Overview
Our family has been producing these durable, enjoyable, collectible bath toys for over 50 years. Our boats are toys first and foremost, but since the beginning, we’ve built each boat with an eye toward durability. Consequently, we hear over and over again—to our delight—that one of our boats has done yeoman duty for years as a toy companion and has since been elevated to the status of beloved family keepsake.
Mary & Dana McDill,
Princeton, Minnesota
Background
I made a bathboat with my toddler son one afternoon in 1971. More followed for friends, and soon our young family was selling them on a blanket in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. We moved a year or so later to my family’s heritage state of Minnesota, where, as it turned out, there were, and are, many art fairs. And so a career was born. Now it has been over 50 years and countless boats later, and I am still at it. We lost Mary in 2022 to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and the many subtle improvements to the boats (the sails for one!) are an ever-floating testament to her.
History
Back in San Francisco, I worked at the Post Office and was thrilled to have a story I sent in included in the Whole Earth Catalog. It was awarded a National Book Award, notwithstanding my contribution. In 1971, I made a bathboat as a project with my two-year-old son, Wyatt. Mary and I made a few more and offered them on the street and in Golden Gate Park. We moved to a farmstead in Minnesota in 1974 and have made untold thousands of the world’s greatest bath boats ever since.
Side Projects
In addition to making Bathboats, in recent years we have put out nest boxes and planted native shrubs and such that we have ‘raised’ about 1000 Bluebirds here on this old farmstead. We recommend that everyone replicate this to help whatever wildlife is in your vicinity. Learn more about creating habitats at nwf.org
Taking the Plunge
I now devote myself to the World’s Greatest Bath Boats full time. I am in charge of sales. People ask how long these boats last. I tell them we can guarantee them 50 years…that’s how long we’ve been making them, and the first ones are still floating!
Our Sail makers
Every boat comes with a fabric sail. Our highly professional staff of sailmakers is standing ready to match your boat to an appropriate sail.
