Boulder Boat Works Boats
I really didn't want to like plastic drift boats, even though my old friend Chris Schrantz is a partner in Boulder Boat Works, the small Colorado company that has been building river dories from polyethylene polymer since 2000.
Andy Toohey, the company's founder, came to polymer through wooden boats. It wasn't a huge stretch, since polymer had been used successfully in kayaks since the 1980's, but no one had yet thought of building drift boats from this material. Chris liked the idea and joined the company in 2004, bringing with him 13 years' experience as a full-time guide as well as a sharp eye for boat design and practicality.
The advantages of polymer are obvious: It's stronger, quieter, more durable and requires less maintenance than wood or fiberglass and it's lighter than wood, glass or aluminum. (The standard 16-foot polymer drift boat weighs roughly 25 percent less than a comparable fiberglass boat and 35 percent less than aluminum.) The claims of the boat's durability come from early field testing in which prototypes were passed around to guides with instruction to try and break them. No one could.
I first began to be won over by the boat's looks. It's an entirely recognizable drift boat, sandstone-colored with white oak gunnels and trim. On a float on the Salmon River in Idaho (one of Boulder Boat Works' "business trips") many mistook it for a wooden boat painted pale beige.
I finally came around completely when I took the oars. These boats are light, quick and responsive and the polymer hulls won't gag on rocks or gravel like other materials. They slide smoothly and silently over
rocks like an egg coming out of a Teflon frying pan. Oddly enough, Chris and Andy don't tout that feature very much. It could be they hit fewer rocks than I do.
In addition to standard high and low-side drift boats, the company also makes a covered Grand Canyon Dory and a small, light craft officially called the Rocky Mountain Rowing Dory, but known inhouse as "The Gull."
The drift boat costs $7,995. That's approximately a thousand dollars more than some glass boats, but, Andy says, "They're maintenance free and will last 10 times longer."
