Something about McKenzie Drift Boat Design
The exact origination of the McKenzie boat that evolved on the Pacific Northwest rivers of North America is a little uncertain. Some trace its roots to the crude logging skiffs that were used in the area by loggers at the turn of the century. Some think the McKenzie is related to the Eastern Banks Dory. But without a doubt, by the 1920's, the river dories in the Northwest came into their own distinctive designs. The first true McKenzie boat can probably be traced to Veltie Pruitt, an Oregon river guide, who built the light weight board and batten boat in 1925 to handle riffles and rapids of Oregon's McKenzie River [Wooden Boat Magazine, Number 151, December 1999].
The name of the boat came from the river where it was primarily used. The "McKenzie"design had a squared-off transom and a flat bottom across the width, but a "rocker" shape from front to back. This design evolved on Oregon's McKenzie River, hence the name. The wide bottom gave the boat great stability and the rocker meant a reduction in water friction, which allowed the oarsman to slow the boat with a few pull of the oars even in very fast water. The square-ended McKenzie handled white water; but if the rower made a mistake and the boat drifted into a boulder, the result was a bone-jarring stop since the square stern was oriented downstream.
Eventually, Woody Hindman adapted the boat to rougher white water by changing the design. Supposedly he came up with the idea of pointing both ends after a trip down the Middle Fork of Idaho's Salmon River. Hindman, accompanied by his wife, was the first to successfully solo float the river in a hard boat in 1939. After this trip, his "double ender" design pointed both ends with the bow oriented downstream. The rocker in both the stern and bow was also increased. This made for a more user friendly design in whitewater situations.
A further step in the evolution of the drift boat was the modification of the Hindman double-ender with a small square stern to accommodate a small motor. This enabled one to push downstream through very long and slow pools or across a small lake. This version of the boat is sometimes referred to as the "Rogue" design, named after the Rogue River in Oregon. It is the common design of most modern drift boats.
The graceful lines of the bow of a McKenzie boat. Gardner states, "Next best to possessing a boat is to possess her lines, carefully laid out on paper, neatly and painstakingly faired." [The Dory Book, p. viii]
The "original" McKenzie, however, is an ideal boat for use on our Ozark tailwaters. It's inherent low center of gravity and larger flat bottom means greater stability. I have been on Bull Shoals tailwater in open water with 30,000 CFS running at Calico Rock and winds howling between 30 and 45 M.P.H. and still felt relatively safe. The Mac is well suited to fishing the tailwaters at all water levels and brings a new level of enjoyment to fly fishing the White River.
If you are interested in boat history, read the article, "What's in a Name, like John boat" from the White River Valley Historical Quarterly. It discusses possible origins of the Ozark flat boats [some were known by the name "john boat" or "jack boat," also known as a "gig boat" from which buffalo carp were gigged by torch light at night], many of which were hauled to this area by train to accommodate the traveling sportsmen, who came to Arkansas to hunt and fish. One interesting possible connection of the Ozark flat boat with the northwest McKenzie boat is that they used similar material, at least at first. "Urban sportsmen by 1900 brought light-draft flat-bottomed boats built of Oregon fir to Ozark waters; their builders were master craftsmen in St. Louis" [See the article].
There were several kinds of boats in common use in the early 1900s, and a flat-bottomed boat was one type. You could even purchase plans or the whole boat from Sears and Roebuck catalogs or from sporting magazines. Contrary to what one might think, early boat designs in Arkansas probably originated elsewhere and were "imported" to the area. Ironically, today a square-end McKenzie boat works well on the White's modern tailwaters and curiously the more traditional johnboat craft is a holdover and is not necessary the best or safest craft on the tailwaters.
Roger Fletcher has been studying the origins of the northwest McKenzie boats and has a new book out (summer 2007) on the subject. You can find a link to his excellent River's Touch page on my links page under Drift Boats.