Building the Doryak River Dory
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 2
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 3
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 4
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 5
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 6
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 7
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 8
Building the Doryak River Dory - Image 9

Building the Doryak River Dory

$1,700.00

A fully decked, solo river dory

SOLD OUT

To be added to a wait list, send your request here

Hands on workshop from lofting to launching

Evening of October 26 – November 7

  • Tuition: $1700
  • Class limit is eleven (11) students.
  • Taught by Cricket and Glade Zarn, and Brad Dimock, Fretwater Boats

This is a two-week class ending on Friday

With the 2007 publication of Roger Fletcher’s Drift Boats & River Dories, these highly maneuverable shallow-draft boats have undergone a great surge in popularity. Originally designed as fishing boats on Oregon’s McKenzie and Rogue rivers, river dories have found admirers on shallow fishing streams and whitewater rivers around the world.

In 2019 Cricket Zarn and the team at Fretwater Boatworks adapted the classic Briggs Grand Canyon Dory to the one-person- footprint of the once popular plastic rowboat known as the Sportyak. The resulting nine-foot boat, called the Doryak, has proven remarkably adept for running whitewater rivers around the west, including several transits of Grand Canyon. Incredibly stable and maneuverable, it is also just plain fun. Fully decked with four hatches, it can easily pack camping supplies for an expedition of a week or two.

Students will build two Doryaks as traditional plywood-on-frame boats but assembling them in the more modern free-form method without forms or strongback.

Cricket and Glade Zarn under the tutelage of Brad Dimock have been building, rowing, crashing, repairing, restoring, and researching river dories in the Grand Canyon and the West for years. They’ll begin this course by having students loft the design and expand the frame patterns, then craft the frames, transoms, and stems. Students will also scarf together sheets of marine plywood into full side panels. The first five-days you will loft the boats, construct the hull parts and build the hull. The final five days you will complete the hatches, decks, a bilge system, a bit of fiberglass work, and paint. With luck, you’ll launch and float them the final day. By luck of the draw, two students will each take a Doryak home for the cost of materials.

Build the Doryak river dory Payment may be in full, or two installments: $850 when you register, and the balance of $850 on or before September 30

Out of stock

Category:

Description

During the class you will gain the knowledge and skills to build your own Doryak, her larger cousin the Grand Canyon Dory, or any number of other similar craft, including the McKenzie river drift boat. You’ll learn lofting, scarfing, fabricating parts, free-form assembly, and outfitting, as well as many of the arcane arts you’ll use along the way. You’ll use a minimum of fancy tools, relying more on adaptation and improvisation. Cricket and Glade will also discuss maintenance, storage, and repair.

Registration, Tuition, Cancellation

Registration and tuition are handled online. This 10-day workshop tuition is $1700. You may pay half or the full amount at registration.

You will receive a confirmation email upon registration. If you must cancel or withdraw, the following policies apply:

  • A full refund will be granted if you cancel within 15 days of the workshop (Not later than October 12, 2025)
  • If your notice of cancellation or withdrawal is received after October 12, your tuition is non-refundable. We suggest registrants consider trip insurance
  • In the event of an unforeseen emergency beyond anyone’s control, MRDC reserves the right to cancel the workshop. Registrants will receive a full refund.

Although lodging is on your own, a list of lodging options will accompany your confirmation notice after you register. These will include options at the site of the workshop and others near by.

Additional information

Call for Questions

Due to 2025 construction at the McKenzie River Discovery, this class will be held in workshop space at a nearby property, the home ranch of one of our well-known McKenzie Guides, Roy Pruitt. Though he has passed, his generous wife, Shelly is providing the space as well camping options on the property. The 2020 Holiday Farm fire that devastated 170,000 acres along the McKenzie River also struck the Pruitt property. In its aftermath, and as a tribute to Roy, Shelly built his dream shop space – space in which you will build the new river dory adaptations.

For inquiries, contact the workshop coordinator at riverstouch@msn.com. Use McKenzie boat workshop in the subject line.

Hope to see you there.