Things with the dude all good

The Tube Dude is growing up.

A colorful metallic stick statue made out of aluminum and other materials used for boats, the dude is a Sarasota-based business. And those statues are everywhere from people's mailboxes to the fronts of businesses to mini ones in offices.

Onetime boat builder Scott Gerber founded Tube Dude in 2010 out of the remnants of what was Legend Custom Yachts, a $5 million, 60-employee business. The firm has since had some growing pains (Gerber initially ran the business out of his former boat building facility and later moved to a store on Main Street in downtown Sarasota and then St. Armands), but Gerber says his storefront location on St. Armands Circle has been doing well of late.