine Tech Crisis
GE Spotlight
Ad Nauseam
Marketing: Beating the Boomer Bust
Made In Canada: Sideshift Thrusters
Made In Canada: Nova Braid
The Boat Shop: NMEA
The Boat Shop: ABYC

Boating Industry Canada June 2015