HOWB 020 – Sam Devlin Interview: Wooden boat designer, builder, master – “Yoda” for short - 02.02.12

Interview: Sam Devlin – Devlin Boat

I have looked forward with eager anticipation to interviewing Sam Devlin someday – and TODAY IS THE DAY.

SWEET! The wooden boat lore surrounding Sam, his designs, and his dedicated boat building customers is far reaching! Two of the interviews I have done this year have been with Devlin builders/followers – Larry Cheek (Podcast 13 link) and Dale McKinnon (Podcast 17 link). If you listen to these interviews, you’ll see why folks love Sam’s boats!

Saying that Sam has boats in his blood, is a bit of an understatement. As an infant, his bedroom had a “Ship” theme complete with curved walls and a sea-berth! Growing up in Eugene Oregon, he spent countless hours in his dads marine shop where wooden boats were being built and sold along with outboard engines, paint, and other cool stuff. He vividly remembers the aromatic smell of Port Orford cedar in those early days at the shop.

Fast forward a few years to 1977: Sam was sitting in the galley of an 1898 tugboat in Alaska, sipping coffee on a break, and looking at the beautiful wood overhead. A crew mate handed him Issue Number One of Wooden Boat Magazine – Sam knew at that moment he was destined to be a wooden boat builder.

Sam’s portfolio of designs/plans includes over 80 boats from 7ʹ to 48ʹ (these are just the ones listed on his website), not counting several hundred floating around in his head that he hasn’t put to paper yet. If you have an idea for a boat, talk to Sam – he will blend it with his extensive knowledge and design a dream boat for you.

Sam is also a pioneer of, and exclusively uses the stich and glue method of building?. The resulting product is, in Sam’s own words “... a vastly superior approach when compared to traditional boat assembly methods and delivers stronger, better boats.” Using this “composite” method of building, all wood surfaces are coated and bonded together with epoxy for a stiff, light, rot resistant monocoque hull, with no bulky frame members inside the hull.

If you’d like to contact Sam, call (360) 866-0164 , or you can email Sam at Sam@Devlinboat.com. Sam is located in Tumwater, WA and his website is DevlinBoat.com. Thanks again Sam for taking the time to meet with me and give a private tour of your shop and boats! It was a blast and I wish you the best in your business