On Wednesday, March 18 at 11 a.m. ET Esquif announced they had ceased production in their Frampton, Quebec facility via their Facebook page in a French and English message.
The English message reads:
“It is with great sadness that we announce today that Esquif Canoes Inc. has stopped operating Monday, March 16th. Various elements forced Esquif to dispose of its assets and end production.
For over 15 years, we worked hard to design and build the best canoes in the world and we want to thank all our customers and friends. Mission accomplished! Jacques and everyone from Esquif”
A representaive from Esquif was not immediately available for comment.
Whitewater canoeists had been especially excited about new material T-Formex that Esquif Canoes was manufacturing, said to be as tough as Royalex, but more abrasion resistant and lighter.
T-Formex would not have required any re-tooling for Royalex boat building operations, a boon for Esquif as well as other manufactuers that Esquif hoped to supply.
“It’s too bad, we were hoping he’d get that together,” says Tim Miller, owner of Nova Craft Canoes. Miller had planned to manufacture a number of models in T-Formex when the material became available. “It would have been great to have a product we could have molded like Royalex.”
More to come as this story develops.
