When Forbes contributor Jason Fogelson visited Van Dam Custom Boats in Boyne City, Michigan, he came as an observer with an open mind and left as a convinced believer. After touring the factory, watching several builds in progress, speaking with Ben Van Dam and members of the crew, and — crucially — riding in two of the company’s finished vessels on Lake Charlevoix, his conclusion was straightforward: Van Dam bills itself as “The World’s Finest Wooden Boats,” and having seen it all firsthand, he had no reason to doubt the claim.
The factory itself tells the story before a single word is spoken. During Fogelson’s visit, two boats between 40 and 50 feet in length were in progress on the main floor — a sailboat and a day cruiser — while a beautiful speedboat in the final stages of construction occupied another area of the building. The owner of that speedboat, a doctor named John, was present on the day of the visit. It was the second Van Dam boat he had commissioned. That kind of repeat patronage is not coincidental. It is the natural result of an experience that exceeds every expectation from the very first conversation to the final delivery.
That first conversation, as Forbes discovered, is where everything begins. The design process at Van Dam is a series of deep, detailed discussions with the future owner — about how the boat will be used, where it will live, what style it should carry, and what details matter most to the person who will spend years aboard it. These conversations can last for months. “The process is what makes us different,” Jeremy Pearson, Van Dam’s Director of Worldwide Sales, told the magazine. The earlier and more thoroughly a buyer engages with the design process, the fewer changes are needed later — and the more fully the finished boat reflects something genuinely personal.
Van Dam does not shy away from technology in service of that goal. Despite building entirely by hand from wood — the most traditional of boatbuilding materials — the team employs state-of-the-art 3D CAD software and CNC machining to create precise visualizations and full-size mylar patterns. Hull lamination is cured in vacuum-sealed bags, a technique borrowed directly from aircraft construction. Woods are aged and dried to a very low moisture content before lamination, then sealed with epoxy against any future moisture penetration or rot. The result is a hull that can be painted or finished to reveal its natural grain — and in either case, achieved with the kind of mirror finish that makes the wood itself a design feature.
The same level of craftsmanship extends to every mechanical and electrical system on board. Billet aluminum, stainless steel, and other precision materials are used throughout — not only for function, but finished and detailed to the same standard as every visible surface on the boat. Nothing is hidden, because nothing needs to be.
Van Dam backs every boat with a lifetime guarantee. Ben Van Dam noted with quiet pride that in over 41 years of operation and 56 boats of note, the company has never had a single warranty claim. That is not a policy statement. That is a record.
Fogelson’s ride in My 3 Sons — a 31-foot trunk cabin boat originally commissioned by the late actor Edward Herrmann in 2004, built to accommodate his six-foot-seven frame with greater-than-normal headroom throughout — was a study in how a Van Dam boat handles real conditions. Powering through choppy water on Lake Charlevoix at up to 32 mph behind a 270-hp Yanmar Turbo Diesel, the boat remained stable, composed, and completely unhurried. His subsequent ride aboard After 3, a 26-foot Gage-Hacker series speedboat built in 2007 from African and Honduran mahogany, delivered something rarer still: a ride so smooth it felt genuinely luxurious. No harshness, no pounding — just the wood hull absorbing every impact and insulating its passengers from the water in a way that fiberglass simply cannot replicate.
“The ride is so smooth it is luxurious.” For anyone who has been on the water, those are not words used lightly.