Colorado Mesa University has been around for a while now, offering education to thousands of people, so it is only natural that some of those students would shine out from the pack. One such alum is Darren Vancil and he created Creature Craft.
Creature Craft is a company that specializes in creating inflatable boats for whitewater conditions. They offer commercial/rescue as well as domestic versions of their craft, although the former constitutes most of their business.
The area that Creature Craft varies from the other run of the mill watercraft and what makes it special is the unique triangular design. The raft has a patented roll cage that prevents the raft from capsizing and will even self-right itself.
This is a huge deal for whitewater rafters since in the traditional, flat and orange raft that is typically seen in photos and videos flip over and the rafters are going for a swim.
Once the traditional boat flips, there is no going back. The Creature Craft prevents this from occurring because it’s unique triangular design prevents the raft from capsizing and keeps its passengers, albeit soaked, from floating away from their raft.
After the Creature Craft has been toppled over onto its side, the water will do the rest with little to no effort from crew in flipping the craft right side up again.
“These rafts are really stable,” Vancil said. “If they flip over, you have to do a little bit, but they almost completely self-right. There is a lot of built-in safety and makes it so people can ride more difficult whitewater safer. The only stable position is right side up, so the boat is always trying to get to that position.”
The boats are made of STS process PVC fabric and are then coated with an epoxy urethane coating that protects the inflatable as it is highly durable.
Vancil has even toyed with the idea of using Kevlar in his boats so that the rafts become even more durable and puncture proof, offering an even safer ride for rafters on top of the unique roll cage design that keeps the boat from flipping over.
“The urethane is really what makes them tough,” Vancil said. “There are multiple layers of it on the boats to make them tough, we are hoping that before long we can do away with the multiple layers and just have the single layer, then Kevlar.”
Creature Craft has sold several boats to various safety organizations all over the United States. From San Diego to Illinois to Iowa and many more, the Creature Craft’s special features allow for safety personnel to get places they haven’t previously been able to, most notably Low Head Dams.
These types of dams are very dangerous and quite common around the U.S., since they are relatively cheap to construct.
Typically, a rescue boat would end up just like the domestic boat and its passengers: underwater and in need of rescue. However, the rafts Vancil has made allows rescuers to get closer to the dam with a reduced risk of going under themselves and can, therefore, have more opportunities to save lives.
“The low head dam environments are absolutely deadly to a swimmer. As a swimmer, you are helpless in them,” Vancil said. “But these boats make them like nothing. They are so stable and do so well that we need to emphasize safety, so people don’t get too comfortable.”
So just how did Darren Vancil, teaching major, go from CMU student to entrepreneur and how can his story relate to yours?
Vancil had competed in sports his entire life and had gone to CMU on a wrestling scholarship, so once he graduated from CMU he needed to find some activity to participate in. Insert white water rafting.
Several years and runs went under Vancil’s belt until one day he was doing a class five and ended up swimming, injuring himself in the process.
During his recovery period, he used the time to come up with the idea for Creature Craft since he was looking for a way to prevent what had happened to him and it has now snowballed into the place it is now.
“When I first started building these, everybody thought it was the funniest thing ever,” Vancil said. “If you have faith and believe you can believe in yourself, you can do it.”
Vancil hopes to expand his operation from his tiny shops so that he could increase his productivity while retaining the quality control that he puts into each of his boats.
Creature Craft has a revolutionary design that keeps people safer and allows them to have more fun. Videos of the crafts in action can be found all around YouTube and the action shots found on their website on creaturecraft.com.
Darren Vancil has tread the path to success after CMU and offers a great source of inspiration for anyone wondering what life holds after college.
