ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN

Glory Boat honors loved ones' passion for hunting and fishing

End-of-life conversations with your parents are awkward, but Joel Schmidt knew it was time to have "the talk" with his his dad.

When the subject turned to burial arrangements, Schmidt tried to lighten the mood. His father is an ardent angler, so Schmidt quipped that maybe he could be buried in his fishing boat.

They laughed, but the more Joel thought about it, the more reasonable the idea seemed. It would be impractical to inter a full-size boat, of course, so Schmidt came up with the next best thing, a casket built like a scaled-down flatbottom boat.

That was the seed of an entrepreneurial idea that morphed into a new product called Glory Boat.

The logo and name are trademarked and the patent is pending, but a Glory Boat is simply a casket built of 18-gauge steel with a folding canvas top. It has carry handles and a platform over the stern for flowers.

"It didn't have the platform originally, but a funeral director told us that it's really important to have a place to put flowers and mementos," Schmidt said.

Each Glory Boat is built in central Arkansas by Schmidt's son-in-law Boris Guryev and brother-in-law Robert Harvey.

Forgive us for any perceived impertinence, but the Glory Boat has a lighthearted effect on a dark subject. It really does banish the morbidity from the entire conversation.

Take the folding canvas top, for example. It looks a lot like a layout boat for duck and goose hunting.

"I've had people ask if they could hunt in it until it was time to, you know, use it for its intended purpose," Schmidt said.

Schmidt doesn't recommend it because a Glory Boat is not entirely waterproof.

Schmidt said he can customize a Glory Boat to a customer's specifications. For example, he can emblazon the hull number and/or name of the deceased's favorite boat. One customer had the logo of his hunting club imprinted on the hull.

At first glance, Glory Boat looks too tiny for all but the smallest person. Not so, Schmidt said. Guryev, who is 6-10, fit inside easily, requiring Schmidt to divulge some of the tricks of the undertaker's trade.

Guryev's visit into a Glory Boat was voluntary, by the way. Schmidt said he is a wonderful son-in-law.

Naturally, one of my first questions was, "Is this legal?"

It is. A cemetery might require a casket for burial, but Arkansas law does not. Remains may be interred in just about any kind of container.

Federal law requires funeral homes to accept caskets that consumers have purchased from other sources, such as an online retailer. You may also build your own casket.

In Arkansas, the only concrete requirement is that a body must be buried in an established cemetery. If you want to bury a loved one on family property, you can establish a family graveyard, depending on local zoning ordinances.

What about the fabric lid? It doesn't seal, and it has no lock.

There is no requirement for a casket to seal, Schmidt said. In fact, it's probably better if it doesn't. His funeral director advisor said that two things will happen to an interred body. It will liquify, or it will mummify. The latter is more likely if air circulates around the body.

To that end, the Glory Boat is well suited for interment in above-ground vaults, but it can also be buried.

"It's too bad you can't build one from wood for a Viking burial," I said. "Set it afire and shove it out into the lake."

"I'm sure there are laws against that," Schmidt said.

This enterprise is quite a departure for Schmidt, who along with his wife Jennifer has run a successful photography studio for many years. The photography business has changed a lot during the digital age, and Schmidt has had to adapt. Digital photography has enabled amateurs to flood the market with photos at a fraction of the cost with only a fraction of the overhead. Photo piracy is rife as it becomes easier to swipe images from the Internet with limited recourse for an artist.

Schmidt, a devout Christian, said he and Jennifer consider their business a ministry. He said the Glory Boat idea was a revelation and a path to a new ministry that addresses a need we'll all have eventually in a way that honors a loved one's passion for the outdoors.

Sports on 01/21/2018

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