Episode 15 - Boat-Built Ingenuity on the Chesapeake: Crabber, Camper Boats, and DIY Watercraft

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Legends of the Wild Ep. 15

“Boat-Built Ingenuity on the Chesapeake: Crabber, Camper Boats, and DIY Watercraft”
Host: Sam Soholt
Guest: Luke McFadden (Crabber, Boat Builder, YouTuber)
Release Date: December 31, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Sam Soholt welcomes creative Chesapeake Bay crabber and prolific DIY boat builder Luke McFadden. The conversation dives deep into Luke’s one-of-a-kind camper boat build, his journey into commercial crabbing, the social media-fueled evolution of his crab stand business, and what inspires his relentless pursuit of oddball watercraft projects. Throughout, both men swap stories about making big outdoor dreams work—with whatever’s on hand.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Camper Boat: Born from a Scavenger’s Imagination

• Origin Story (03:51–08:25):
  • Luke describes the start of his now-viral camper boat: a “Pelican 12-foot Intruder,” essentially “just a Tupperware container” jon boat bought on Amazon, combined with pontoons from another cheap Amazon boat.
  • The goal: camp legally on Baltimore’s urban waterfront—“If I stayed on a boat next to this place...I could go there and check it out and then stay on the boat.” (05:06)
• Materials & Methods (06:29–08:12):
  • The build “was supposed to originally just be frames and then I was going to shrink wrap it...But of course that turned into...a little Conestoga wagon looking camper on this little boat.”
  • Nearly the entire camper is built “out of trash,” scavenged from abandoned marina boats—wood, hardware, even the doors.
• Scale & Quirkiness (08:25–09:11):
  • The interior is just “11 square feet inside...smaller than a sheet of plywood.”
  • “I’m five-six, so, like, I can lay down in it. But you'd be hard (pressed) ...a full size grown man...to actually use this thing.” (08:59)

Memorable Quote [08:12] — Luke:
"I managed to build something that's brand new, brand used. But looks like it's 60 years old."

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2. Doing More with Less: Gear, Safety & Workflow on Tiny Boats

• Packing Strategies (09:50–11:56):
  • Luke admits pairing down is tough: “I’m over prepared in a lot of ways and under prepared in a lot of ways. But, yeah, when it comes to stuff, it’s like…on the Chesapeake Bay…weather changes so quickly…you need a ton of safety gear.”
  • Emphasizes everything brought along must have “multiple purposes, or else you can’t...bring it.”
  • Sometimes, “you’re just kind of cold, you know, and it’s the way it is.”
• Lessons from Minimalism (11:59–12:27):
  • Sam reflects on overpacking for “36 foot school bus” trips and the mentality shift required for small craft hunts.

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3. Crabbing, Crab Stands, and the “Brand New, Brand Used” Mentality

• Crabber’s Journey (16:23–18:32):
  • Luke, first-generation crabber from Pasadena, Maryland, started helping on boats at age 12.
  • “Only job I’ve really ever had…have done 11 crab seasons running my own boat.”
  • Real talk about the grind: “You gotta love it. If you don’t love it, then it ain't worth it.” (18:52).
• Building the Crab Shack (19:22–24:44):
  • Needed to pivot to direct-to-consumer sales as industry aged and margins slimmed.
  • Invented a roadside “crab stand” out of a rescued wooden boat:

    “I found that one on Facebook for $700...tore it all down, basically turned it into a fruit stand...hauled it up the road and put it in the ground and, you know, made it look like it was floating. And the crab stand was born." (20:47–24:44)

  • The crab stand became a local destination, fueled by social media stories, and helped “bring the boat experience” to people, without crowding real marina operations.

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4. Social Media, Content Creation, and Business

• Platform Growth & Burnout (27:33–32:21):
  • Started with TikTok, expanded to YouTube after realizing demand for long-form storytelling and the need for business sustainability.
  • “I was crabbing five days a week, selling two...shooting videos every day...editing all my own videos...I was so burnt out, dude.”
  • Created a team and shifted to YouTube, preferring deeper audience connection:

    “You have a lot more opportunity to storytell and bring them into your world.”

• “Good as Used” Brand (32:21–33:53):
  • New merch brand reflects Luke’s philosophy: “I don’t think I’ve bought anything new my whole life, really.”
  • Offers fans a tangible piece of the story.

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5. Luke’s Wildest Watercraft: Hydrofoils, Camper Boats, and Boat Testing

• Favorite Project Highlight [34:13–39:33]:
  • Acquired and restored a one-of-two 1957 Grumman Navy hydrofoil—originally a military experiment, now returned to action.
  • “You’re doing almost 40 in this thing...it feels like you’re flying...it’s wild.” (35:14–35:41)
  • On why hydrofoils didn’t take off: military was “messing with float planes” then, but practical boating “just has too many variables.”
• Inspiration & Future Builds (43:14–44:45):
  • Planning more boat-based hunting trips including to Sika deer country, a possible multi-hundred-mile ocean journey in a john boat, and hunting remote islands.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On building from trash:
  "I pretty much built it for...like, out of trash." – Luke (07:01)
• True size of the camper boat:
  "I figure it to be 11 square feet inside...That’s smaller than a sheet of plywood." – Luke (08:37)
• Philosophy on invention:
  "I think a lot of the things I do...it's not because it's the most easiest or efficient way...it's just because I think it'd be cool." – Luke (40:27)
• On audience interaction:
  "It’s just super cool that…people know I’m going to be there...be able to actually build real face to face relationships…it’s nuts, man." – Luke (25:05–26:32)
• Social media/AI musings:
  "There is a ridiculous amount of people that think it’s AI generated...I literally, like, filmed the entire thing and put it on the Internet. People are like, no, it’s AI." – Luke (45:38–46:37)
• Why create content?
  “Make the videos you want to watch anyway.” – Luke (41:06)
• On risky Amazon buys:
  "Yamabisis is pretty mint…about 50% of the cost of a name brand like Yamaha…You are always rolling the dice though..." – Luke (49:51–53:38)

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Recommended Segments (Listening Guide)

• 03:40–08:25: The camper boat origin and build breakdown
• 13:49–15:36: Camper boat adaptation for hunting (deer rack/carrying system)
• 16:20–18:58: Luke’s unlikely route into commercial crabbing
• 19:22–24:44: Building and launching the floating crab stand
• 34:13–39:33: Navy hydrofoil project—a rare watercraft revived
• 41:47–42:22: “You did something because nobody told you you couldn’t.”
• 45:38–47:22: Media authenticity, AI, and “is this even real?”

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Where to Find Luke McFadden

• YouTube, Facebook, Instagram: @LukeMcFadden (look for verified blue check due to impersonators)
• Merchandise: goodasused.com
• Crab products & retail: Info linked from his socials; ships nationwide

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Tone & Takeaways

Luke’s resourcefulness, humor, and hands-on grit pop throughout the episode. The tone is relaxed, curious, and packed with “just figure it out” energy—a celebration of making unlikely things work on the water (even if the Internet thinks it’s fake). Whether you’re a hunter, fisherman, gearhead, DIY builder, or just love a good story of oddball invention, this hour delivers both practical insight and inspiration for doing things your way—even (especially) if it’s never been done before.

Transcript

[Luke McFadden]

So good, so good, so good.

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[Podcast Host]

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[Luke McFadden]

There's always something new.

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[Podcast Host]

This is Legends of the Wild presented by Field and Stream. Let's get into it.

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This episode is brought to you by Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels and music are made for each other. They share a rhythm in the craft of making something timeless while being a part of legendary nights. From backyard jams to sold out arenas, there's a song in every toast. Please drink responsibly. Responsibility.org, jack Daniels and old number seven are registered trademarks. Tennessee whiskey, 40% alcohol by volume. Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee.

[Luke McFadden]

All right.

[Podcast Host]

Hey everybody. We're back with another episode of Legends of the Wild. And today I'm joined by Luke McFadden, who is a boat captain, a crabber, and definitely a kindred spirit of mine because he likes to build the most ridiculous, wild, random things, but just like on watercraft. Whereas mine was like school bus, van campers, like like land yacht type stuff. Because I live in the middle of the country, he's done it a much cooler way that involves water. So welcome to the show, Luke. I'm pumped to have you on.

[Luke McFadden]

Thanks, man. I appreciate you having me.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, so I was, I was right before we started recording, I was telling you that. So it was, it must have been last like early spring last year. I had this, I got this idea, I started seeing all like the tiny boat nation stuff of like, you know, building out these like 14 foot John boats into like bass or bass and hunting boats and whatever. And so I started to get fed a lot more like boat and fishing content like in the algorithm. And I was on TikTok and your stuff started popping up and I think you were rebuilding some old boat and it wasn't like the Crab Shack Yet. But like, you were doing all sorts of cool stuff and I was like, I was like, man, this guy's doing everything that I love doing. Like, just like building something out of nothing, but just doing it in a way. So like, I found you on TikTok and then the other day you posted something. I was like, I've got to interview this guy. Like.

[Luke McFadden]

Well, I appreciate you reaching out, man.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, for sure. So I think I want to dive right into it. We'll go back, we'll like Tarantino this. We'll tell like the first story. I want you to tell the first story first because I'm so interested in it. Um, and then we'll go back and I want to hear about, like, how you got into all this stuff. But the first thing is you posted a picture with. It looks like one of the. It'd be like a. I'm not sure what brand it would be. What, like that little john boat is with like pontoons on the side for stabilization. And then like the smallest camper, like built on top. It looks like a caravan type thing. And like a wagon. Yeah, it's like a covered wagon.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So just where did this idea stem from? And maybe just, I want you to go through the whole build. Like. Like, what's the base platform and everything? So just dive into it.

[Luke McFadden]

So it started with a pelican 12 foot intruder. Like a plastic john bow, basically. Yeah, A lot of people are familiar with like the Coleman crawl, dad, you know, from back in the day. This is basically the same thing. It's like just a Tupperware container. So one of like the things I do on YouTube is, you know, I. I buy ridiculous stuff on Amazon. Like, you're a tiny bokeh. I know you've been on Facebook or Amazon or something. You've seen like, you know, outboard motors or any of this stuff that you're like that. That seems like ridiculously cheap. Like, so cheap. It might be a scam. So anyway, some of the stuff I do on YouTube is I like, I buy those and see if they're scams, you know what I mean? Just to. To try it. And yeah, this boat was one of them. You know, I bought it on Amazon. I think it was like 600 bucks or something. So I was like, that's the cheapest. You can't buy an aluminum one for that. Cheap. And they'll deliver it to your house in two days. Like, we gotta see if it's real, like, or if it's a scam. And it turned out. It was real. And so I had had that. And then the, the pontoons came off of another boat that was on Amazon. So it's kind of a. A combination of like two Amazon boats, but yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Cause I was watching, I was watching some of the clips and basically the, this Tupperware container wasn't quite stable enough. Yeah, but what you were trying, right?

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it started with like, there was this spot that I wanted to kind of like camp. It's actually an urban spot up like, you know, I'm. I'm right by like the city of Baltimore. I'm like just south of Baltimore, just north Annapolis right there in the middle. And so there was this spot that I really wanted to, to like, try to camp. But I was looking into like the legality of it and it was like kind of weird. And I was like, well, I don't want to do any trespassing. So I was like, well, if I stayed on a boat next to this place, I could go there and check it out and then stay on the boat. So I was like, all right, well, how do I build a boat camp? Like a camper on a boat really quickly.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

And so I was like, well, I got this thing sitting around. So anyway, that turned in. It was supposed to originally just be frames and then I was going to shrink wrap it with like plastic. Shrink wrap.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Luke McFadden]

But of course that turned into, you know, a full on, like, I was like, well, you know, if I'm going to go this far, I may as well do this.

[Podcast Host]

And then.

[Luke McFadden]

Well, you're going to do that. You may as well do this. And then turned into building this like little Conestoga wagon looking camper on this little boat. And I took it out and did like just an overnight trip in it. And it was fine, but it was super unstable. It was just like, you know, it wouldn't. I couldn't flip it. Like, I, I mean, I could stand on the edge, but like when you're laying in it sleeping and you roll over, it's like the whole boat lists.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Luke McFadden]

I was like, man, it would be really nice if this was a little more stable, if I could actually use it for some real stuff. So then I put the pontoons on it. Cannibalized another boat from Amazon.

[Podcast Host]

Yep.

[Luke McFadden]

Built all this stuff to put the pontoons. And I was like, wow, it's actually like it kind of legit. Like, I could probably take this. You know, you could take it places. So yeah. Then, then I was like, well, I just put so much Time and effort into this thing. You know, I gotta figure out. I was like, you know, this is a great excuse to go use this thing. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Sure. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of how the camper boat was. Was born. It's pretty much out of. I mean, I built it for like, very little money. It's basically made out of all just junk from around the. From around the marina and scavenging all the hardware, the doors, like all that kind of stuff off of derelict, you know, abandoned boats from the boatyard and, you know, pretty much built it for like, you know, out of trash.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, just sweet. Way better.

[Luke McFadden]

I mean, I think it's kind of neat because it's just, you know, it's all. It's definitely unique because it's like reclaimed stuff. I didn't intend it to be like that, but it just kind of ended up being like that.

[Podcast Host]

Well, you've got like the wooden doors with glass windows with the dead head on the window. You know, it like looks like a miniaturized version of like, you know, the inside of a sleeping like a camper boat or like a, you know, a cabin boat that you would like go down below deck and be like, oh, it's like wood finish in the whole thing. So it's very cool.

[Luke McFadden]

It ended up looking like, yeah, kind of like a. The first night I was camping and I remember laying there and looking around being like, how did I manage to build something that's brand new, brand used.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Luke McFadden]

But looks like it's 60 years old. I was like, somehow it's new, but it looks like it's been around for 60 years. Yeah, I don't know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's an art form for sure.

[Luke McFadden]

It's. Yeah, it's.

[Podcast Host]

It's.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, it's an art project. Something out there. It's. Everybody thinks that it's a lot bigger. And then they, you know, they see it either in pictures or in person, but it's. I figure it to be 11 square feet inside.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Luke McFadden]

So I mean, that's pretty small. That's smaller than a sheet of plywood. You know, it's like, it's like three by. It's like roughly three by six ish, you know? Yes. Yeah, it's not, it's not much. And I, you know, I'm like, I'm five, six.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

So like, yeah, I can lay down in it. But like, you know, you'd be hard.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

Like a full size grown adult man. And actually use this thing. It works out because I'm like the size of a child, you know, like an average sized middle schooler. Great, great, great size camper for that.

[Podcast Host]

That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I knew it was small and I was like, I wonder how comfortable that was. Or like I tend to way over pack on gear. Like, yeah, you know, it's, I always joke, you know, like, if we do a, you know, I can do an 8 to 10 day backpacking trip and have everything I need for that many days in a backpack, but I'll do a three day hunt where I have my truck and the truck is just like loaded. I mean, it's. I was like really trying to think, you know, you did a float deer hunt out of this thing. And I was like, I wonder how he, like, I wonder how that was like picking and choosing like what gear to bring, you know, because it is such a small platform.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah. So that, that is something that's actually like, I'm still trying to figure out with this thing because I'm kind of the same way. Like I'm, I'm, I'm sort of like, I'm over prepared in a lot of ways and under prepared in a lot of ways. But yeah, when it comes to stuff, it's like, all right, well, you're thinking, you know, once you're there, you're there. It's not like you're going, you're not going back to the truck, whatever. And I mean, with being on the water and stuff, like, you don't know the weather, what it's going to be really, you know, it just changes so quickly when you're actually on like the bayfront. It's not like I'm on a pond, you know, I'm like, right, I'm on the Chesapeake Bay. And that, that itself affects the weather a lot. And also, you know, safety wise, if you, you know, if you were to fall overboard or get really wet or something, like, you know, I always have a dry bag with spare clothes and, and then you think, well, okay, well what if that happens? And then, you know, you know, you can't go all the way back. Like, are you just gonna just sit there and freeze or you're gonna try to draw your stuff out? I don't, you know what I mean? So I'm like, I'm always trying to figure out. Plus you just need like a ton of safety gear on boats, especially for this time of year. Like super sketch out there. So that is definitely an issue. I've, I've had to kind of like minim like minimize the stuff I take. And sometimes you're just kind of cold, you know, and it's the way it is. But I try, like I really try to pack in layers, you know, like wear a lot of the clothes. Like a lot of times when I go do these things, like I'm wearing the same clothes like, you know, pretty much every day. You know what I'm saying? Just like.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

And a lot of times I'm sleeping in them because it's so stinking cold. It's like that, that saves a little room. But you know, the other thing on, on like campers and boats and stuff like that small. In my experience, like everything has to have multiple purposes, you know, or else you can't, you know, bring it. Like there's certain things that I do pack, redundancies, like lights and things like that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

Propane, whatever, heat, you know. But other than that, it's like if it doesn't have multiple purposes, it's like it's probably not making the, not making the cutting room floor. You know, you got to stay in the truck.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Luke McFadden]

You just got to deal with it sometimes. So.

[Podcast Host]

Yep, yep. It makes, it makes you better. Right? It makes you like, it teaches you like what you can get away with not having. For sure. Yeah. So the all new Field and stream pack provisions dog food, treats and supplements fuel your dog's stamina, strength and focus for every outdoor adventure. Because dogs work hard and their food should too. So you can load up on field and streams, pack provisions at tractor supply or learn more atpack provisions pet.com.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. My first build, I went the opposite direction. So like the first like, like hunting excursion vehicle was a 36 foot school bus. So which was great because at the time I was dating my now wife, but we didn't have kids. We weren't like locked down to a place. I actually didn't have a home for six years. Like I had a buddy's address that I used and so I would take off in the bus for like three months. But I would pack like because there was so much room and I'd built in storage under the beds and I was like, oh, I can pack for you know, four different hunts for three types of season for you know, def. Several different weapon choices and I could just keep jamming stuff in there. And then I had a 10 by 25 wall tent that went next to the bus and for all the gear like overflow and buddies would show up or whatever. So I've had to kind of like, reteach my brain. Like, oh, no, you can't bring absolutely everything. You need to pair down and, like, you know, have just the minimal stuff for stuff like that. So, but tell me, like, I want to know. Okay, so you're already packing minimal gear in this tiny little boat, but then you've got a, like you're going on a deer hunt on a float deer hunt. So you kill a deer. Now you got to float a deer out on top of that. So how does, how does that work?

[Luke McFadden]

So, so phase one of the camper was the boat and the covering structure. Phase two was the pontoons. Phase three was the, was building, like, these aluminum, like, walk around planks so you could walk over top of the pontoons. Because it was, like, really a pain to have to crawl through the tent every time you had to get to the front of the back, like, if you're trying to tie up or anything. So I cut up all these aluminum steps off of these, like, mobile homes and welded them into these, like, planks so you could walk around the whole thing. And then I was like, man, there's, you know, if I gotta bring a tree stand or I get a deer or anything, I gotta have some way to strap it. So, like, before I left, I built this, like, basically like a cage that sticks off the side of it, you know, so that I could put gear in it, I could put the deer in it, all that kind of stuff. So that was my solution to that problem.

[Podcast Host]

It was kind of. It's just looking at the photo, it kind of looks like a be like a mini hitch rack that you would put on the back of the truck kind of thing.

[Luke McFadden]

Basically, that is what it is. It looks like a calier. It looks like those they have, they put a in and the cows eat it out. But yeah, it was, yeah. And it kind of like, it goes straight up against the tent so you don't bang up the tent and then goes out a little bit. Just trying to, like, make the most out of the small space. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Luke McFadden]

Because I, I, I increased my, you know, load capacity a lot with adding the pontoons on it, you know, so weight was a lot less of an issue in the beginning. It was like every screw counted. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

You.

[Luke McFadden]

But then after you added that, it was like, all right, we just literally, like, doubled our buoyancy, so in surface area instability so we could afford to have it stick out a little bit and. But yeah, no, that was an issue, like, in the beginning of the Video, I go and build this thing. Cause I'm like, wait a second. I realized I'm like, if I don't. If I actually do shoot something, I'm never going to be able to get it out of here.

[Podcast Host]

Some way to get that out? Yeah, I mean, you could always, like, quarter it up deep on it, you know, get it in the. In the boat. But like, there's something like, I don't know, nostalgic and cool about like, just throwing it in the. It's like you're throwing it in the back of the pickup bed, like strapping it home. It's so cool, your car, man.

[Luke McFadden]

It's cool. I don't know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. So I know. I mean, this was a deer hunt, so you're, you know, like you said kind of crabbing season had finished up, so, like, you're, you know, able to do more big game hunting. But tell me about how you got into all this stuff because, like, your, Your bio on your Instagram is first generation, you know, crab, crabber, like the whole thing. How. How did you end up in this, like, the whole setup? Like, where did it start?

[Luke McFadden]

Like, what do you mean? Like, how. Wrong.

[Podcast Host]

Crabbing. Like, how. Yeah, how did you get into.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, I mean, I grew up here in Pasadena, Maryland. And, you know, we live on, like, peninsulas, so there's water on three sides of pretty much everything. And, you know, I don't know, I just. I always love fishing. You know, my. My dad lives up in like, northwest Pennsylvania, so I used to spend a lot of summers with him and then go visit him during deer season. So, you know, he really got me into the outdoors. You know, besides him, nobody in my family does anything outside in terms of, you know, they don't let them fishing, they don't fish, they don't hunt, they don't. So I was kind of the outlier, you know, here. But I, you know, every day I was out fishing and whatever, and I. I got a boat. Bought my first boat when I was like 11 out of the Penny Saber, a little rowboat and I could walk it down to the end of the road. I used to like, cut the neighbor's grass because they, you know, people down the end of the street live, had houses on the water. So to get access, I would like, cut their grass and stuff and fix their lawnmowers to. So they let me fish or put in the boat.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

And, you know, I just thought crab and would be a really cool thing. My parents had a friend that was a commercial crab fisherman. And I'd never done it, never heard of it, but I just was like, oh, a job, a summer job where I could, you know, just be like outside on the water. It sounds great. So I started working on that, working with him when I was like 12, on the boat and off the boat, fixing crab pots and you know, just doing literally the worst jobs ever.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Doing the grunt work.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, exactly. But I was, dude, I was literally, I was just happy to be involved, you know, like, seriously. So, yeah, one thing led to the next. I started helping him on the boat pretty much full time and did that Till I was 18. And then 18, bought my own boat and license. Really crappy boat. I started out crabbing and you know, one thing led to the next and now we're, we're here. I've done, I'm 29, so I've done 11, 11 crab seasons running my own boat. But in reality I'm crabbing like for, for a while, you know, almost 20 years. I guess it's like just been kind of been the only job of. Really.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's awesome. You still, you still love it every year.

[Luke McFadden]

I mean, it's definitely a job, man. It's, you know, it's just, hey, you talk to any commercial fisherman. Yeah. Then you know, you gotta be married to it. And it's just there's no two ways around the fact that everything about it's just like a load of work, you know?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

But yeah, I mean, you gotta love it. If you don't love it, then it ain't worth it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, no, you'd be burnt out so fast and just, you know, you'd be mad every day you woke up, I think. Yeah. And then I, you know, just going back, I watched a whole bunch of your, your videos and stuff. I think one of the, one of the cool things that I've seen is your wife now. Right. But yeah, I thought you were married, but the, the boat that you turned into the crab stand is awesome.

[Luke McFadden]

Oh, thanks.

[Podcast Host]

So I did, I, I did two years of, call it whatever field marketing for yeti coolers. And so we did these pop up shops with like a horse trailer and you know, kind of made, you know, it was like the, the whole idea of this tour was to like talk to customers, like, you know, the consumer facing thing and show people the lifestyle. So like my brain's kind of always been wired to like creating cool experiences for customers.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And, and watching you guys build the, the crab shack out of the old boat, I was like, it's the perfect. It's. It's the, it's the perfect thing to build one out of. Obviously, has that added to the fun of like, knowing you're going into crab season than having that, like, direct to consumer, like, thing that you're doing with your wife? Like, has that added to the, like the fun of crabbing every year or is it added stress?

[Luke McFadden]

I don't want to say it's added to the fun. I. I will. You know, it has been very helpful for the business. It's been, it's been really awesome. It has definitely added to the stress, you know, so for the first, like seven or eight years, I crabbed. I just sold, you know, I just crabbed Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday. And then I, you know, I just had markets, wholesales, red drawns, things like that. You just drop crabs off, pick up a check. Like, it's not quite that easy, but it basically is. You know, you're mostly responsible for catching them and finding market.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Luke McFadden]

And then, you know, people will buy them for the most part. And then, you know, I wanted to kind of just the way the industry's going and the market's going and everything, like, you know, margins are getting slim, slim. And, you know, I'm young for the industry. You know, the average age of a license holder is 59, 58 now, so. And I'm 29, so there's a. Yeah, I'm half the age of the average gap. So I figured I have a lot, you know, I probably have a while in this industry still. So I should probably figure out. Start early and trying to figure out how to sell direct to customer. Like, you know, so I have a little more control over the price of my product. So that's actually how I started making videos in the first place, was that, you know, I started making TikTok videos to try to just sell the crabs and whatever else. But then, yes, so I started the crab stand. And then, you know, it used to just be my wife and I lawn chairs in the bat of a. Back of the. Of a pickup truck. And then it went to. I bought a trailer. And then after I'd run the trailer for a couple years, I wanted something a little different, a little cooler. You know, as the social media stuff started to grow and the crab business started to grow, we started to get a lot more customers that were traveling, you know, to come see it. And it was becoming a bit. Little, little bit more of like, you know, yeah, we were selling crabs and stuff. But the social media Stuff. People were, like, making it sort of a destination almost. You know, like they were taking day trips there and stuff. And I was just like, I always felt really bad because people were like, oh, yeah, we came from wherever and, you know, it's just me and my wife sitting in a lawn chair, you know, out of the back of this, like, trailer in this, like, empty lot that I bought in town. And I just always felt terrible, like, I wish I had more for. You know what I mean? Like, for you. Like, I know this is super underwhelming. So I was like, all right, well, what. What can we, you know, what can we kind of come up with? And, you know, the number one thing, you know, everybody would come by the stand and say, tell me a story about, you know, their dad or their granddad or their friend or somebody that crabbed and, you know, tell me about their boats. And everybody always wanted to come and see the boat or buy crabs right off the boat or. Or something like that. And I was like, well, in reality, I really can't have everybody come down to the marina and buy them. It just doesn't work that way for sure. It's like, well, how can I kind of share that with the people, you know, kind of bring that experience? And so I. I wanted to get a building built at my lot, but it was like a quarter million bucks. And I ran the numbers. I was like, it's not going to make a quarter million dollar difference in the amount of, you know, I. Not. I didn't think so. I was like, yeah, I don't want to do that. That's way too much. So I. And then I, you know, I called the county. It was like, you know, what can I do here? Yada, yada. And then, I don't know, I just had this ridiculous idea. I was like, there's a load of, like, boat yards are full of these old wooden crab boats that are, like, super cool looking, but nobody's fixing these things. You know, they're going to get burned, you know, burned and cut up. And so anyway, I found that one on Facebook for 700 bucks. And I was like, you know, I can. I know I can make the. The. The square footage I have inside a crab, but work pretty efficiently, you know, from all my experience crabbing. So, yeah, all right, well, what if we just kind of did that same thing, but, you know, on land. So got the boat, towed it home. It was sunk. It was in terrible shape. Towed it home, hauled it up, tore it all down, basically turned it into a fruit Stand, you know, and then hauled it up the road and put it in the ground and, you know, made it look like it was floating. And the crab stand was born. And a technical. People think it's cool, man. Like, yes, that was an idea that, you know, I have a lot of ideas and most of them are not good or do not work out at all. And that was one that ended up working out a lot better than I ever thought. I. Yeah, I was shocked that it.

[Podcast Host]

Actually, it actually, it's because it's a cool idea. And, you know, I think it's kind.

[Luke McFadden]

Of unique, you know, for sure.

[Podcast Host]

And you did exactly what you set out to do, which was, you know, people who are traveling to come, you know, kind of be invested in your brand, right. And like, they want to, like, be a part of your story. Like, you're giving them that experience without, you know, over, like you said, overcrowding the marina and having people come down to the actual boat. Yeah. So that's. Yeah, that's really cool.

[Luke McFadden]

Thanks. Yeah, it's really cool, man, to be able to like, have this kind of axis that's directly with like, I guess the fans on social media, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, so I'm there. I used to be there every weekend. I'm now. Now they're like every third weekend of the month. Just because five days crab and two days selling for six months straight was just like burning me out. I'm not gonna lie. So, yeah, I. I lighten my thing up a little bit. But it's. It's just super cool that, you know, people know I'm gonna be there and then be. To be able to like, meet and talk to and interact and build relationships with these people that are like the true dedicated fans. You know what I mean? Like, it's just, man, it's really awesome. Instead of, you know, it's not like having like one or two events a year where you're going and doing this. It's like, right. You know, I have a direct line to the people that, you know, we're trying to make content for and sell crabs, doing whatever like that I can literally talk to all day. It's like, yeah, I found it to be super helpful and it's just. It's cool to be able to actually build real face to face rel. Relationships with people, you know, in real life. You know, people always come and they're like, oh my gosh, dude, that's so crazy. Like, wow. You know, it's here. It's weird to see you online and then see you in person. And I think the same thing. I'm like, it's crazy to see these numbers on a screen that then translate into real live people that you can let, you know, we can talk.

[Podcast Host]

It's.

[Luke McFadden]

It's just like. It's nuts, man.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, and it's. It, that part is super fun. You know, we've done a whole bunch of events, taking the bus around, selling our merch and whatever, but, like, I end up having a lot of people come up and they're like, I was talking to you on Instagram. And then I gotta be like, what were we talking about? You know, like. And like, they were talking about, you know, a camera or, you know, this hunt or whatever. It's like, what's your username? They're like, okay, now I can connect, you know, who you are. But yeah, like, that, that stuff is super fun, like, to you know, to kind of basically make yourself remember that there is a human on the other end of all of those usernames, or most of those usernames, you know, if it's not a bot account from Russia or whatever.

[Luke McFadden]

AI Russia.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, man, that's. That's super cool. So how, like. So you said you started making TikTok videos. Were you making, like, kind of the build that, like, side of the business? Were you making YouTube videos before that? Or how long have you been in the, like, the content creation on YouTube space?

[Luke McFadden]

So I've been doing YouTube, like, pretty consistently for like, two years now, I think.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, so I started all. Yeah, started on TikTok. We did a lot. I was making short videos. I did a lot of live streaming of us crabbing, you know, and that. That was cooled on then that really helped build the clientele out to sell the crabs. But then it got to a point where, you know, in reality, I was just. I was doing so much where I was. I was crabbing five days a week, I was selling two days a week. This was before the stand anything, you know, I saw people calling my personal phone number to place orders for pre orders for crabs and stuff. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I was shooting videos every day. I was live streaming every day, and I was editing all my own videos every day, too. And I was just like, I was so burnt out, dude. I was like, I. I was like, I can't, you know, I. It broke me, you know, just as a, you know, just broke me. So I was like, I either need to figure out a way to keep this going or basically like, let it die. And so it got to be that I kind of had to go bring some, you know, onboard some people. And then when that happened, then I was like, all right, well, TikTok doesn't really pay enough to, you know, it's not making enough money to really pay for these people. So what, you know, what can we do to, you know, kind of turn this into a leg of the business? And then, um, so then I, I don't know, started getting into YouTube stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Yep.

[Luke McFadden]

And I actually like YouTube format way better. I like the longer form format a lot better. I feel like you build a stronger connection with your audience and, you know, you just have a lot more opportunity to storytell and just kind of bring them into your world and stuff like that. And I, I think a lot of the, you know, I, I don't know, I, I like, I liked it a lot better than short form stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, well, it's just like podcasting, right, where it's like, instead of seeing, you know, 30 to 60 second snippets of somebody on TikTok or Instagram Reels or whatever, like, you get to like, kind of get to know them a little bit and you, you know, kind of figure out who they are talking for an hour, two hours or whatever it is. Like, you just be able to, you know, you get to dive deeper on all that stuff and you're not just trying to like, spit out a sound bite to get something done or like make a hype reel about what, whatever. So, yeah, just like, I agree, the, the long form stuff on YouTube is, is cool. I've enjoyed following along. I mean, you've been, I was looking this morning. You've got like 730 videos in just a couple years. It's like, that's cranking out some content.

[Luke McFadden]

Yes, a lot of those videos. I think it probably counts shorts too. So I was putting a lot of my shorts up there, which is like, kind of separate because I was making a lot of shorts. I still do because we still have a lot of people that like to watch shorts and all. But, um, yeah, I don't know how many long form videos. I mean, I, you know, for at least the first year we did one a week, so that's at least 52. And then this year we started out doing one a week, and now we've actually been putting out two a week for like through the end of Q4. So I'll probably step it back a little bit in, in January and kind of me and my team will kind of you know, take a little bit of a breather because we were really cranking it out because it went, you know. Yeah, it was catching. You know, it went right up from. From the core grabbing and selling to right into like, all right, crab pots are on land. Like, all that's content too. You know, we're making videos on all that. And then it was like, all right, how can we, like step it up to finish out the year really strong? So for sure, it was like just head down, grinding out as many videos as I could, basically.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I mean, every once in a while. Yeah. I mean, every once in a while you have to take a step back. Because what I've found is if you. If you go into it and you're just constantly like pushing stuff out, whether it be, you know, a post or two posts, you know, even a day on like the short form stuff and then do long form stuff, you get to a point where you're like, am I even creative anymore? Like, dude, like, I don't think I'm out of ideas. Like, I.

[Luke McFadden]

It's real, man. It really is real. I mean, every. I struggle with that. Every creator struggles with that. And then you get the self doubt, you know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

And then you just. Yeah, it spirals, man. Like I. Yeah, 100 agree with you. And I've done it both ways where I'm like, just trying to put out as much as I can and then your spread is so thin and then the stuff suffers and then you're. You're like. Then you're really hard on yourself, you know? Yeah, I'm with you, man. I'm learning the importance of trying to, you know, not balance it out 110 all the time. Because I was like, that's this kind of person I am. But also it's like when there's now so much stuff going on and so many people involved, so, you know, whatever, between crab and selling videos, all this and that, the other, like, it's like, holy cow, you gotta. You gotta. Sometimes it's wise to step back a little bit, you know?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

Not just run yourself into the ground.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. Tell me. Tell me about used brand. Because I think that's a cool brand in itself. But like, thanks, you know, tell me about kind of like the mission behind it, what you guys are up to.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, I just thought it'd be cool to kind of sell, you know, my own T shirts and hats and different kind of stuff like that. So. Yeah, I mean, basically everything I do is. I don't think I've bought anything new my whole life, really. So it's like, yeah, good as used. Just kind of seemed like it worked. And, you know, I say a lot in videos and I don't know. So, yeah, that's. We. We started that a few months ago, just pretty much just launched it and. Yeah, so it's my. My brand used merch line, you know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[Luke McFadden]

So I'm hoping, you know, part of it's to kind of, you know, diversify the brand a little bit and. And. And whatever else.

[Podcast Host]

Well, I think it's, you know, it's one of those things too. It's. So you have the crab stand where people can travel to, like, have like, the personal interaction, but, like, the people being able to buy merchandise. Like, ours is public land tees. And so we always, like, my brother and I, you know, this is for field and stream, but like, I. Lots of irons in the fire all the time. So ours is. Ours is like conservation you can wear. Cause 5 bucks from everything we sell we donate back to different conservation projects and stuff like that. So. But it's just a way for people to have, like. Like, if they've been following you for a long time, they're like, I just, you know, kind of want to be like a small part of that as well. And so it gives them an outlet to like or. Or something feel like they're part of it. I can. Yeah. Be part of that story, which is cool.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I totally agree.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. So you have, like, let's say over the last two years of. Of projects that you've done on or ridiculous bias that you've done on YouTube. Do you have a. A favorite of those that people should go. Definitely watch like or, like, you know, I.

[Luke McFadden]

So a few months ago, I bought this boat that was like a. Like an experimental Navy hydrofoil. It's like one of two. It was like, literally at a junk shop on the side of the road, and I just saw a boat with wings. And I was like, what the heck is even that thing? I was like, it's so cool, and went in there. It was an old. An outboard shop, American Outboards on the Eastern Shore. And it was basically a junkyard for old boats. And.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

You know, ended up talking to the people, kind of becoming friends with them. I got a bunch of parts from them, and then they, you know, finally decided, like, hey, man, if you want to buy this thing, you know, like, we'd sell it to you. We just want to see it work. And.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Luke McFadden]

So I ended up getting that and getting that working. And it's a not. It's a Grumman 1957 hydrofoil with like a 1957 Evinrude Big Twin 35 motor on it. And like, so it's all period correct. We got, we got it working and it actually works. It flies. It's like the craziest thing, thing I've ever seen.

[Podcast Host]

Did it. Does it feel super sketchy like running that thing or not?

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, it's. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you're 14 foot aluminum tin can from 1957 and you're, you know, you, you got that much planing surface on each side and then on the stern, it's like that, you know, so.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Luke McFadden]

And it, you know, you're doing almost 40 in this thing. So it's screaming, you know, that's him going, yeah, it feels like you're flying. It's wild. So that was just a.

[Podcast Host]

Cool.

[Luke McFadden]

Because it was like, it was totally something that, like, if I had, if I was that smart, I would have built it. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

But it was cool to find like a barn find of this thing and then instead of like shoving it away in a museum, like actually getting it working and then using it, like.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's.

[Luke McFadden]

That I think is cool. You know, it's cool. I love museums, but I like stuff that you can hop in and use, you know?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. So. So like in the, in whatever materials they found about that boat, like, I know it was like a naval. Like.

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[Podcast Host]

Chevrolet, together, let's drive Whatever experiment. But what was, like, what was the. What was going to be the purpose or, like, why the hydrofoil? Do you know why they.

[Luke McFadden]

I don't know. I mean, I know in that time they were messing with float planes and, you know, like spruce goose and all these like weird things. And I know also just from doing the research at that time, hydrofoil technology was like something Russia was really looking into. They were, they, they. They met a lot of Russian hydrofoils in that era. Yeah, I think is, you know, in terms of speed and efficiency and, you know, whatever else.

[Podcast Host]

I don't know.

[Luke McFadden]

I honestly don't know. But I. It never took off. It's just a cool. Yeah, I mean, it's just a cool boat. Yeah. And I mean, I totally understand why I never made it. I mean, I would think in a military setting, like, this thing just has too many variables that. You know what I mean? Like, the wind is wrong, the weight, you know, whatever. It's not going to work. Right. It's very weight sensitive. And then in the commercial market, I know in 1958, they sold 200 sets of aftermarket wings called C wings at the World's Fair. And. Okay. But the price of the aftermarket kit was like three times what the actual boat cost. You'd have to send your boat back to Grumman and. And then after using one myself, I'm like, oh, you could never put just like anybody in this thing. You know what I mean? Like, somebody has never been on a boat. You know, anybody can buy a boat. That's the scary thing. And it's like, you could never just put somebody in this because they would 100 kill themselves. Like, it's like, it's super scarce. I could see why I never made it to like, the civilian market for sure, you know.

[Podcast Host]

And I thinking about it now, like, I remember my dad telling stories like about. He grew up in Wisconsin and. But on a, you know, close to the lake. And he. I remember him talking about stuff like. So he would have been. That would have been like the 60s and 70s that he was like around the lake a lot. He. I remember him telling stories about all these different, like, really small boats that they were putting giant motors on. So it'd be like single person cockpit in the middle. And he's like, oh, yeah, there was like a few people on the lake that had those. But people just started dying, so they like, they quit, you know, didn't take off.

[Luke McFadden]

Hydroplane, Hydroplane. They were like these little wooden pickle forks. It would hop up these little light engines and stick them way up out of the water. And you'd like, yeah, I'm. I'm trying to. I'm trying to get a couple of those. It's on my list of trying to find some sketchy vintage stuff on the water is like right up my alley.

[Podcast Host]

Well, if I, if I end up seeing one out there, I'LL I'll send it your way. That's good.

[Luke McFadden]

You let me know.

[Podcast Host]

That's awesome.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, I'd say that. And, and the, and the camper boat, honestly, are probably my two favorite, like, builds or boats or whatever from this year. Like, and the camper boat just has, like, allowed me to just go do a bunch of hunting trips, which is, like, what I want to do anyway, you know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Luke McFadden]

So it's like, that's the way. That's the way to tie that into work, basically. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's been a while. No, I mean, the. And may. It's possible that, like, seeing that struck such a chord. Last spring, I was on a turkey hunt with my buddy Ben o'. Brien. We run a turkey podcast called Roost. And there was these. We were hunting along a river, and there was turkeys that were living on this island in the middle of the river. And we were like, we're going to buy kayaks. Like, we gotta float this thing and hunt, like, on, you know, on this island. Bird ended up flying across the river and we killed turkey. But we were like, I've been so much in that train of thought. Like, okay, I float hunt, like, needs to be the next on the list. Like, I need to plan whether it's a deer hunt or a turkey hunt or whatever. So I think when that came across my feed, I was like, oh, man, that's just so fricking badass.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, I, I, A lot of times I just, like, look, I don't know. I, I, I don't know. A lot of the things that I do, the, you know, it's, it's not, it's definitely not because it's the most easiest or efficient way to do something. It's just because I think it would be cool. You know what I mean? Like, that would have been way easier. Could have been way easier. But I just thought it'd be a cool thing to go do it from. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then you, like, look it up and you're like, I would watch a video of somebody doing this ridiculous thing, but there's nobody do. Like, I, I can't find any stuff on doing. So I was like, well, you know, you could be the guy to do it. You know, why not? You know, it's your, like, make the videos you want to watch anyway, so.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you know, I think one of the. I was thinking about this line that somebody told me when I, I rolled into this parking lot at Mystery Ranch. Pax was one of my client. Is one of my clients that I've had for a long time on the photo side. And I rolled into the parking lot at Mystery Ranch with the school bus I had just finished. And the owner of Mystery Ranch at the time, Dana, came out and was in the school bus. And I'm sitting there with some of the other employees, and he gets a phone call and he's like, yep, hello? And somebody asked like, oh, what are you doing? He's like, oh, I'm just sitting out here talking to a guy who did something because nobody told him he couldn't, you know.

[Luke McFadden]

Very much.

[Podcast Host]

I was just thinking about that for you. I was like, you know, just like, not enough people, you know, or like, you wouldn't listen to them anyway. But sometimes you just end up doing things because nobody told you that it wasn't possible.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Luke McFadden]

100, man. That totally pretty much sums up the. My entire, like, career.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Luke McFadden]

Interesting exercises in free will. So an excess top.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, well, you know, like, who was it that's basically said, we're put on this earth to more or less fart around and enjoy the experience? So, you know, I think you're doing it in a. In a cool way.

[Luke McFadden]

And, man, I just, you know, like I said, there's just weird things that I think, man, I wonder if you could do that. That's, you know, that's like a lot of times how it starts. It's like, is this possible? And you look up and like, nobody's done this. Or, you know, maybe there's not much on them. You're like, I mean, why not, you know, go and just go do it, you know, see if it is. See if it is.

[Podcast Host]

See if it works. Right.

[Luke McFadden]

Exactly. And so, you know, and.

[Podcast Host]

And most of the time you can figure it out whether, you know, it's. Whether it's an enjoyable experience or not, that's a different story. But, you know, like, doing it a different way is always. Is always cool. Yeah. Do you have any, like, obviously with, you know, you're creating content for YouTube and putting this stuff out and you're trying to, you know, you're not keeping stuff a secret until it's out. But do you have any, like, ideas in mind going to, you know, going forward that you're trying to pull off?

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, there's a couple. I mean, so I went deer hunting on the. The one boat. I. I also did a duck hunting trip. Since then. The next video is not out yet. The deer hunting video actually goes out tomorrow.

[Podcast Host]

Sweet.

[Luke McFadden]

And then I'd like to take that boat down to the lower Eastern shore and hunt sika deer. That would be really cool. I was just shooting my flint. I want to shoot one with a flintlock rifle.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

So I was just shooting my flintlock yesterday for that. And I really want to take. I did get another boat that I guess has made it to the channel so far, but I want to take that boat from here to, like, Ocean City, which is like a couple hundred miles in the ocean. So you go like all the way up the Chesapeake, through the C and D Canal, all the way down the Delaware, all the way down the ocean, and then back up into, you know, so. But like. Like, it's not, you know, it's like a. It's a boat that you shouldn't do that on. It's like a. It's like a john boat. You know, I'm gonna do like a couple hundred mile trip in the ocean in a john boat. So I'm still trying to figure that one out. Exactly. But, yeah, you know, I don't know. That's. Those are the ones that have been, like, on the front of my mind mostly.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Luke McFadden]

Oh, there's that. There's an island. There's some islands, too, that I'm trying to get to. To our tree hunt. Um, but yeah, I don't know. Sometimes. Sometimes I have a ridiculous idea like the night before. And like I said, just in acting free will, you know, it's like, hey, that's. Nobody says I can't. Yep, that's right. Let's do it tomorrow.

[Podcast Host]

Yep. Definitely been there.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, but, you know, that's also kind of the beauty of it, man. You know, it's kind of. Yeah, you can just spontaneously do ridiculous things sometimes.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, it's got, you know, like, the cool thing is, like, you have built yourself into a career, built a career around yourself to be able to do those things. And it's like. It's like, well, I think this would be cool. Like, the audience is going to want to watch this, so, you know.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And, yeah, it works out.

[Luke McFadden]

I. I appreciate that the people watch it. Even though I've had some very questionable ideas in the past, you know, they still seem to be on board.

[Podcast Host]

So I'm like, yeah, I just feel like you're in. I just feel like you're inspiring, you know, the next generation of. Of young people to like, understand that you can just like, come up with an idea and go try to figure it out. So that's that's cool.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, dude. Like, man, people need to, like, go out, touch grass, you know what I mean? Like, they need to go and, you know, check it out outside, man.

[Podcast Host]

Stuff.

[Luke McFadden]

Stuff's good. That. One of the things that cracked me up the most, this camper bow thing, you know, went online. A lot of people saw it, and there is a ridiculous amount of people that think that it's AI generated. An AI generated picture. That was like. Yeah, that was like, a third of the comments. And then I even seen this thing these people were posting today, and somebody just sent it to me, and it's this truth scan thing, and it's the same picture, and it says, your picture. It's this my picture. And it says, this image is likely created by AI. There's a 10 chance this photo is real. This is insane. Like, I literally, like, filmed the entire thing and. And put it on the Internet. People like, no, it's AI. I was like, what? And then you asked AI if this was an AI picture.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely. And AI. Yeah, even AI doesn't know what AI is.

[Luke McFadden]

Yo, AI is trying to take credit, bro. That's not cool.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, we're. Man, we are in for. It's gonna get way stranger before it gets better, dude. For sure. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

I'm, like. It makes me nervous, man, because it's like, you know, I am like an. I'm a totally, like, an old person, you know, about all this kind of stuff. But in reality, man, I'm like, dude, you could put. You know, I mean, who's to say content creation won't go to AI, you know what I mean? Like, it's pretty crazy. I mean, I've seen AI videos and recordings and pictures of me that are not me, you know what I mean? Where people have just made them so weird, and it's super bizarre, and it's like, dude, that's just like, why would anybody watch the actual stuff I can do when they just want to watch? Like, what they want to watch. They want to just want to watch you do it. And AI can generate that. You know what I'm saying?

[Podcast Host]

Sure, yeah. I mean, I feel like there's got to be. I'm hopeful that people still want, like, to watch and see and hear, like, authenticity, right? Like, I mean, there's certain things that we like to do, and, you know, people in this space like to do that. Like, I don't think AI could ever. I mean, they could sure generate the video, you know, but it's not. You would know that it wasn't real. Somehow.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I don't know. There's. There's a. There's definitely. I mean, at least right now you would know that it wasn't real.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, it could definitely go two ways. You know, it could either go, you know, the way of creating all its own content, or it could go the way where people. Creates more of a demand for people that are actually out there doing real stuff. You know, I. That's what I hope at least, you know, that'd be.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. A part of, part of me is like, I wonder if it'll at some level kill social media because it'll get to a point where, call it 80%, that of what you see is fake and no one will believe anything. It's like, well, why would I even really go on social media if, like, nothing that I wanted to see is even real? So it'll be, you know, we'll see. It's all coming faster than, you know, we'd like it to.

[Luke McFadden]

Everything's going to move to like, I.

[Podcast Host]

Would like it to like, real time.

[Luke McFadden]

VR, live streaming or something. You know what I mean?

[Podcast Host]

Gonna have to. Yeah. So, yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

It's nuts.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Yeah. I posted a quick clip the other day of myself missing a deer and I just, I was like, I'd like to see AI hike 7 miles just to miss a deer yard. I think that job's safe, at least. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

We joke that about crab and we're like, AI would never do this. The, the RO office is not near good enough for AI. Like, they're, they're not dumb enough to go out there and do this. Yeah, we might be safe.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely. Another thing I wanted to ask you, so, you know, a lot of what you'd like to do is like, you said, like, order stuff that you think is, you know, like, let's see if this is a scam, you know, is there anything that you've bought that has been, you know, because I've looked at all those cheap motors and stuff and I'm like, like, is it, you know, you watch one video and they're like, oh, it's terrible. And you watch another video and they're like, that's pretty legit. Is there anything that you've ordered where you're like, this is like, legit. Would order again for other boats or whatever, whether that's a motor or a boat itself.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, one of the things we do or don't do is we never take, like, I never take stuff from the manufacturer for free because I don't want.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

You know what I mean? Like, if it sucks, I want to be tell you, it sucks. Like, right. The Yama BC engines. All right, okay, so there's there's basically like readily available. Readily available. There's two flavors of Chinese engines out there. There's Hankais and there's Yamabeses. And the Hankais aren't bad. They're definitely cheaper and whatever. But the, the Yamabesis, dude, the Yamabesis is pretty mint. They're a little more money. They're about 50% of the cost of a name brand like Yamaha.

[Podcast Host]

Sure.

[Luke McFadden]

But yeah, as far as I can tell, like I have a couple of these Yaba BC 10 horsepower, four strokes. They're identical replicas to a, to a Yamaha that's just like 10 years old or 15. It's whenever the, I went down the rabbit hole. It's like whenever the patent or the copyright runs up on one of their motor designs, these Chinese companies, you know, copy it. But you know, the fact that you could buy a basically a pre emissions four stroke outboard for half the price is like honestly a banging deal. Because yeah, a lot of them are better pre, the pre emission stuff is, are better, more reliable outboards. So yeah, the way I see it is buying a new old stock Yamaha and you know, for half the money. And I'm like, they're actually, yeah, they're pretty good. We've tried to kill them. We've run them for 24 hours. We've hit them off limiter, we've run them on our 110 load. I mean we've dumped them overboard. We've hit everything but the freaking lottery with them. We've, I mean, you name it, dude, and they're pretty good. You know, the only thing I haven't done is like put it on a, a skiff and run it for 10 years.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, sure. But yeah, but still, I mean that seems like you've done a fair bit of torture testing. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

Oh we've, yeah. I mean I'm hard on stuff for crabbers, dude, break everything. So yeah, the Yamabisi's, I recommend the Yamabesis. They're, they're good. And then one time I bought a, this outboard on Amazon that just said outboard. Didn't have any, just said outboard motor. No pictures, no description, like nothing. I was like that, screw it, it's perfect. So I got it and it was a Yamaha Enduro, which is like the one that they sell like a two stroke that they sell in other countries. Still, that's like another pre emissions kind of thing. And that was like 900 bucks. It was stupid cheap and that was like. That was probably dollar for dollar the best value. But they're sporadically for sale on Amazon, but I'd say, yeah, go with the Yama bc. Hanai's not bad. Yamba Bisi way better.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I've been looking for like a 15 horse for a little. I've got a 14 foot john boat that I'm gonna do a build on. Nice. I was like, I would like, I've got a nine or I've got. What do I have an eight horse four stroke on it, which pushes it pretty good. But I was like, after I build out the, like the deck and everything and put the batteries in, I'm definitely gonna need a little bit more push behind it.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

I mean I, I would suggest, you know, something like that or. I mean, I don't know. The, the only thing we haven't had to do a lot of is replace parts and a lot of times you have like multiples of these things. So we can swap parts. We have swapped some of the parts for the Yamaha parts and vice versa. So yeah, as far as I know, some of them do have interchangeable parts, you know, so. And if you were to go online and order the Chinese part for your Yamaha motor, it's probably the same part they're putting on a Dama bc.

[Podcast Host]

You know what I mean? So that would make sense.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah. You are always rolling the dice though when it comes to Chinese. Anything really, but especially the Chinese ad boards. You know, some people love them, some people hate them. I think the, I think the biggest thing is the, the quality control leaving the factory is not always up. Up to Yamaha standards. You know what I'm saying?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. And that's a little risk that I've h. Yeah. And then obviously like reading reviews on Amazon, you hear about like, well, the customer service isn't exactly existent. Like.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, it's not at all, dude. Like it's. Yeah, yeah, they, they're. It's funny because we've, you know, we know them now, we talk back and forth on the thing and they're clearly using Google Translate. I mean, it's like. Doesn't make any sense. They always be class you in the middle of the night because we're on opposite schedules. It's right. It's kind of fun.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. I was the other day I was looking at, um. There was. God, how big it was. It was giant it was like 18 by 32 inflatable tent. Um, and I was like, I could buy this on teemu, and it's like, you know, a thousand bucks. But I was like, if I sewed in, like, a wood stove jack into this thing, like, I could have, like, the ultimate deer camp wall tent, you know, and then just, like, plug it in, inflate it out there in the middle of nowhere in a generator.

[Luke McFadden]

That would be awesome. I actually think I saw those the other day.

[Podcast Host]

That.

[Luke McFadden]

That's.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's an invite, like, 15 guys out and have, like, a giant deer camp or whatever, duck camp or whatever it is, but have the space for it. Like, that would be pretty fun to do something random like that.

[Luke McFadden]

That would be awesome. I. I think I saw that same one. I was thinking. I was like, what if I could just put it on the water, float it down the river, it look at.

[Podcast Host]

It like a giant pond. Do it. Oh, yeah. True. Well, there's no. Well, the one I was looking at, there's no floor, so like, you'd have to do, like, a pontoon base for it if you did.

[Luke McFadden]

Testing the world's largest air mattress. Yeah. Just put it on.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

Pull the floor out of air mattresses.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I can see this going well. No. Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

And even if it doesn't, you know, that's the beauty of YouTube is, you know, sometimes when it just doesn't go well, that's good, too.

[Podcast Host]

You know, that's true.

[Luke McFadden]

Keep it real.

[Podcast Host]

More engagement that way. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Luke, man, I appreciate you hopping on. You know, it's Christmas week. This will come out next week, right in between Christmas and New Year's. But tell people where they can find you and, like, what they can do to support, like, I just, you know, been fun following along.

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah. Appreciate it, man. Yeah, I mean, we're all there. You know, we're on all socials, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, all that kind of stuff. You just look up my name, Luke McFadden. You should find it especially on, like, Facebook. There's a lot of fakes out there, especially on Facebook. There's, like, hundreds.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Luke McFadden]

So definitely look for the blue checks and stuff like that. Yeah. If you want to watch or there. Yeah. If you want to get merch, good as used dot com. You know, we got merch coolers, all that kind of stuff. If you're looking for crab stuff, you know, we have a whole retail food line of, like, crab cakes, crab soup, crab chips, seasonings, all that kind of stuff you can find that and you're.

[Podcast Host]

Shipping nationwide for that?

[Luke McFadden]

Yeah, yeah, we're at grocery stores and a lot of grocery stores on the east coast at least and we ship anywhere in the country, so.

[Podcast Host]

Awesome.

[Luke McFadden]

You can find all that stuff through my socials and whatever. You know, go dig around the bios. You'll find all that stuff and whatever else. But yeah, appreciate it man. Thanks for, thanks for taking the time.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, thank you. Just, you know, glad to get you on. I just had to hear the hear the story. But with any luck I'll make it out to the east coast and come visit the crab stand and it's custody. Chila Urso. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks again.

[Luke McFadden]

Awesome man. Thank you. Appreciate it.

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