Forward from the booklet
"The story of Hunter Boats"
Ditchburn Boats Ltd. of Gravenhurst, Ontario built two large boat-building plants on Orillia's lakefront near the Royal Canadian Legion, in the years 1924 and 1926. They operated in this location from 1924 to 1931. The original company, which built small pleasure craft for Muskoka Lakes summer residents, began at Helmsly, now Rosseau, Ontario in 1875. It was operated by two brothers who came from Londen, England. Henry was the only one to continue building boats which he did until his retirement. His nephew, Herbert Dithburn, took over the company and built a new manufacturing plant in Gravenhurst at the turn of the Century. This company became one of the best known manufacturers of high quality motor launches on the North American continent. By the 1920,s orders were being received for large pleasure yachts. The company decided to expand to larger facilities and built two buildings on Orillia,s lakefront where they built luxury yachts, 35 feet to 110 feet in length. for prominent Canadians and wealthy Americans. Photos show two of the luxury yachts built by Ditchburn at the Orillia plan from 1924 to 1931. When the depression of the 1930's arrived, Ditchburn Boats Limited went into receivership. The building were sold in 1932 to Alestair P. Hunter of Orrilia. A copy of this booklet can be found at the public Library in Orrilia
Hunter boats Limited spanned a total of forty four years of boat building (1932 - 1976). Hunter boats Limited was sold in 1976, and the Hunter Boats family era came to an end.
