OWNER SPOTLIGHT: BRETT DOWDY

Every Gause owner has a story, but sometimes the best way to tell it is to simply let the owner tell it themselves.

For this Owner Spotlight, we’re doing things a little differently. Rather than retelling Brett Dowdy’s story in our words, we wanted you to hear it in his. From seeing his first Gause Built Boat more than two decades ago, to finally owning one of his own, to watching that boat become part of his family’s recovery after the hurricanes of 2024, Brett’s connection to Gause runs much deeper than the boat itself.

So, this time, we’re stepping aside.

This is Brett’s story, in his own words.

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How did you first hear about Gause Built Boats?

It all started for me around the fall of 2003, during my offseason after my first professional baseball playing experience. I needed to make some money to live during the offseason from playing, so I mated for a good buddy of mine that fall/winter.

During that time, I saw my first Gause Built Boat on the water. It was run by a local legend down here, Captain Alan Engle, who still runs that same boat to this day.

That next offseason, I was home visiting my orthopedic surgeon, Arthur Valadie, who informed me that he and his brother, Alan Valadie, both had Gause Built Boats. It wasn’t until a few years later that I actually got to ride in his boat—my first ride in a Gause Built Boat—and I knew then that was the boat I wanted.

What made you choose a Gause?

Let’s be honest here: just the pure look of the boat on the water is unmatched!

It’s sleek, it’s curved, it’s sexy, it rides beautifully, it’s functional, and the attention to detail is like no other nearshore center console boat!

How do you primarily use your Gause?

The way we have been using our boat over the last two years of having it is a little different than most for right now, due to some damage from the hurricanes several years ago.

Right now, all we really have had time for is a little fishing, unfortunately, but mainly just cruising and sandbar trips with the family—which doesn’t do our boat any justice!

What are some of your favorite features?

With my kids being 3 and 5 when we got the boat, a lifesaver for my kids has been the unique custom dodger up front, where the kids can lay down, take naps, and just stay out of the sun when needed.

Nobody really talks about it, but the slide-out cooler system underneath the helm seat is something I really do enjoy and is so functional. It allows you to not have to try and find a spot on the boat—or any boat, for that matter—that would be in the way and taking up room for fishing or freely moving about the boat.

The feature that has saved my life, and especially my shoulders, is the patented spring system on the folding tower. Where I live, in order to get to and from, I have to go under a small, short bridge that requires me to fold my tower up and down every time. As big, sturdy, and strong as that tower is, there is no way I would be able to take the tower up and down without having that spring system in the tower.

What stands out about the way your Gause performs?

I also commercially run a 24-foot Carolina Skiff, so going from that boat one day to the Gause is night and day.

The Gause just handles choppy/rough water so much better than most boats, but still also allows you to run in water that most other center console boats can’t run in.

What does owning a Gause mean to you?

Back in the early 2000s, ever since I saw and then rode in my first Gause, I wanted one—truly!

It just wasn’t in the cards for me until July of 2024, when I came across one for sale locally to me and the timing just worked out perfectly.

My reasoning for owning a Gause has so many layers to it.

It’s the boat I’ve always wanted. It’s the boat that, two months after buying it, the hurricanes almost destroyed so badly I didn’t know how I was going to financially fix it. It was a sick feeling, but luckily the Gause team went above and beyond and took care of me through the insurance and repair process.

This is the boat that has helped heal my family, bring us closer together, and help us get through a very tough time in our lives.

It’s been our saving grace, if I’m being honest.

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FAVORITE MEMORIES

What is your favorite memory or story aboard your Gause?

My favorite memory/story has still yet to be written, as I truly believe that my family and I are about to embark on so many different adventures sooner than later!

But for now, my favorite memory is very simple and probably not glamorous to anybody else but me—which is fine.

It was one afternoon not long after getting our boat back from all the hurricane damage. We were still staying in a rental house in Cortez, Florida. On a late Saturday afternoon, after a pretty good thunderstorm, we as a family took our boat out for a ride and to the local sandbar.

There was nobody on the water. It was slick calm, and there was nobody at the sandbar. The storm had chased everybody off.

It was just my family and I. It felt like we had the entire ocean to ourselves.

The kids were running around playing, the boat was beached with Stick Figure blaring, and we weren’t worried about bothering anybody. At that moment, I didn’t have a care or worry in the world!

We were going through a lot as a family, and at that moment it just took us away from all of that and let us heal as a family.

I know it’s not glamorous, or wild, or real masculine, and just about anyone who owns a boat might think it was just an average day on the water.

But for me, that day, at that moment, it was EVERYTHING.

And I have the team at Gause to thank for that!

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Is there anything else you would like us to include?

After the hurricanes in September and October of 2024, with our home being flooded and not livable, that was my primary concern. I was trying to figure out how to deal with insurance, take care of my family, and get us back into our home—which took nearly a year and a half.

I had only had the boat for two months before it got beat up pretty good during the hurricane, but that was the least of my concerns at the time.

Finally, when I was able to file an insurance claim on the boat, it wasn’t until almost January. The insurance adjuster came out and sent me his estimate, and I knew there was much more damage to the boat.

It took me about four months after that, around April, before I contacted the Gause team, told them my story, and brought the boat up to them.

After they assessed the damage, they wanted me to come up and meet with them.

It had been a rough six or seven months already, but the team sat me down in the office, looked at me, and said, “Don’t worry, Brett. You are family now. We got you.”

And they weren’t lying!

The work they do to all boats is first class—their attention to detail, fabrication, and always looking to improve and go to the next level. I saw all of this firsthand as they fully restored my boat from top to bottom.

They went above and beyond for me. They did things financially for me that I will never be able to pay them back for.

But most importantly to me is that they truly cared.