2024 was, by our own account, the most technically demanding year in Van Dam’s nearly five-decade history.
Check out the full magazine below
One boat took over 35,000 hours to complete. Our team invented — and patented — a push-to-start system that has never existed anywhere in the world before. We installed an 87kW solar array on campus. And through all of it, the same values that have guided this shop since 1976 held firm.
Here’s everything from the year, with links to the full story behind each one.
The 2024 Flagship Build
Van Dam’s most detailed custom wooden boat to date launched in June 2024. A 30-foot modern runabout, 2.5 years in the making across 35,000 hours of work spanning four departments. Aviation-inspired cockpit chairs. Fiber optic lighting. A patented whole-boat push-to-start system. A geometric hull paint pattern made from 8,200 hand-taped triangles. Read the full story →
Victoria Z: A Build Defined by Relationship
Van Dam’s 35-foot twin-engine wooden speed boat — the most powerful boat we’ve ever built — carries a story that goes well beyond horsepower. It’s a build completed in honor of its original champion, a man deeply loved by many on this team. Read the full story →
In Defense of the Impractical
Master craftsman Thor makes the case that coolness — genuine, uncompromised, take-it-or-leave-it coolness — is its own justification. One of the best things we’ve published. Read it →
Inside the Innovation
- The Push-to-Start System — why Van Dam invented it, how it works, and what makes it different from anything else on the water. Read it →
- Metalwork as Fine Art — exhaust tips machined from 351-pound stainless billets, a cutwater engineered from scratch, and a hull paint pattern that took 25,000 taped edges to execute. Read it →
The People Behind the Boats
- Boat Builders Spotlight — how wood composite construction works, and what it means that our team works from stem to stern rather than by specialty. Plus: 30 years with our project manager. Read it →
- Solar, Sustainability & Community — our 87kW solar installation, Profit Sharing for the Planet, and what it looks like when a boatbuilder takes environmental stewardship seriously. Read it →
Available and In Progress
- Concepts for Purchase 2024 — a 70-foot trawler concept, a 60%-complete 50-foot motor yacht with twin 1,200 HP Cummins already aboard, and a 32-foot cocktail cruiser ready to commission. Explore them →
- Certified Legends 2024 — Gonzo, Luv N It, Silvan, and How Swede It Is. Plus the 2024 Featured Icon: Chiara, a 43-foot composite wooden dayboat. See what’s available →
About Van Dam
Van Dam Custom Boats has been building one-of-a-kind wooden boats in Boyne City, Michigan since 1976. We build 1 to 2 boats per year, each one a genuine collaboration between an owner’s vision, a designer’s imagination, and a team of craftspeople who don’t know how to do anything halfway.
If you’re interested in commissioning a custom wooden boat, the Concept Phase is the place to start, contact us directly.