W
hen he wasn’t working on TV
shows, doing voice-overs or
narrating audiobooks, Ed Hermann, the
actor best-known for portraying Franklin
D. Roosevelt on PBS and Richard Gilmore
on “Gilmore Girls,” enjoyed relaxing on his
custom-designed wooden boat, Iris.
Docked for seven years in Mackinaw
City, Michigan, the classic 31-foot coastal
cruiser was outfitted with comfy seating and
bookshelves that housed Hermann’s treasured
collection of books.
“He’d go sit and read — get away from the
world,” the boat’s builder, Steve Van Dam,
66, says of the actor, who died in late 2014.
Hermann, thrilled with his dream boat,
thanked Van Dam and his crack team of
craftsmen with this testimonial: “If you are
looking to build a boat of any size, style,
speed or pleasurable use, to the most exacting
standards of workmanship, finish and
seaworthiness, there is simply no better place
to do it than Van Dam Custom Boats.”
Displayed on the company website, it’s the
kind of feedback Van Dam and his small,
highly-skilled team routinely receive for
the meticulous attention to detail, precision
craftsmanship and flawless finishing they bring
to their stated mission: “To design and build the
world’s finest wooden boats.” The family-run
business, celebrating its 40th anniversary in
northern Michigan this year, is among a handful
of high-end wooden boatbuilders left in the
United States and Europe.
With such rigorous, labor-intensive
standards, Van Dam Custom Boats has built
just 60 custom wooden boats in various styles
over those four decades and completed
restoration work on an equal number of boats,
wooden and otherwise.
“We’re really trying to promote and
maintain this Old World craftsmanship,”
says Ben Van Dam, 34, who grew up in the
family boatbuilding business, earned a naval
architecture and marine engineering degree
at the University of Michigan, and replaced
his father at the company helm last year. “It’s
a pursuit of perfection, and we want to do it
better than anyone else.”
Additionally, he sees wooden boats
as an antidote to our disposable, instant-
gratification culture.From streamlined wooden speedboats
and racing sailboats to go-fast wooden power
boats and elegant yachts, each Van Dam
design is guaranteed one-of-a-kind for owners
who prize exclusivity.
“They’re all different and, on some level, are
all an extension of the owner’s personality,”
Ben says. “It’s super-interesting to try and
inject the customer’s personality into a boat.”
Requests have included custom steering
wheels; elaborate, power-driven hatches; a
freestanding bent-glass windshield; gold-leaf
accents; and hand-painted names and
waterlines, to cite just a few.
One example: Jacqueline — a 27-foot high-
performance racer with classic, gleaming
mahogany topsides — boasts a custom
color scheme that showcases charcoal gray
upholstery, violet bottom paint, gold boot
stripe and a canary yellow engine accented
with violet and polished stainless steel
chrome. “And there are lots of gold leaf
accents all over the boat,” Ben notes.
In a boating world dominated by
high-tech plastics and fiberglass, each Van
Dam custom boat, like a snazzy concept car,
super-model or fine art work, is a paparazzi-
worthy head-turner.
“People marvel at our wooden boats. All
of them attract attention,” says Steve, who
co-founded the company with his wife, Jean,
and still handles initial client contact, sales
and long-range planning. “Every time we pull
into a port, there’s always a bunch of people
gathered around admiring them.”Shearwater, 1985
From the early days in the fi rst Harbor Springs boat barn, to Shearwater’s launch day in the mid 80s and
now at the Boyne City, Michigan facility, Steve and Ben Van Dam are still side-by-side, ensuring legacy
craftsmanship is alive and well at Van Dam Custom Boats.LAKELANDBOATING.COM | JULY 2017 47VanDam_JUL17.indd 47 5/25/17 11:40 AM