It began with a drawing that slipped from a stack of archives. When Susan Ford was cataloguing her late father’s papers in 2014, a small design caught her eye — a 31-foot powerboat sketched by Frederick Ford, a Naval Architect of the Great Lakes region who had passed away that year. “I saw it and I knew I wanted to show Steve,” Susan recalled. That drawing became the seed of Dreamboat, Van Dam Custom Boats’ 38-foot sedan cruiser — and the latest chapter in a creative partnership between two families that stretches back to the very founding of the company.
Elevated Yachts Magazine told that story in full in its Summer 2021 issue, and it is one worth knowing. Fred Ford and Steve Van Dam had worked together since the earliest days of Van Dam Custom Boats, beginning with five commissioned sailboats after the shop first opened in 1977. Two of those — Star and Star’s Echo — were designed by Fred for his own family. Star’s Echo was built specifically for Susan, which means that Dreamboat represents the third time Susan Ford has commissioned a Van Dam build, and the second generation of both families carrying a creative legacy forward together. “I’ve known Steve since he built Star for dad and Star’s Echo for me,” Susan said simply. In the late 1980s, the two collaborated again on Flicker — Van Dam’s first powerboat and an iconic Hacker replica — which proved to be a catalyst for the company’s entry into the powerboat market and opened an entirely new chapter in its history.
Van Dam has no limitations to the type of build requested. Their range in recent years alone has spanned a 44-foot sailing yacht, a 24-foot gentleman’s racer, and now Dreamboat — a 38-foot sedan cruiser that punches well above her weight in every conceivable way. Her twin Volvo IPS drives produce 600 horsepower to cut through the waves of the Great Lakes. A joystick system makes her remarkably nimble and intuitive in close quarters. A Seakeeper eliminates boat roll underway. Cutting-edge Garmin electronics and a Czone digital switching system make her lighting and electrical systems completely customizable. And beneath all of that technology lies the real Van Dam signature — a level of design detail and hand-crafted finish that no specification sheet can fully capture. “Once you’ve owned a Van Dam boat,” said Susan Ford, “you’re spoiled for life because nothing can compare.”
Dreamboat was designed in collaboration with Naval Architect Donald Blount and Associates, who took Fred Ford’s original 1971 design and translated it into a modern set of plans fully realized by the Van Dam team. The build represents not just a technical achievement but a living legacy — one that Susan Ford described with characteristic clarity: “Through Ben and I, second generation in both families, the creative partnership between my dad and Steve continues as Dreamboat comes alive in the hands of the world’s best boat builders.”
At the start of 2021, co-founders Jean and Steve Van Dam completed the transition they had been planning for years, selling the business to their son Ben and his wife Erika. After 44 years of building the world’s finest wooden boats, they handed the helm to the next generation — stepping back into roles as consultants and cultural ambassadors, still regulars in the shop, still part of the fabric of everything Van Dam does. “We couldn’t be more excited at the opportunity to lead this business into the future,” said Ben. “We are incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing team, both in talent and attitude, and we are especially grateful to Susan for continuing the legacy our fathers started.”
That legacy is built on one principle that has never wavered: Van Dam makes only one of each custom build. There are no replicas, no repeats. “When you own a Van Dam, you own the only one in the world,” Jeremy Pearson told the magazine. “Each of our boats are privately commissioned and built specifically to the wishes and needs of their owner. Every detail in the boat has been considered with the owner’s input and wishes in mind. Every part is unique and our design team and craftsmen relish the opportunity to dive into the details. We walk through the process with our customers from concept to creation and beyond.”
From dream to design to delivery — if you love boats, this is your dream team.