Three Smith’s at Lake Dora. We made 25 Yellow Shirts!

Today marks the official 12th year of Woody Boater being in the world. Of course this should come to no surprise of many, since its clear that many of us are still 12. For some reason, my sense of humor and general observation of the world is through the brain of a 12 year old. A good fart joke still cracks me up and getting to drive a classic boat is still a privilege. Every time I get behind the wheel its the same rush of excitiement that it was the first time. And I love it that way.

Oreo was just a pup

As I was looking back over 12 years of doing this, I thought it might be fun to share some kinda cool stats.

One of the first headers. Stayed up for about 6 months. We didnt start changing headers daily until 2011.

The first header I think

When we changed over to the newer format. Woody Gal on the left and Ruby as a pup!

The first name was Woodboats.com then several other changes.

The first story was just a welcome. Man oh man was the spelling bad. And we got 2 clicks.

It took over a year to get 1000 readers in total for the entire year. Now we reach over 200,000 unique visitors a year!

Just Swell was our first boat.

Since becoming WoodyBoater about 1/2 year into it, we have not missed one day! NOT ONE! Including Christmas morning, being sick, even reporting from the ER and during hurricanes. The stories may have been horrible, but there we were. I am oddly proud of that.

We officially started countdowns to shows in 2008 . this one is from 2014.

There have been 4,870 stories and of those 4,207 are written by me, the others are from others. Mostly Texx, who is still around, and crazy busy and helps behind the scenes.

The comment section is where the fun is

69,281 Comments. Yes! that many. We have seen each one and made sure all is okay in the comment section daily

1,220,061 SPAM comments have been filtered. YES! Its insane, and we invest in plugins that keep the lanes clear.

The Sons Of Varnish is a thing now!

During any day there are around 2000 of you here. You click on an average of 2 things so around 4,000 hits a day, some more, some less. Our record day is 20,000 visitors in one day.

I think we have had 10? maybe 11 Virtual holiday parties. I suppose if I could remeber, they would not have been fun

We  have around 18,000 followers on Facebook now and 10,000 followers on Instagram. Making us an official Social Media Inferencer. And yet my ass has yet to get larger, or has Taylor Swift started a fight with me. So I suppose classic boats have little influence over the planet. This dumb video got over 40,000 veiws in two days? Crazy

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Boring to watch but very exciting to do! #woodenboat #chriscraft #classicboat #boatramp #nervous

A post shared by WoodyBoater (@woodyboater) on

The App, has a bunch of folks on it, but to be honest. Egh. Not really used alot. I think.

About due for a redoooo with better more features you may actually use

We got a reader in Wyoming a while back. Old joke, but we have now reached all 50 states and most of the countries on the planet. And possibly the largest website in the UNIVERSE! Black holes and all.

Babes and Bacon are always favorites

Headers change daily. And try and reflect the stories of the day or the mood of the day

So thats it. Our little community has been through a lot, and so have many of us. We have lost many great ones, and found new ones. It’s been a true joy to be a small part of peoples lives. And I deeply appreciate you all having fun with it all. And you know what we say. This story aint over until someone gets towed in!

Yup!

Old school rules

We have all been there

Just a couple weeks ago

It happens in Florida

Yup!

Florida and the Harrisons

Gotta laugh

The tow of shame

Any day is a good day on the water

Hold on

Party tow

Open hatch tow

The Boatress like a tow

3 carb tow

Plastic tow

Boat show parade tow

Sunset show boat tow

The long arm of the red line

This goes on and on and on! But you need to pee now. So see you tomorrow

37 replies
  1. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Matt, it is clear you have become the king of the digital WoodyBoater universe. Congrats from that Michigan gang on 12 great years. We have all enjoyed the ride and are looking forward to many more years together. Come back to visit soon!

  2. RiverRat
    RiverRat says:

    Oh crap. I have been looking at woodybaoter that long. I better check my drivers licence for my correct age. Thank you Matt for a universe to hide in.

  3. RH In Indy
    RH In Indy says:

    Much to be proud of! Seeing the numbers and knowing you haven’t missed s day is absolutely amazing. Remembering Woody Boater’s anniversary helps me remember my own, which is also today. Thanks WB!!

  4. Rick
    Rick says:

    It doesn’t seem that long ago that I could comment at any time in the morning and still be the first one. Every morning I look forward to bad jokes, horrible spelling and great stories (even your bad days are better than reading the newspaper). Even though Panther didn’t splash this year reading WoodyBoater keeps me up on the happenings. Don’t stop.

  5. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Thanks for all the entertainment, news updates, and smoking chimps over the years!

    I just landed in Baltimore, off to get some breakfast crab cakes with bacon!

  6. Tom McGowan
    Tom McGowan says:

    Congratulations Matt. I am a daily reader and, living in Taiwan (which is 12 hours ahead of you), get my daily dose at the end of my day rather than the beginning . You really do a great job and are clearly the “center” of our classic boating universe. Looking forward to the next 12 years .

  7. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    I have been around since about day one…..which Matt spelled “un” back then I think. To put out fun for us EVERY day for all these years is a huge accomplishment…if not a huge contribution to American literature. Over this same timespan WoodenBoat mag has vastly improved too….but been eclipsed by Woodyboater.com in some respects. Matt Smith truly is the Jon Wilson of the digital age. Thanks for starting may day..every day.
    John in Va.

  8. George Emmanuel
    George Emmanuel says:

    The itch to get on the water every day gets worse with the morning dose of Woody Boater. I guess that’s a good thing to say?? And BTW, thanks for putting the picture of Larry in. I miss that guy!

  9. Kelly Wittenauer
    Kelly Wittenauer says:

    Congratulations, Matt! Thank you for 12 wonderful years of classic boating fun. And I enjoy the new header for each new day, glad you started that.

  10. Mike Hodes a/k/a Florida Kid
    Mike Hodes a/k/a Florida Kid says:

    Thanks Matt for your faithfulness posting every day. I look forward to enjoying Woody Boater daily during my quiet time as I watch the sunrise over the lake. You motivate me to pursue my Florida lifestyle hobby and use my boats.

  11. Briant
    Briant says:

    Wow. What an absolute amazing run. Twelve years and never missed a beat. Cheers to you and your crew.

    Sorry but I just have to say…we’ve towed in seven over the years, not once for us. Knock on the deck…..

  12. Frank@Falmouth
    Frank@Falmouth says:

    Thank you Matt for your daily thoughts about life, love, and boats,….usually all tied together in a creative, and entertaining thread…..In all your “spare time” 🙂 , you should write a book!

    What makes this special are the comments and reactions to your early morning thoughts. While there seems to be the regular group of WB’ers that comment , I can only imagine the number who just read this daily and dont reply..

    Great work! and dont stop !

    Thank you
    Frank Eggert

  13. Scott from Iowa
    Scott from Iowa says:

    Well here’s “Just Swell” your old ‘49 CC !!
    She’s doin great on Lake Chetek Wisconsin.
    Fresh motor rebuild, bottom, and varnish!
    Love that boat.

  14. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P )
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P ) says:

    All I can say is Congratulations! and Thank You Matt! You have brightened many of my mornings. Beautiful pictures, Great stories, and humorous (sometimes helpful) comments. I feel like I know the regular commenters. Hope to see you in Hessel some day.

  15. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    In this era of Youtube millionaires (yes, this is a thing and its unbelievable what people follow) I can’t believe WoodyBoater isn’t more popular but I’m just happy your here everyday. Your juxtaposition compared to inane interweb nonsense amazes me that you don’t have a larger following, not from a boating perspective but from your stream of consciousness writing about life. Many times, your perspective makes us feel like we wished we wrote that piece ourselves. Congratulations on your success and for 12 more years if you can continue this amazing effort. All seriousness aside, the hilarious comments are greatly appreciated as well as the anticipation of Troy’s contribution, lol. Its a community that cares.

  16. Texx
    Texx says:

    12 Years! A boat load of stories, a boat load of travel, a boat load of photos, a boat load of fun, a boat load of friends, and a boat load of memories.

    Thanks Matt.

  17. Richard Daley
    Richard Daley says:

    Look forward to it every single morning here in the north.
    Helps us hang on, when our boating season in Canada is so short. Temperature here today will be -15C or 5F. With snow.
    Thanks for helping us deal with that.
    Richard

Comments are closed.