
“You can talk with the President if you have an issue.”Ĭompany President is a good job. “That’s the advantage of a small company,” Belardo says. It makes them more agile than larger competitors and allows them to offer superior customer service. While there, he talked with the owner and asked if he was looking for an accountant and worked his way up from there. Fresh out of college at Cal State East Bay, where he earned a business degree, he visited the company to for some maintenance on the Klamath he owned. He’s living the American dream.”īelardo followed a similar path. Next, he learned to weld and eventually became a foreman. “He was the parts guy, then a finish guy. The Production Manager started in September 1979. Most employees have been working for Klamath for many years. Klamath’s youngest welder has been with the company for four years. “If you’re starting with us, you won’t touch a boat for at least a year. “Our guys control the welds,” Belardo says. “That gives you extra room in the stern but then there’s no space to cast in the front.”Īluminum welding is a specialized skill. “Other aluminum boat makers put the helms all the way forward,” Belardo points out. If it’s raining or snowing, you can still fish in relative comfort.
Riveted vs welded jon boat full#
You can bottom bounce, drift fish or anchor and do it with a full enclosure to protect you from the elements.” “There’s space on the bow to cast or throw lures. “It’s a multi-species boat,” Belardo says. The 18-foot OPW is among Klamath’s most popular models in California. “We expect those boats to be fished in saltwater,” Belardo says. The anodes protect against galvanic corrosion. But the rental fleets keep buying our boats because they take a beating and keep on going.”Īll Klamath Boats 18 feet and up come standard with zinc anodes for use in saltwater. “The bottom line is guys that rent boats beat them up, beach them, treat ‘em rough. and the Great Lakes and up and down the Oregon coast,” Belardo says. “We have boats all over Alaska, all over Mexico, across the western U.S. BUILDING KLAMATH BOATS is a multi-step process, and all of it is done by craftsmen who have been with the company for many years.

That’s a major reason Klamath Boats are found in outfitter rental fleets and in the hands of anglers who prize high quality. The odds are one or more of the rivets will go bad over the life of the boat.” Welded boats don’t leak, and they offer superior durability. “Our boats are welded with no rivets,” he says. For that matter, they are lighter than most of their competitors’ aluminum models. All of Klamath’s models – they make over 30 from 8 to 21 feet – weigh less than fiberglass boats of the same size. Crafting boats from light-cage welded aluminum offers many advantages, Belardo says.
