Building Dreamboats
April-May 2002
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD
by Martin D. Trees
 |
The striking looks of wood strip kayaks.
|
"After teaching a 12-year-old boy to build a canoe, Ray Klebba realized he had done something special. "He was from a single parent family," Klebba says. "His mother asked if I could help him build a canoe to give him some direction and self confidence." Two years later the troubled youth is a straight-A student.
The experience that turned this young man's life around had such an effect on Klebba that he immediately repeated it. "The local high school's Special Education program places disadvantaged youth with me," says Klebba. "One boy comes in every Tuesday after school. He's helping make a small canoe to get an idea of how one is made." Ray hopes he can help children find something positive in their lives before they get into serious trouble.
Ray Klebba's business, White Salmon Boat Works, is a modest venture, a place where people come together to build their own wooden canoes, kayaks and rowboats. In three years, the small workshop has become a community attraction and gathering spot, but it actually began unintentionally.
"I was looking for a place to build a canoe," says Klebba. "I rented a building that had a lot of windows in front and people would come in out of curiosity. Eventually I had so many people coming in asking if I'd show them how to build a boat, and I kept saying yes, that I had to start charging for materials."
The wood strip boats, so named for the fine strips of cedar, redwood, mahogany and other contrasting woods used in their construction, are finished with a heavy gloss lacquer which enhances their striking good looks. With such a visible product word quickly spread about the man who could make dreams come true. "I call my business Dreamboats because many people dream of building a boat," Klebba says. As space in his classes is limited he has a waiting list of people hoping to build the particular boat of their dreams.
Klebba's reputation quickly traveled as far north as the Yakama Indian nation who enlisted his boat-building skills. "A youth instructor wanted a group of kids to build a canoe," Klebba says. "Historically, I believe they had cedar dugouts, but we picked a classical Indian canoe."
Word also spread west to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. "I've had people from as far away as Sandy and Scappoose," Klebba says. The 120 mile roundtrip drive doesn't deter these city folk who have discovered a special service not offered in the metropolis. Dreamers of all kinds have built canoes and kayaks under Ray Klebba's guidance "I've had people aged twelve to seventy," he says, "including father-son and motherdaughter teams, and all skill levels."
About half of the people Klebba has guided through building their first boat have been women and he hopes to attract more female customers. "I've had a lot of women build canoes and I think it's important for younger women to give them self-confidence, so they can say, 'I can make something.' Boys tend to do things like this, but girls don't."
Klebba has seen firsthand how his boats change peoples' lives, from the straight-A student to the many adults who find lasting friendships with fellow students in his workshops. He, too, is affected by each newly created boat. "They feel like my children. I'm like a proud daddy," he says. "We have picnics a couple of times a year to celebrate the boats 'cause we're all friends-we all helped build them."
Klebba credits the success of his Dreamboats business to the people of the region. "White Salmon is an outdoor community with windsurfers, mountain bikers, snowboarders, boat sailors, and more," he says. "I'm successful because of the people who live here."
© Martin D. Trees, a freelance writer and essayist, lives in the Columbia River Gorge, in Washington.
Ray Klebba can be reached at 509-493-4766, www.dreamboats.com.
