Seven years ago, my good friend and partner with Angling Trade, Tim Romano, talked me into buying my first drift boat… a Boulder Boat Works High-Side. I have slid and bumped that sucker down many Colorado River boulder gardens, caught many fish from it, and my only regret at this point is that I didn’t buy a BBW dory sooner in life. I’ve dragged it to Montana and Wyoming, and I fished it 23 days this summer in my native Colorado (which isn’t exactly guide-level volume, but it’s pretty good for an editor with a day job)… and yet almost every time I slide it into a boat launch, someone compliments the boat, and asks me if it is brand new.
Now, I’ll admit that I love the high-side with almost no regrets, especially when I’m pushing through lumpy wave trains. But when the wind is blowing, any high-side boat will get pushed around, and I sometimes crave a lower profile. Boulder Boat Works already has a lower-side dory option, but now they’ve taken it even lower with a skiff design that doesn’t have a raised bow.
As usual, every design aspect, from the rod troughs to dry boxes, coolers under the seats and so forth have such beautiful, functional purpose. All in with a good trailer, it sells for a little north of $17K, so that’s certainly not cheap. But it is the type of boat that will last four times longer than most others.
