Linwood
— The oldest photo in Tom Van Duyne’s store shows grandfather Sam in a sawdust-covered work apron. He poses with the bow of a boat built with the keel side down. The skeletal hull of steam-bent strakes and chine is only partially clad with tight planks that enhance seaworthiness.
“It was in Gardner’s Basin (Atlantic City),” says Van Duyne. “He built some jersey his skiffs and some big boats. He also built some ram runners.” The term “ram runner” dates the picture back to Prohibition times. .
Grandfather Sam gave his young sons Sam and John his wood chisel and rubber mallet and caulking iron. The boys formed Van Duyne Bros., a patcon that meanders through marshes and pours into Great Egg Harbor.
“My father[John]and my uncle also built wooden boats, but we started experimenting with fiberglass in the 50s,” said Tom Van Duyne.
With the completion of the Garden State Parkway in the 1950s and the explosion of shore population and visitors, Van Dines saw a growing market for lifeguard boats.
“Wooden boats are nice, but fiberglass surf boats go faster and safer through the water.” They are about 200 pounds lighter than wood. ex) You can get out faster.For my father, it was always about building better rescue boats.”
In 1950, young Sam and John Van Duin did the unthinkable for boat purists.
“They called my uncle Sam a ‘chemical carpenter’. He experimented with acrylic and fiberglass,” said Tom Van Duyne.
Since then, Van Duyne Brothers has built hundreds of lifeguard boats for beach patrols along the Atlantic Ocean. John Van Duin died and Sam retired and went to Florida. Now Tom Van Duyne is working on it alone, with the help of his older brother named John.
“This is my office computer,” said Tom Van Duyne, unfolding several long Manila index cards. “My father has ordered all of these cards since 1950. When his father died (1997), his handwriting changed from his father’s to mine.”
Tom Van Duyne currently works in an inland yard within the Maze Landing industrial park.
“Do you know what that means? Coast property is expensive.”
More from Mark DiIonno’s Jersey Shore Diary:
• Wildwood preserves historic Hereford Inlet Lighthouse and hosts maritime festival
• DiIonno: Spring Lake landmarks Essex and Sussex have become icons of the Jersey Shore.
• New Jersey commercial fishermen caught up in tightening government regulatory web
• The Belmar Lifeguard crew attributes their 14th tournament victory to tradition.
• Ocean Grove Independence Day Concerts in the tradition of patriotism
• Keensburg is New Jersey’s oldest amusement park offering old-fashioned fun every summer
• Jersey Shore towns hold auctions to find homes for unclaimed bikes.
• The Ocean Grove Methodist Camp maintains the spiritual and historical culture of the area.
Modern tools of the trade include barrels of liquid fiberglass resin, and the factory floor is covered with plastic shavings. In the yard are overturned half-dozen surf boats from the Beach Patrol along the Jersey coast, awaiting maintenance. Avalon, Cape May, Upper Township, Wildwood. Two from Sea Isle City. Work Bay has a new boat heading to Jones Beach.
“All you need is a Van Duyne Bros. decal,” he said.
Near the photo of his grandfather is the store’s most sacred relic. This is John Van Duyne’s original scale model and the first fiberglass surf boat model carved out of wood.
“This is it,” said Tom Van Duyne. “It’s the original. It’s a basic mid-1800s surfboard with a few tweaks here and there.”
But better. The curved shear of the boat, as usual, helps it cut waves, climb and land flat. But fiberglass is almost indestructible.
Van Duyne said: “If you take good care of these boats, they can last forever.”
and unsinkable.
“Fiberglass has floating pockets,” Van Duin said.
The unsinkable legend was born in 1955. That’s when Atlantic City lifeguard Richard (Boomer) Blair bets on rowing Van Duyne into a hurricane. He walked back past Steel Pier. The boat was flooded with rain and seawater, but it did not sink.
Tom Van Duyne shows the same buoyancy. His solitary craft was once an industry on the Jersey Shore. Now he is one of the last surf boat builders and is almost a century away from his grandfather.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of history here,” he said, putting the model back in place. “It makes me realize how much I miss working with his father. He was a true craftsman. He taught me everything.”
