Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 18


Another fist full of orders that have just come in. The early fall is a
very busy time for shipping shrink-wrap and winterizing products.

What now?
One day, a man named Russ Woodard came into our shop to
buy an OMC propeller. Russ Woodard was also a manufacturers rep for boat parts and I took Russ aside and told him that
we were losing our OMC parts business. He could not believe
this. So, Russ said to me, come out to my car. He opened his
trunk and brought out a Sierra parts book. He said, here is a
possibility Charlie. Sierra had 30 pages of parts - that's all.
But when OMC took us out, Russ Woodard got us back into
the business with that Sierra parts book.
At that time, we had about 12 employees. We made up a
preliminary catalog and Rick Chang who had recently joined
the company, started calling on dealers. One of the notable
dealers was Don Hyde Marine and they came on board immediately. Also, Lou Burgess helped CC Marine Distributors to get
started. We lost money the first year but the next year, we
showed a profit."
So, that's Charlie's version of what happened and yet the
people who were there when this all took place, know that
there was more to the story.

Additional Views Of History

Charlie is holding up the original Sierra catalogue that helped get
CC Marine Distributors started after OMC withdrew their contract.

100 boats until spring and then we would prepare the boats for
delivery. We would have at least five people getting boats
together for delivery with our trucks. It was a crazy time and
we would prepare about 50 boats a week through May.
Our business was mainly retail and our store was open from
9 AM to 9 PM, five days a week and also Saturday from 9 AM
to 4 PM, winter and summer. I was on sales most of the time
and we had seven salesmen. In one year in the 1950s we sold
over 900 Johnson motors and over 400 Peterborough boats.
During this era, we were also an OMC parts distributor.
However, OMC got complaints from other dealers that we
should not be both a distributor and a retailer, so Currey
decided that we would go into the parts business only.
Then, we purchased the building on Yonge Street in
Toronto, which worked out very well. Later, OMC wanted to
do their own thing and they told us they would take away the
parts business although they gave us one years' notice.

18

Boating Industry Canada

OCTOBER 2016

CC Outboard Parts (which was the name of the company at
that time), was just one of several parts distributors in the
OMC organization.
Apparently, OMC was planning to open their own big
parts warehouse in Cambridge, Ontario. Then came that fateful day when Currey and Charlie were called to Peterborough
by Les Groombridge, then president of OMC. They were told
they had one year to phase themselves out of the business -
that was it.
Charlie remembers that day. Currey said to Charlie, "We
don't need to do anything, just enjoy golfing."
But this really hit Charlie hard. There were other independents in Canada who also lost their franchises. CC Outboard
Parts was the last to go, but it was the end and it was a huge
burden on Charlie's mind because of the business and of
course, the people.
They were forced to drop some staff but they kept Pandian
Dason, Rick Chang and a few others. As Pandian explained to
us, Charlie's attitude has always been to sell the company not
just a product. Layoffs were very tough for him to do.
Understandably, considering his age, Currey was willing to
look at retirement, but Charlie was not ready. He's not the type
to stay still, go golfing or to simply stay home, but Rick Chang
told us that he also felt the stars were aligned for CC Marine
Distributors.
CC Outboard Parts packed up all the OMC parts and
shipped them back to OMC, but now the company had
Pandian and Rick. That year, Rick and Charlie went to the
Chicago boat show to see what they could find. And, the most
important event of all was the day Russ Woodard came to see



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada October 2016

IMPACT: CHARLIE BULMER
MARKETING: RAIL YARD WAKE PARK
MADE IN CANADA: TOMCAT BOATS
INSIGHT
INDUSTRY NEWS
AD NAUSEAM
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - Cover1
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - Cover2
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 3
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - INSIGHT
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 5
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - INDUSTRY NEWS
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 7
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 8
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 9
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 10
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 11
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 12
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 13
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - IMPACT: CHARLIE BULMER
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 15
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 16
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 17
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 18
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 19
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - MARKETING: RAIL YARD WAKE PARK
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 21
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 22
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 23
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 24
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 25
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - MADE IN CANADA: TOMCAT BOATS
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 27
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - AD NAUSEAM
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 29
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - 30
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - Cover3
Boating Industry Canada October 2016 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/february2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/december2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/october2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/august2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/june2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/april2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/february2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/december2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/october2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/august2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/june2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/kerrwil/boatingindustrycanada/april2015
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