Jeff Kanagy of Reedsville and Rob Plank of Mattawana Stand in front of a rescue boat in-progress at their facility in Belleville on Nov. 27, 2024. Their facility has nine other employees. The business is celebrating its 10th year of business. Plank reports the average turnaround time for a boat from start to finish is 10 weeks. (Sentinel photo by SAM BAUMGARDNER)

BELLEVILLE – Pushing pencils or crunching numbers isn’t exactly Jeff Kanagy’s typical day at the office.

The Belleville native doesn’t mind it now and then, but he would much prefer driving a jet boat down the Juniata River or another waterway at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.

Of course, it would be in one of his own company’s River Raptor Jet Boats.

In June 2014, Kanagy, who now lives in Reedsville, and partner Rob Plank, of Mattawana, founded Raptor Design and Engineering LLC, which manufactures the River Raptor jet boats.

“It’s the classic story of concluding you can build a better mousetrap,” explained Kanagy, who along with Plank is an avid fisherman. “Back around 2012, I was looking to purchase a jet boat for fishing the local rivers.

“In studying what was on the market, we noticed room for improvement in design features and quality,” Kanagy added. “The idea that we could build a better jet boat than was currently on the market just stuck with us which led us to design and build the first one.”

And then another and another.

Soon, people from all walks of life began asking if the two men could build boats for them, and the business grew from there.

“The beginning of 2020 we decided to make the business our full-time occupations,” Kanagy said.

Kanagy, who specializes in business management and marketing, has successfully contributed to the foundation and continued growth of the company.

A professional engineer, Plank’s role is heavily focused on product design and development and manufacturing processes at the Belleville facility.

Love of fishing brought them together

With a love of fishing on the river together for many years, Kanagy and Plank debuted a line of jet boats the two have been working on for several years.

They came up with the idea to start River Raptor after Kanagy, who was in the market to purchase a new boat to use for fishing, visited many local boat dealerships to see what was available. He said many of the boats for sale were outboard jet boats and he only found one inboard jet boat at a dealer.

Kanagy explained inboard jet boats are considered high-end for river boats and notably the cost reflected that, too.

For fun, Kanagy and Plank looked over the inboard boat and found many details that they would do differently and better. They soon found themselves kicking around the idea of starting a business venture.

“That got the wheels turning a bit,” Kanagy said.

With Plank’s background in engineering and Kanagy admitting he has a technical side too, the two started kicking around some ideas and began putting them on paper.

Approaching the business first as engineers and second as boat builders, the partners took their time to design, build and test the prototype.

“Everything we do is digitally drawn before we put it together,” Plank said. “The fit and finish on our boats demonstrates that. It’s all laser cut and fits like a glove.”

Becoming a go-to for first responders

Describing the business as growing might be an understatement; it has been booming. Word of mouth has been their main source of advertising. About 70% of River Raptor’s business comes from first responders.

“We started out designing and building primarily shallow water fishing boats, but we were drawn into the rescue and patrol boat market by requests to build boats by these customers,” Kanagy said. “It’s been a great avenue for us to grow our business.

“We still build fishing, hunting and adventure boats,” Kanagy added. “We just build more service boats now.”

And deliveries of many of their jet boats can be found on social media, which has caused their business to quickly expand across the continent.

“Having a strong website and social media platforms gives you worldwide marketing reach,” Kanagy said. “We are currently doing business in the U.S. and Canada, but we’ll see what the future holds.”

It would appear that River Raptor has grown quickly, but, in reality, it’s taken years of hard work and solid decision-making for the business to become profitable.

Especially selling to a bit of a niche market, with heavy-duty, high-performance boats for shallow waterways.

“Our products are a marriage of innovation, performance and quality,” Kanagy explained. “We want to build the best performing products in the market, constructed of the absolute best materials by skilled craftsmen.

“When the design, materials and construction are all top-notch, you end up with an exceptional product,” Kanagy added.

The production time for a jet boat is at least 10 weeks, “if a project were to move through our manufacturing processes without delay between construction stages, from CAD drawings to finished product,” Plank said. “Projects typically wait between construction stages, so it’s more like a 14-week process in reality.”

Made right here in Mifflin County

The boats are made in Mifflin County, which is what the men are most proud of.

“We design and build the hull and other aluminum portions of our products here in Belleville,” Plank said. “We also paint the hulls in our shop and perform final assembly here.”

Depending on the hull and engine-pump combination, the minimum speed of the boats they build is around 43 miles per hour. The top speed is around 51 miles per hour.

“What makes these boats special is their ability to reach these speeds and only need around three inches of water depth on plane, “Kanagy explained. “Many of the boats we build only need around seven inches of water to float a static draft. And they’re designed and constructed keeping in mind it’s not if, but when you’re going to hit obstructions under the surface.”

The price tag also depends on the model and how highly it’s accessorized. Their smallest base models start around $46,000. Prices for more highly accessorized rescue craft packages can range up to $140,000.

To further boost their sales nationally, River Raptor recently formed a partnership with Glick Fire Equipment Co., an emergency vehicle sales, service and parts provider based in Lancaster.

“We are beginning to lay the groundwork for a national commercial sales network,” Kanagy said. “Glick is our first commercial dealer, handling fire-rescue sales here in Pennsylvania.

“We are super excited to be able to partner with a company with such a great reputation in the rescue apparatus industry,” Kanagy added.

Not only will Glick sell into that market, they will provide customers with the ability to have their rescue boats serviced on site, along with their other fire, rescue and emergency medical services vehicles.

River Raptor to the rescue

During the devastation of Tropical Storm Helene, a volunteer search-and-rescue team from the Walnut Fire Department, near Marshall in Madison County, N.C., put a River Raptor jet boat to the test.

Normally, rescuers can use their rubber rafts anywhere to get anywhere they need to go. When Helene hit, every rock and bend in the river was gone. The water volume in the river valley was also about 100 times what they were accustomed to seeing.

Within the first few days following the storm, rescuers could only watch as houses, structures or vehicles were ripped off of land and yanked down the river, rushing past them at speeds of about 30 miles per hour. The rescuers’ rubber raft and paddles couldn’t handle it.

Walnut Township, which is very small and doesn’t have much money coming into its volunteer fire department, didn’t have the fancy equipment or resources necessary to combat the flooding caused by Helene.

It left rescuers in a predicament because if debris flying down the river struck and sank their raft, no one would be able to rescue them.

An anonymous donor stepped forward and paid for the team’s first jet boat – the first of its kind in western North Carolina, according to a fire department post on social media – to aid in the rescue missions.

Plank and lead technician Garath Brought hand-delivered the Jet boat XTR to department members, who had a chance for in-person training and a maintenance review.

The XTR is a rigid hull inflatable, featuring a nearly indestructible aluminum bottom, a 150-horsepower inboard engine and 14-inch inflatable collar around the boat, giving it the ability to safely navigate through debris and rocks without damage.

Plank said this boat, which typically costs $60,000 to $75,000, was first built as a demo then sold to the fire department. River Raptor doesn’t usually hand-deliver boats, but Plank wanted to get them the vessel quickly so he drove it 530 miles in about nine hours to Walnut Township on Oct. 11.

“It was gratifying to put this tool in their hands,” he recalled. “They were just really excited to be able to get upstream, as well as just if they needed to get downstream quickly. It gets them to the target a lot quicker.”

The jet boat is a game-changer and could mean the difference between life and death.

Sales spread across the country

Stories fill the company’s social media platforms sharing stories of jet boats built for first responders around the country.

The Fort Leonard Wood Fire Department in Missouri, located two and a half hours south of St. Louis, received a bourbon fire lime yellow SR-XD 2072 Rescue Raptor in early November. “A new color for us, hard to hide this one!” the post joked.

“Building exceptionally capable watercraft for first responders has become a large part of what we do,” Kanagy said. “We cherish the opportunity to work with these organizations and never take for granted the task to design and build equipment that outperforms while keeping team members safer.”

A few days before that a light oak colored Aqua Traction SR-XR-8 boat package was bound for the Tarheel State for some shallow salt water action.

Before that it was the Jet boat XTR to Walnut Township and a gator green SR-XD 2072 law enforcement rig headed to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in mid-October.

Other jet boats have been sold in Terrell County, Texas; Helena, Mont.; Grand Junction, Colo.; and Arlington, Va.

In August, River Raptor manufactured a jet boat that stayed right here in Mifflin County to serve its residents as City Hook and Ladder ordered a premier shallow water-capable rescue boat, a SR-XD 2072.

“This is one truly awesome boat,” Kanagy said. “And it stays right here.”

Besides running a profitable business venture, the two men find it rewarding to assist first responders on the waterways.

“It’s a great feeling knowing we had a hand in making it that much safer,” Kanagy added.