This post is about how the Doc Warner’s team found the perfect boat for their guests and it was written by Doc Warner.
One September after the lodge was closed for the season, Linda and I drove home from Alaska and visited every boat manufacturer we could find in Washington and Oregon. We were on a mission to find the safest boats for our guests to use.
We wanted boats that were practically impossible to swamp or sink. In the process, we found no U.S. manufactured boats within our desired size and price range that stood out safety-wise. However, we did pick up information about a company in New Zealand that made aluminum boats and had a different approach to safety built into their design.
Stabi-Craft builds safety into their boats. The design includes sealed air chambers that completely surround the boat, as opposed to U.S. manufactured small boats that just have floatation in the back end. One summer, we tested three different sizes of Stabi’s and our guests provided extremely positive feedback about their experiences in the boats. So, we added more the following year and, in 2015, we are adding 5 more.
During the thousands of hours these boats have been on the water, we have never had a single swamping or even had the guests feel in danger due to rough water. Rather, our returning guests, or the people they continually refer, request to be put in a Stabi. While our other boats are safe and reliable, we will be continuing to standardize our fleet with Stabi-Craft boats.