In 1928 John and George Barnes of Syracuse, NY approached George Smith, owner of the Skaneateles Boat & Canoe Co., about the possibility of having the Skaneateles Boat & Canoe Company build a sailboat that could compete nationally on the racing circuit. The Barnes brothers were avid sailing enthusiasts, and were looking for a one-design boat they could race competitively.

Apparently they were successful in persuading Smith to take on the project, because the 1932 Skaneateles Boat & Canoe Company catalog contains a listing for the Internation 14 Sailing Dinghy, a boat John Barnes was particularly enthused about. (The February 1932 issue of Yachting Magazine contained a 4-page article written by Barnes wherein he extolled the virtues of the International 14.)

Later that year (1932) George Smith sold the company to the Barnes brothers, who incorporated the business and renamed it the Skaneateles Boats Company, Incorporated. John Barnes assumed the presidency of the company, and George Smith initially stayed on as factory superintendent.

The product line of the new company soon changed markedly, perhaps reflecting a market depressed by the Great Depression as well as the particular interests of the Barnes’. The traditional line of small craft (rowboats, outboards and sailing skiffs) was abandoned in favor of one-design sailboats designed by such notable naval architects as Charles Mower, C. Lownes Johnson, Sparkman & Stephens, William Crosby and Philip Rhodes. The first of this series to be built was the popular Comet, designed by Johnson in 1931 and initially offered by Skaneateles in 1935. Later in that decade the line was expanded to include the Arrow, Snipe, Gosling and in 1939 the famous Lightning, which was pioneered by Skaneateles. In the 1940s the popular Penguin was added to the product line.

Construction techniques also changed dramatically. The new hard chine sailboats were smooth planked over sawn frames rather than planked in lapstrake fashion over steam bent ribs. Additionally, they incorporated double-planked bottoms, a feature which would characterize boats built by Skaneateles.

Shortly before WWII Skaneateles began experimenting with laminated hull construction, and developed a manufacturing process to produce these hulls. In 1940 an dinghy 8 ft dinghy designed by Sparkman & Stephens for manufacture with this process was introduced. Initially intended for sale to the boating public, the design was soon modified at the request of the US Military and several hundred of these were eventually used in the war effort.

Following the end of the war, domestic production resumed and the product line was again expanded to include the Rhodes Bantam. In the early 1950s the Gypsy or "cabin Lightning" was introduced. However, by then production appears to have slowed. John Barnes had left the company during the early 1940s, and George carried on alone. In 1950 he suffered a fall which left him sightless. George died in 1961, and his widow continued to manage the business for several years. By then boat production was greatly diminished, and orders for new boats were outsourced to other shops. The company ceased operations in the mid-1960s after a 30 year run during which it produced over 4,000 boats.

Skaneateles is remembered as one of the most prolific and respected builders of centerboard sailboats from the era of wooden boatbuilding.