In 1977, Steve and Jean Van Dam opened their first workshop north of Harbor Springs, Michigan, in a home-built shop in the backwoods. The mission was the same then as it is now: build the world’s finest wooden boats.
Forty-five years later, Van Dam Custom Boats operates out of a 22,000-square-foot facility powered by more than 20 craftspeople, designers, and technicians. The founding philosophy hasn’t changed. The ambition hasn’t either.
2022 was a milestone year in every sense. The company celebrated its 45th anniversary with a party for clients, friends, and the extended Van Dam family. Two new boats launched — Lickety-Split and Dreamboat. A landmark refit of How Swede It Is was completed. And in March, construction began on Hull #63, a build that would eventually require 35,000 hours and define the standard for everything the company does next.
Forty-Five Years and the People Who Made It
Van Dam marked the occasion with a celebration for the community that has made the company what it is: clients who entrusted the team with projects that pushed the craft forward, craftspeople who brought those projects to life, and the founders — Jean and Steve Van Dam — who gave up a great deal to build what now exists.
The company Ben and Erika Van Dam lead today stands on that foundation. The 45-year anniversary wasn’t a marketing milestone — it was a genuine moment of reflection on a lineage of work, and a recommitment to the principle that has guided every decision since 1977: 1% better every day.
That phrase — 1% better every day — is Van Dam’s rally cry. Not a slogan. An operating principle. It applies to construction techniques, technology, project management, training, and the daily process of trying to build boats that are slightly better than the last ones. Over 45 years, those increments compound into something remarkable.
Lickety-Split (Hull #61): When a Seasoned Boater Builds His Own
The best custom wooden boat commissions come from people who already know exactly what they want — not because they’ve built a boat before, but because they’ve spent decades on the water developing opinions about what works, what doesn’t, and what they’ve always wished existed.
The owner of Lickety-Split is that boater. Many of the details throughout the build had been carefully considered long before the first conversation with Van Dam — an effort to honor a function-over-fashion philosophy that shaped every decision. Hidden aft vents behind the louvered seat-back. A mother-in-law seat positioned forward of the windshield so the driver can keep guests in sight.
The line between function and fashion blurred, as it often does, into something wonderful. That’s one of the defining qualities of a privately commissioned wooden boat: the devil is in the details, and the details belong entirely to the owner. The result is a boat that couldn’t exist without this specific person — and wouldn’t make sense on anyone else’s dock.
Dreamboat (Hull #62): A Sketch That Fell From a Stack of Designs
The story of Dreamboat begins in the way that the best Van Dam stories do: with a relationship.
Dreamboat was inspired by a sketch created by the late naval architect Frederick Ford — a drawing that literally fell from a stack of designs being catalogued by his daughter, Susan. The sketch, made in 1971, depicted a wooden cruiser with the quiet confidence of a boat that knew exactly what it was.
Susan brought the drawing to Van Dam. Over nine months, the design team worked in collaboration with Susan Ford and DLBA Naval Architects to honor Fred’s original vision while integrating the characteristics that define a Van Dam build — technology, art, and innovation existing without contradiction.
Construction began in October 2020 and was completed in 19 months. The result is a 38-foot wood composite cruiser Van Dam calls “the little boat that plays big.” Twin Volvo IPS drives produce 600 HP and push Dreamboat through Great Lakes chop with authority. Volvo’s joystick dock assist system makes her nimble in close quarters. A Seakeeper gyrostabilizer provides comfort in rough water. The C-Zone digital switching system offers complete on-board customization.
The legacy behind Dreamboat runs deeper than the boat itself. Fred Ford and Steve Van Dam had partnered in the early years of the business — among their first collaborations were sister ships Star and Star’s Echo, designed by Fred and built for Fred and Susan respectively. That partnership between families has now passed to the next generation: Susan Ford and Ben Van Dam.
On May 13, 2022, Susan hosted the celebratory launch in Boyne City with friends, family, and Dreamboat’s first crew — the Van Dam team. Dreamboat will stay in Northern Michigan, roaming the passages of the Great Lakes and coming home to Harbor Springs.
From Concept to One of One: How Van Dam Designs a Custom Wooden Boat
Both Lickety-Split and Dreamboat passed through the same design process — one that Van Dam has refined over four and a half decades into something genuinely collaborative.
The process moves through three phases. The Concept Phase is where a vision becomes a drawing. Van Dam works with the owner to capture their dream on paper, starting with mood boards that establish the tone and style direction for the entire project. Exterior lines, pencil sketches, general arrangements, and color proposals are explored here. The team sketches, refines, listens, and sketches again.
The Design Phase is where that vision becomes an engineering document. State-of-the-art 3D CAD software details every inch — propulsion, systems, construction details, all married with the style established in the Concept Phase. The design evolves as each layer is added, and the circle closes tighter to a final result.
The Build Phase is where CAD drawings become detailed shop drawings: framing, mechanical systems, seating, hardware. Craftspeople can adjust and modify renderings in real time, ensuring precision and efficiency. Designers remain involved throughout, verifying that the vision survives contact with the physical reality of the build.
Every boat is a one of one. That’s not a marketing claim — it’s the structural consequence of how the process works. No two owners bring the same vision, and no two boats leave Boyne City with the same anything.
The Metal Shop: Jewelry for Wooden Boats
Van Dam’s metal shop doesn’t make generic marine hardware. It makes the hardware that Van Dam boats require — and in 2022, a third craftsperson joined the team to keep pace with demand.
Everything metal on a Van Dam boat is done in-house: bow rails, cleats, cutwaters, exhaust tips, switch panels, boarding ladders, and the intricate decorative details the team calls jewelry. The design and metal shop teams work in close collaboration, improving original hardware and increasing function and usability throughout the build.
The shop’s Haas CNC machine handles complex three-dimensional milling from stainless billets. Welding, polishing, and finishing are all done by hand. The combination of precision machining and handwork produces pieces that are at once technically exact and visually extraordinary.
In 2022, the metal shop also extended its work beyond Van Dam boats — upgrading and refitting hardware for boats built outside the shop, and taking on fabrication projects including boarding ladders and custom boat lifts. Whatever can be dreamed up, the metal shop can make it. That’s not hyperbole; it’s the result of three craftspeople who have spent years building the tools, skills, and programming capability to realize almost anything.
How Swede It Is: A Full Refit for the San Juan Islands
Originally launched in 2003 as Blue Star — a 38-foot Sedan Cruiser with the classic downeast proportions that make this style of boat timeless — How Swede It Is came back to Van Dam in 2020 for a major refit after being purchased on the open market.
The new owner had a clear vision: prepare the boat for his annual trip to the San Juan Islands. The refit needed to enhance the boat’s ability to entertain, improve its functionality in the specific conditions of the Pacific Northwest, and give the owner the confidence to drop the tender and check crab pots each day or head into town for provisions while on the hook.
The work touched every part of the boat. New exterior varnish and paint scheme. New interior and exterior cushions and rugs. A cockpit table with removable mount system. A new cockpit sunshade. A new swim platform and freedom lift. New electronics throughout. Additional fender cleats for Northwest docking conditions.
All four Van Dam departments — design, metal shop, boatbuilders, and paint and varnish — contributed to the transformation. The boat that emerged from the process was more functional, more beautiful, and more specifically suited to its owner than the day it originally launched. That’s what a Van Dam refit is supposed to accomplish.
Hull #63: Construction Begins on the Most Ambitious Build in Van Dam’s History
In March 2022, Van Dam broke ground on what would become the most detailed and technically demanding wooden boat build in the company’s 45-year history.
Hull #63 — internally known as 5-Star — is a 30-foot custom wooden runabout with naval architecture by Michael Peters Yacht Design. The owner, a lifelong boater building his first custom boat from the ground up, came in with a single non-negotiable standard: the highest level of finish you’ve ever seen. That phrase sent the crew to a new level.
As described in the 2022 magazine, what followed was a build chock full of innovation and understated brilliance. A wake-adaptive running gear system engineered by Maritime Research Associates — technology used in commercial and defense vessels, brought to a recreational wooden boat for the first time by one of only a handful of builders in the world willing to attempt it. A hull paint scheme below the waterline inspired by Bugatti’s Ladybug, featuring an evolving geometric pattern across the reinforced keel and stringer areas. Metal fabrication patterns derived directly from the boat’s name, carved and faded throughout features of the boat. A backlit 5-Star emblem on seat backs and transom. A digital switching system programmed to turn running lights on automatically when light sensors detect a specific illuminance level.
And details that may not be immediately noticeable — a deck radius that starts flush at the bow and gradually grows to a three-inch radius aft, hidden tables in port and starboard cabinets, fiber optic lighting throughout.
Hull #63 was scheduled for Spring 2024 launch. It would take 35,000 hours across 2.5 years, span four departments, and produce a boat that redefined what Van Dam is capable of.
New Homes: Lady Anne, Lekkerbekkie, and Dragonfly
Three Van Dam boats found new owners in 2022, each with its own story.
Lady Anne, launched in 2002, had been loved by her original owners for twenty years. When the time came to move on, they contacted Van Dam to manage the sale. A retired art teacher who had long admired Van Dam’s work — Lady Anne in particular — happened to stop by the showroom and discovered the boat was available. She was thrilled at the thought of owning and preserving the legacy of the boat she had adored from afar. Lady Anne now resides on a lake in Northern Michigan.
Lekkerbekkie began life in 2013 as T/T Faith, a 27-foot tender built with clever gadgets tailored to her original owner. She was refit as T/T Flag in 2016. In the spring of 2022, Van Dam helped find new owners, who renamed her Lekkerbekkie and enjoyed a summer on the water before sending her back for a complete interior and exterior refinish and system upgrades over the off-season.
Dragonfly, formerly known as Iris and later My 3 Sons, found new ownership in 2022. Originally launched in 2004 on the Straits of Mackinac, she saw a significant refit and name change in 2013 before arriving at her current chapter as Dragonfly — a classic trunk cabin launch ready for a day on the water.
Certified Legends and the 2022 Featured Icon: Italmas
In 2022, four boats were available through Van Dam’s Certified Legends program: Alpha Z, Van Dam’s most award-winning performance boat and a design still matched by very few builders in the world; Patrician, a 55-foot wooden day-sailor and Van Dam’s longest boat ever built, living on Cape Cod; How Swede It Is, following its full refit and relocated to Seattle; and Lightning Strikes, the 17-foot classic gentleman’s racer inspired by vintage APBA racers, available for viewing at the Van Dam shop.
The 2022 Van Dam Featured Icon is Italmas — Hull #55. A wooden sailboat of extraordinary presence and proportion, Italmas represents a different dimension of Van Dam’s range: proof that the same craftsmanship that produces 1,100-horsepower wooden speed boats is equally at home in a vessel powered entirely by wind and patience.
About Van Dam Custom Boats
Van Dam Custom Boats has been building one-of-a-kind wooden boats in Boyne City, Michigan since 1977. Forty-five years in, the mission is unchanged and the ambition is higher than ever. If you’re curious about commissioning a custom wooden boat, the Concept Phase is a no-obligation, flat-fee process designed to help you develop your vision before committing to a build. Contact us to start the conversation.