About Us
Hog Island Boat Works is a design obsessed, passionate family company. I'm like 385 Dog year's old. When I started guiding whitewater in the early 80s, plastic kayaks were just coming on. I bought a plastic kayak, because I knew it was going to be harder to break than my fiberglass one. Since then plastic is what river kayaks, and canoes are made of. They're still aluminum canoes out there, and hand-made wooden kayaks and canoes, but for every day performance, and durability roto-molded plastic dominates these markets, because plastic is more forgiving.
In 1988 or so I remember rowing my first dory. I was mutating from a whitewater guide into a fishing guide, and was curious about what a drift boat felt like. The water we floated, and fished on the Snake was in the 2000-6000 cfs range. The first drift boat I rowed I borrowed. She was a 14 footer. A sporty little boat, and definitely fun to row, but unpredictable in pushy water, and hard to make hold a spot. I'm also good at hitting rocks, because I am hard wired to want to go where other boats don't go, and fish fresh water that hasn't been fished- in theory. If you've ever hit something hard in a river in a fiberglass or aluminum boat you know what I am talking about when I say it can be loud and unnerving to hit a rock.
In 2001 my brother told me about a project he was involved with roto-molding a plastic boat for Disney that was 16 feet long, He asked me if I thought it made sense to try this in a drift boat shape. Oh man, that is an afternoon I will never forget. There are life changing days, and that was one of them for me. We set out right then to make the LTD 16 drift boat. Our goal is a smooth planing hull that doesn't hook in cross currents, and a shape that performs every day in low water, and high water.
In 2012 we introduced our second model the SW 16 skiff rated for a 40 horse. This boat is a blend of a skiff I ran when I was a kid, and a flat bottom shape that floats very skinny. The vison for the SW 16 is a super functional, stress free skiff that can be motored, poled, or rowed in shallow water everywhere.
We are definitely not a big company. We are very lucky to be involved with great people that are out there every day boating, and fishing in amazing places. We make our boats, and accessories to be used hard every day in a professional capacity for ourselves, and our friends who are on the water every day. Our goal then, and now is to make super performing boats that take you everywhere you want to go, and to be as maintenance free as possible.