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Léo LeBlanc, a native fisherman from l’ Étang-du-Nord, developed his expertise in naval carpentry by necessity and resourcefulness as he became the livelihood of his family at a very young age. With solid repair and boat building skills, he started his business in les Îles-de-la-Madeleine in 1964.

The first boat Léo LeBlanc built boasted a cabin at the front of the vessel and it was equipped with a windscreen. It was an innovation at the time because the cabins were positioned at the back of the boats and did not have windshields.

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The first boats built at Léo Leblanc et Fils were made of oak. At the time, the company was building four to six boats per winter. There was no fish hold, only a hull with a waterproof deck and cabin, four berths in the front, an engine and a winch with straps. It was only in the 1980s that the company began to design its own plans and started to build fiberglass boats. The fishermen’s evolving needs required a 35-foot multi-purpose coastal vessel capable of reaching the high seas.

This shift to fiberglass coincides with the purchase of the company by Camil and Suzanne, children of Léo LeBlanc.

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Over the years, the boats that Léo LeBlanc et Fils have built or upgraded boats that have sailed in the lower part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the Gaspésie, Côte-Nord, Nunavik and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon regions as well as in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and, of course, in les Îles-de-la-Madeleine.