Sea Grant 



13/5' 



5 



ItCDOO^BUB 



JUN 1886 



liaSTATELBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



May 1986 



Photo of tialtcras Yachts Inc. from The News and Observer 



Ask anybody who likes nice boats — the commercial 

 fisherman from Wanchese, the millionaire yachtsman from 

 Greece, the marlin fisherman from Florida. North Carolina 

 boatbuilders make some of the finest boats to meet the 

 water. Such a reputation has helped build a multimilhon 

 dollar industry that's shipping revenues right into the 

 pockets of the state's economy. 



Boatbuilding has survived in the crossroads and country- 

 sides of the coast and thrived in larger towns. On Harkers 

 Island, craftsmen have been famous for years for construct- 

 ing quality wooden fishing boats. And in New Bern, 

 workers watch fancy fiberglass yachts sail off the assembly 

 line about 80 times a year. 



Today, approximately 112 boatbuilders set up shop in 



North Carolina, says the U.S. Coast Guard. According to 

 the National Marine Manufacturers Association, North 

 Carolina is the seventh largest boatbuilding state in the 

 country. In dollar terms, that meant more than $163 million 

 were added to the state's balance sheet in 1984, estimates 

 J ef f Johnson, an anthropologist and Sea Grant researcher at 

 East Carolina University in Greenville. Since then, the fig- 

 ures have only increased. 



"North Carolina has rapidly become one of the major 

 boatbuilding manufacturers in the country," says Eddie 

 Smith, owner of Grady White Boats in Greenville and 

 former chairman of the board for the NMMA. Several 

 factors account for the industry's growth and success. 

 Continued on next page 



