Wacanda Classic Boats
Unique and Seaworthy
Boats by Wacanda Marine, Colville, WA
From the early 1950's, through 1988, Wacanda Marine Inc., Colville, WA, a family-owned corporation, produced a unique series of fiberglass boats. The name of the company, “Wacanda”, was in recognition that early on, about half the boats were being sold in Washington State, half in Canada.
From it's inception through about 1984, Wacanda Marine was owned and operated by Forrest Collins, Colville, WA. From 1984 to 1988, the company was owned by the Yakima Indian Nation, Wapato, WA, although Mr. Collins managed the production.
The boats were known to be particularly seaworthy and were regularly seen on the white water rivers and lakes of the inland northwest. All the boats produced by Wacanda Marine were strongly built of hand laid fiberglass. His earliest hull prototypes were built of plywood. All the production boats were constructed of fiberglass. Mr. Collins and his crew also built the molds for the Wacanda boats.
On a few occasions in January, February, and March, 2005, I interviewed Mr. Forrest Collins by telephone. He was kind enough to provide many historical notes about Wacanda Marine. Later, Mr. Collins generously provided many of the images, brochures and other items seen in this web site.