Drift boat history

Western novelist Zane Grey owned a fishing camp at Winkle Bar on the Rogue River. His cabins have been preserved, and one of the boats he used is displayed on the property. These boats were the forerunners of the modern-day drift boat.

The history of the McKenzie style drift boat is interwoven with the rich historical fabric of the rough, white-water rivers in southern Oregon; the McKenzie and Rogue. The history of these river dories is largely oral, but can be traced back to the Banks Dories used by the North Atlantic cod fishermen. The Banks Dory design was brought to Oregon by the men who came west to carve a living from the rugged Oregon wilderness. With many rivers and the Pacific Ocean at their doorstep, their minds naturally turned towards fishing from the stable Banks Dories they used in New England.


There are many stories about the old double enders and the tombstone- ransomed dories that the old-timers rowed out through the breakers to the salmon runs. Navigation of the shallow and treacherous white-water rivers that cut through the Cascade and Coast ranges were especially perilous. Many lives was lost as the roaring white-water slammed the frail craft into a protruding rock or capsized the boat. Over the years, West Coast Dories were redesigned and modified from boats with deep, full displacement hulls to boats with wide, flat bottoms for shallow displacement on rocky white-water rivers. The rocker was increased along with the side flare, while the high sides and extreme forward sheer were maintained. The early turn of the century river dories were built entirely of cedar planking. They had a wider, more squared off stern, but with much less freeboard than today´s drift boat.

The true drift boat design was the result of two Eugene area boat builders; Woody Hindman and Tom Kaarhus during the 1930´s. These two were prolific boat builders for many years. They developed good reputations for the boats they produced, and their boats were sought after by many of the best guides of that era. A few of the boats they built 30 or 40 years ago are still in use. Hull designs were named for rivers on which they were used, primarily the Rogue and McKenzie. Eventually the differentiation between the two became blurred, resulting in two major styles of drift boats -- the McKenzie or Rogue (depending on who is doing the calling), and the Rapid Robert.

Today there are only a handful of Rapid Robert style boats left. They are characterized by the broad stern with the bow at the oarsman´s back. While the bows of both style boats are to the oarsman´s back, which would be upstream, the "BOW" of the McKenzie/Rogue has been sheared off to accept a small motor. Only the "STERN" of the McKenzie/Rogue now remains pointed.


The first drift boats in Europe came to Norway in October 2008, after over a year with preparations and certifications. And that marks a new chapter in the history of these boats.