About American Pleasure Products, LLC

History - APP-Marine

The original vision of the Aqua Cycle™ began in 1967 when Pete McNichol designed a boat using something that resembled a bicycle frame. He showed the first mockup to his friends, Bob Brodie and Bob Tamplin and there was immediate intrigue – so much so that Bob Brodie ordered 3 of them. After some discussion, they decided to modify the design to build a model using side by side pedals and got to work on the new design together.

They were pretty sure they had something when they took their new design to a boat show in Detroit in 1968. 3 days later, they had 39 orders. Due to the success of their venture, they decided to incorporate in 1969, built a production facility on Sage Lake and got to work.

In 1970, they decided to take their design to another boat show and got more orders than they could fill over the course of a year. In fact, the demand was so high that they were telling some potential buyers they had to wait up to three years to get one!

Orders kept coming in, and they decided to build a dealer base to cover more territory. Shortly after this decision they were making upwards of 250 boats per year. Their energy remained focused on building high quality, durable boats that were engineered with high quality materials and standard parts.

In 1990 Bob Tamplin retired, selling his half of the business to Harry Biermann. Together Bob Brodie and Harry ran the company for another 17 years. The business moved to Rose City, MI in 1996 after the construction of a production facility that would make room for the growing needs of the company.

In the early 2000s, they decided to hire their first employees to increase their ability to meet demand.

Then, in 2007, Harry retired and sold his half of the company to Mike Gilligan, Bob’s son-in-law and they continued what had been built over the previous 38 years.

Fast forward to 2021, and after 50 years, and nearly 20,000 boats, Bob and Mike decided to sell the business – earning both a much-deserved retirement.

The business was purchased by Robert Beck and Mike Plaisier as managing members. Robert and Mike are excited to continue the legacy built over 50+ years, and use the incredible foundation to grow the business.

Today

Today, as American Pleasure Products, LLC we are continuing the tradition of producing innovative and quality marine products. Manufacturing continues in all categories of pontoon designs in Rose City, MI. Focused on product design, business integrity, and customer service APP is an industry leader. We offer extensive online information support through our website and welcome customers and dealers to visit our production facility and future showroom.