Alaska businesswoman tranforms wilderness travel: Alpaca Raft Inc. is growing due to woman's endurance.

Some people take the old adage to heart: If you want something done right, do it yourself ... or better yet, ask your mother to do it. When Thor Tingey returned from a trip through the Brooks Range "absolutely beside himself" with the inadequacy of available one-man rafts, he asked Mom to build him one.

Sheri Tingey's experience certainly made the proposition reasonable. She had spent her life kayaking and skiing, and in 1968 she began a successful ski clothing business in Jackson Hole, Wyo., when it was a hotbed of outdoor gear innovation. She employed several people until illness forced her to sell the business. She moved to Alaska in 1981 with her husband and young kids.

A NEW START

Years later, finally healthy and with prompting from her son, she decided to give raft design a go. "I knew enough about kayaking. I knew enough about making clothes. I just hadn't made in flatables before. It wasn't a far jump for me." With outdoorsmen like Roman Dial pioneering "packrafting" and its innovative approach to backcountry travel, Tingey knew her son would not be the only one happy to see her reinvent the raft.

LIGHTWEIGHT AND SIMPLE

Tingey interviewed rafters for design input and made nearly 40 changes before settling on a basic plan in fall 2000. She decided to offer the boat in three different lengths, each with a price tag of $595. The largest model, 74 inches long, weighs just 4.2 pounds and compresses smaller than a backpacking tent. Each raft is big enough for one paddler with a 50-pound pack strapped across the bow. The challenge was to make a very durable boat without adding on too much weight. "Everything I do on this boat I try to keep as simple as possible. Simple, repairable...." Tingey sold 200 boats in 2002, the first year of production.

"There are craftsmen and designers, and you need to know which one you are," Tingey said. In order to concentrate on business, she contracts out the manufacturing to Feathercraft, in Colorado. Tingey makes optional spray skirts and inflatable seat cushions herself.

Eighty percent of Alpaca sales are to Alaskans, reflecting the fact that the boat addresses the specific challenges of Alaska trekking. "I don't think I would have had the idea someplace else. Here, you need this. It's a very Alaska product," Tingey said.