Motorized or Oar Powered?
What Is Best for Your Grand Canyon River Trip?

Guests who are just starting their vacation planning quickly find that with Hatch they have two main trip types to choose between: Motorized Expeditions and Oar Powered Expeditions. (We also offer a hiking focused expeditions that takes place on motorized rafts.) One of our most commonly answered questions is What are the main differences between these two?

For those of you in the early planning stages, you’ll need to choose whether you’d prefer to book a motorized trip or an oar powered trip before you can choose a date or make any other arrangements. 

Motorized Trips

Motor Boats

These trips take place on 35+ foot long s-rig rafts. These rafts have a capacity of 16 passengers, but most commonly, we send them down the river in pairs with 29 guests between the two boats.

The layout of these boats is such that there are a variety of places for guests to sit depending upon the type of experience they want that day. The front of the boat is packed with all your camping gear in a large central “duffel pile.” Guests can sit all the way around that pile, using it as a backrest, in seating we refer to as “the boards.” The very front of the boat has a few seats for guests who are eager to get up close and personal with the river—we call this area “the bathtub.” When in flat water, guests can ride on the side pontoons, so long as they are willing to jump back into the center when we come to a r apid. Finally, there is an area in the back of the boat (just ahead of the motor well where the guides stand to drive) called “the tea room.” In the tea room, guests sit on top of gear boxes facing the center of the boat and each other, making it feel like they’re having a nice little social visit. 

Motor Guides

2-boat motorized trips have 3 crew members between them—one guide driving each boat, and a “swamper” (an assistant guide) to help out with additional trip duties. Very occasionally, we will offer a 1-boat trip with 16 guests, one guide, and one swamper. 

Motor Duration

At around 8 mph, our motorized boats can travel roughly twice as fast as our oar-powered boats. They can complete a full canyon trip (188 miles from Lees Ferry to Whitmore Wash) in 7 days with plenty of time for side canyon adventures.

When to Book a Motor Trip

Through most of our season, we launch 2-3 full canyon motorized trips each week. If you’re picky about dates, make sure to book as close to the opening of our new calendar as possible. This is commonly around 18 months in advance. If you aren’t picky about dates and don’t have a large group, you can often find a trip within the same year you intend to travel, but to be safe, we recommend booking at least 1 year in advance. 

Oar Powered Trips

Oar Boats

These trips take place on a fleet of 18 foot long rubber rafts. These rafts can handle up to 6 people, but on a Hatch trip, it is typical for only 4 passengers to be aboard each one. These trips may have up to 6 passenger boats with one additional boat along to carry additional baggage.

There are limited places to sit on these crafts, with passengers getting to choose only between front and back. The guide sits in the center of the boat and rows. Gear is also stored toward the center of the boat. 

Oar Guides

One guide rows each boat, including the baggage boat. On a trip with the maximum number of boats, that would mean 7 guides and 24 passengers.

Oar Duration

Oar boats travel at roughly the same speed as the current—around 4 mph. They can complete a full canyon trip (188 miles from Lees Ferry to Whitmore Wash) in 12 days, while ensuring lots of opportunities to hike and explore Grand Canyon’s side canyon stops.

When to Book 

We commonly offer around 4 oar powered trips throughout our season. In busy years, these fill up quickly after we open each year’s calendar in roughly chronological order (meaning our earliest oar trip in May generally fills first, while our late August and September trips book last). Because of limited date options, we recommend you book as soon as you can. Ideally this would be 1 year to 18 months in advance.

* * * * *

Once you’ve chosen whether to travel on an oar powered or a motorized Grand Canyon river trip, you’ll be well on your way to making this dream vacation into a reality. We’re happy to help you work through the rest of the details. Our website has plenty of information about each trip style, but if you still need some help figuring out what exactly is right for you, call our office. We can discuss your needs/wants and recommend an option that will be a perfect fit.