Tatman Wooden Boats

Hello from the McKenzie River country! We have a few sawmills here, the world's largest filbert farm, and it has been known to rain here once in a while. Flannel, wool, and rain gear are the clothing of choice and if you're wearing a clean pair of jeans, you're dressed up! People from all over the world visit this area for the very reasons we love to live here. There is still enough big timber to keep us from totally ruling out the possibility of a Big Foot hiding out there somewhere; we have plenty of snowcapped mountains to roam in; and this valley is watered by some of the clearest, prettiest streams on the planet.

The boats we use around here were developed for floating the crystal waters of the McKenzie. This legendary river starts as a creek at the outlet of Clear Lake, at the base of a group of dormant volcanoes, called the Three Sisters. Then it flows and grows for sixty miles, carving its way through solid volcanic basalt rock to where it collides with the Willamette River just north of the Eugene/Springfield area. If you live east of here and have the opportunity to drive over to visit the shop, the incredible scenery along the McKenzie highway will make you want to pull over and check out some of those deep emerald-green pools.

The McKenzie was important to the development of the driftboat because the deep runs and heavy rapids made boat fishing almost a necessity. The quest to build a boat that could be controlled in such turbulent water, while still providing a stable fishing platform, began about 1900. The McKenzie style driftboat went through several design improvements until local boat-building legend Woody Hindman arrived at the current design about 1949. There are several thousand of these boats in western Oregon and thousands more throughout the United States and Canada. We have even shipped boats as far away as Canada, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.

A kit makes a boat less expensive, more fun,
easier to ship (excuse the pun), and easier to build!

These days, our business is mainly boat kits. We often have a new boat or two on hand or a used boat or two as well. Click those links at the top of this page to check out those options. All of us at the shop are glad to talk to you about any of our boats. E-mail us or just give us a call at (541) 746-5287. Or fax us a note at our fax line: (541) 744-2190.

To order call (541)746-5287 or fax at (541) 7442190
or e-mail at mckenzie@gregboats.com