Our Story

Still Flourishing 40 years Later

SOTAR is a family run, custom whitewater inflatable boat manufacturer based in Merlin, Oregon in the USA. Every boat is built by hand and made one at a time. Glenn Lewman co-founder of SOTAR built this company on big dreams. Like a lot of small companies, he started in a garage in 1980 and SOTAR is still flourishing 40 years later.

SOTAR’s specialty is giving white water sports lovers a boat that is custom designed to personal specifications. Color options are not the only option available. You can change design specs to fit the rivers you run and the specialized use of a raft, cataraft or inflatable kayak.

Jeremiah Lewman, son of Glenn stepped up as COO beginning in 2018 after receiving his engineering degree in polymer science. Polymer science encompasses the processing, design, development and manufacturing of plastic products. He worked in this industry for several years until his passion for what his father started at SOTAR motivated him to return as SOTAR’s COO.

Jeremiah’s engineering knowledge of polymer science coupled with SOTAR’s exclusively developed Urethane/Rezcoat, heavy duty, UV and abrasion resistant fabric which allows for welded seams, enables innovation in design and manufacturing of SOTAR products in and outside the whitewater industry
If you have an idea for a special project of your own, we are fully capable of designing and manufacturing that special project.

• Helicopter water buckets used in firefighting
• Helicopter fire hoses used in firefighting
• Floating dry docks for boats and ships
• Tubes and pontoons for specialty crafts and ocean-going vessels
• Manufacturing fuel tanks for use in military applications

Jeremiah is dedicated to state of the art improvements and quality to push SOTAR into the future.