It started with a small wooden boat gliding across Lake Macatawa, not far from his family home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For a young Steve Van Dam, that moment was more than inspiration — it was a calling. Motivated by self-reliance and a hunger to learn, he traveled north to Canada and spent years studying under a master craftsman, absorbing new construction techniques and the transformative potential of modern adhesives applied to Old World methods. When he returned to Michigan with his wife Jean, he brought something rare with him: the skill, the discipline, and the vision to build wooden boats unlike anything the Great Lakes had ever seen.
That vision became Van Dam Custom Boats — and nearly five decades later, it hasn’t wavered for a moment.
SOAR Magazine’s Summer Classics issue sat down with Steve Van Dam to explore the philosophy behind one of the world’s most extraordinary boatbuilding operations. The shop completes one to three fully custom wooden boats per year, and each one, as Steve puts it, “personifies the integrity of its craftsmen as well as the family name.” A crew of 10 to 12 skilled builders handles everything in-house — from complex electrical systems to hand-fabricated metal hardware — using the finest materials and most advanced tools available. Digital design, instant client communication, and what Steve affectionately calls the “cool tools” have modernized the process without ever diminishing the craft.
When asked to name a favorite among the boats he has built, Steve doesn’t hesitate — but not because the answer is easy. “This is like asking who your favorite child is,” he told SOAR. “I love all my children. And because we build only one of each custom design, there is no way to have a favorite model. Each is a favorite because of its own uniqueness. To choose one would mean slighting the others. It’s impossible to do.”
That commitment to uniqueness extends to every material choice as well. Van Dam builders work with a remarkable range of wood species — various Mahoganies, Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, and Teak — selecting each not by habit but by purpose. “Every wood is used in a manner that best represents its strength or visual requirements,” Steve explained, “and every boat is different in its requirements.” No interior species is off limits. No aesthetic shortcut is acceptable. The result is a finished product that is, in every sense, singular.
And at the heart of it all is wood itself — the material Steve Van Dam has devoted his life to understanding. “No man made products match the beauty and versatility of wood,” he said simply. “Wood is timeless and fluid.”
So is a Van Dam.