Kawartha Propeller

By Mark King

Pieces of precision metal. Stainless-steel, aluminum, bronze. Couplings, shafts, propellers, rudders and skegs. Items that live in the bottom of your boat or outside your boat immersed in water. Items you never think about until suddenly, they are worn out of round or embarrassment of all embarrassments, you hit something with them and become a contender for the “Bent Propeller Award” at your annual marina end-of-season party.

It is then that these pieces of precision metal become the most important items in your life because you are going nowhere without them.

To steal a line for that most inopportune time; “Who you gonna call?”

Luckily Kawartha Propeller situated in Buckhorn, Ontario with its team of highly skilled metal smiths, is there for you.

In a 4,800 square foot shop with all the custom-made specialized equipment at the ready, the team of self-taught artisans with skills that have been handed down and forged through experience, can be found working diligently and carefully, and waiting to help you out of your predicament.

With precision bucks and hammers, heat, welders, lathes, polishers, and paint they will have your part repaired and have you back on the water in record time with a part that matches or exceeds your original.

Anyone who has experienced a bent propeller, or bent shaft can attest to the vibration and failing performance you feel when you push the throttle forward. A quick trip to Kawartha Propeller through one of its multiple pick-up locations around Ontario and you’re back on the water enjoying smooth performance again.

That has been the goal of Kawartha Propeller ever since its founding in the 1960s when Orville Smith realized that boaters require expert, specialized help in their time of need. He opened his one-man shop, Kawartha Prop Repair in Ennismore, Ontario, and serviced marinas in his local area.

In April 1974, Fred and Katie Fuderer formed Buckhorn Yacht Harbour, offering boat storage, slip rentals, gas bar, and a service department. They began using Smith’s services almost immediately.

Fred got to know the trade in the area through taking his own customer’s boat propellers there for repair. Orville and Fred did business together and developed a friendship. 

With Orville aging and battling some health issues, Fred expressed an interest in the company. Orville sold to Fred and stayed on for two years to train staff with the specialized skills required to make these repairs. 

“This is how the initial trade knowledge was transferred over. Orville was a key player in teaching Fred, family, and staff how to take a broken propeller and fabricate it back to industry standards,” explains Stacey Ridley, one of the third generation of the family to operate the business.

The fusion of Kawartha Prop Repair with Buckhorn Yacht Harbour happened in 1980 when Fred bought the business from Orville.

Then the initial expansion of the company came from reaching out to Ontario marinas to offer pick up and delivery service. The routes travelled encompass roughly 350 marinas throughout Ontario, that are serviced on a weekly basis, by picking up damaged goods and returning them the following week. 

“This was the primary means of expansion from the initial one-person operation to the 17 employees at work in the business today,” explains Ridley.

Craftsmanship and knowledge grew tremendously from what staff were initially trained on, as the boating industry developed bigger and faster motors of increasing horsepower. 

“We had to adapt our propeller repairs to conform to these new demands in performance. We trained ourselves to do performance work, which is customized to everything we repair, resulting in work that meets or exceeds original manufacturer’s specifications and standards,” comments Ridley.

“This is how we ultimately grew the caliber of the company and our name to represent the quality of the work we offer to our marina dealers and the public,” she adds. 

In 2002, John Fuderer and his brother Peter began the second succession of Kawartha Prop Repair, taking over from their parents. In 2010, the company name was changed to Kawartha Propeller, as the business had evolved into more than repairs for propellers and lower units. 

The demand for new propellers opened a new direction in sales and distribution. The company currently is a distributor for Mercury, Volvo, Solas and ACME and supply all brands of propellers globally. 

“We’ve grown to the warehouse level of inventory with up to 5,000 propellers in stock from various manufacturers,” says Ridley. 

Kawartha Propellers also expanded operations to include a machine shop to fabricate new boat shafts and its own custom-built equipment to facilitate repairs for the rest of the underwater running gear for the boating industry.

Today, the company provides all necessary parts and hardware for drive systems for boats in the inboard sector including struts, rudders, shaft seals and couplings.

“The majority of our staff do not have formal training in the marine industry but seek to become part of the team with an interest in learning a specialized skill set. Prepping, pitching, welding, grinding, balancing and finishing are terms used daily in the noisy shop,” she says.

With the fans and compressors rumbling, blow torches flaming, metal pounding on metal, the buzz of welding, grinding discs, polishers, and lathes spinning, it is not uncommon for the shop to use 200-plus sets of ear plugs a month.

Next to John, the longest serving employee is Grant Thomas, who has been with the company 41 years. John’s son, Jamie Fuderer, started learning the foundations of the repair process at age 14 and has spent over 25 years strengthening his knowledge. Grant and Jamie have been pivotal in advancing the trade with staff.

“The foundation of the training comes from this generational knowledge, and many tips and tricks for the craft have evolved from firsthand experience and problem solving,” explains Ridley.

The result of this specialized training allows the team to repair most items at a lower cost compared to purchasing new, with guaranteed results and top quality. 

Along with the evolution of the boating trade has come an evolution in equipment used to perform the repairs. 

Ridley explains: “We have custom built hydraulic presses to straighten propellers, struts and rudders to facilitate accurate repairs. We’ve also adopted a state-of-the-art laser scanner to read propeller surfaces for greater accuracy and have manufactured our own complete line of skeg blanks for lower unit skeg repairs.” 

The shop repairs thousands of propellers, lower units, and running gears each season, and manufactures hundreds of new shafts. 

Over the winter, it offers a “winter program” to customers, where orders are picked up in the fall and returned in April. 

This helps smooth the shop workload during the winter months keeping it at a more comfortable rate to stay ahead of the springtime demand. 

“Our delivery vans come in and out several days of the week, unloading and loading orders. The office is often busy with ringing phones and customers coming in and out. All of the above is amplified dramatically in the summer months,” comments Ridley.

Kawartha Propeller is now a third-generation family business, with John’s son and daughter, Jamie and Stacey, playing key roles in business development and succession. 

In 2023, the company partnered with Polastorm Propeller Canada, PolastormCanada.com, as its sole Canadian distributor, extending a competitive line of aftermarket propellers to the consumer base.

Over the years it has seen more large-scale jobs such as 60 inch plus diameter propellers for ferry and tug boats, as well as removable blades that can involve propellers up to 12 feet in diameter for freighters. 

Boating, fishing, and watersports are among the top leisure pursuits for Canadians. “We’re grateful to be the team that people call on when a shoal or rock puts that pursuit in jeopardy,” says Ridley.

“We have saved many holidays for customers alike. We always advocate to our customers to carry a spare because as John famously says: “The only time you need a spare prop is when you want to go boating.” 

The future of Kawartha Propeller is as bright as the summer days are sunny.

You can check out the shop, the work they undertake, and the products they provide by visiting www.KawarthaPropeller.com.