Not entirely true. The "16 foot standard" (16 feet along gunnel, like other
dories are measured, but 14' LOA) is not a big boat or small boat. I've
seen driftboats as short as 12' LOA, but the 14' model is the shortest that
I know you can get plans for. BUT, check with Ray's River Dories and Greg
Tatman in Springfield, Oregon may have shorter driftboats (probably frame
kits). Also do a web search on drift prams. They used to be popular until
pontoon boats (single person) started catching on. Most of them are
designed for 2 people too.

Brian


"Backyard Renegade" wrote in message
om...
"GAZ" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of building a small (2 person) sized drift boat for use on
westside Olympic peninsula rivers in Washington state.
Needs to be light and strong. Any recommendations?
Thanks
Gordon

When you say a small 2 person you leave things open a little. With
boats shaped like that (banannas) you need to keep the length and
beam. These driftboats are not really "small" boats. If you try to
scale one down you end up with a boat similar to Paysons cartopper
(only with flat bottom) that is really best suited for one person to
sit in the middle of the boat. Once you add extra people to the bow or
stern in a small boat with this much rocker, you put a lot of weight
above the center of balance and the boat becomes a real tricky boat to
handle and especially to move around in. So if you build a drift boat,
make sure you keep it at least 14 feet or preferably larger. If you
need a smaller boat, a driftboat, as beautiful as they are, may not be
the right tool. Disclaimer. I have plans for several driftboats
including a set from Roger at Rivers touch, but I have not actually
built one. I have however built close to 50 boats under 12 feet and do
know a little of how they react in the water so take my advice for
what you paid for it, if I am way off base here I will take my flames
like a man, Scotty from SmallBoats.com