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Steve Kaulback
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Steve founded our company. He
first heard the virtues of the Adirondack guideboat from his older brother, Peter,
then a student at Paul Smith's College in the Adirondacks. Time passed; Steve graduated
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Pratt Institute in New York City and moved to
Vermont.
Warren
Cole built the first guideboat he ever saw in person, the first one he rowed.
One pull on the oars on a windy day was all that it took. He
thought to himself, "That's what I am going to do for the rest of my life." Grace on the water; form so perfectly matched to
function, how could he resist?. |
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Steve’s boats have won awards and races.
Thousands of times each year, someone will point to one of Steve’s boats and say,
“That’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, it's a work of
art.” |
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Steve’s first boats were already innovative, modifying two classic
Adirondack guideboat designs, wedding them together beautifully, and then building his
boats in a method called cedar strip construction. As wonderful as those
first wooden boats were, they were pricey. So Steve taught himself
to work with fiberglass and cast a mold from one of his
wooden boats. He then began building a second tier of guideboats. Then, when Kevlar,
with its weight and strength advantages came along, he began building his boats in a
Kevlar/fiberglass composite. |
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Then, to broaden his market still further,
Steve built a smaller version of his guideboat, but with a twist. This boat was to be for
Steve’s daughter, Corinna. She was 8 years old at the time. If he just shrank his
Kevlar guideboat, the boat would be fast and light, but it would be tippy. And that
wouldn't do. So Steve added ‘hard chines’ for stability and his Vermont
Packboats were born.
He later expanded that boat and made the Vermont Fishing Dory. |
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And that, ladies and gentlemen, is
a little bit about Steve Kaulback. He is a fascinating person, a person of depth, wisdom,
passion and a profound devotion to his art and to his craft. As of this writing, he has been designing and building
these boats for 25 years. He, with the aid of the company that is being
built around him, is now, by far, the most prolific guideboat builder in
history. There is a joy, a pleasure, a spiritual depth and a nautical
grace to Steve's boats. He thinks of himself as an artist and a woodworker who
is
good with his hands. Yeah, and Michelangelo was a guy with a scaffold. |
Meet Dave |
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