At Lewis Brothers on Harkers Island, sportfishing vessels have a shiny, sleek finish. 



"Daddy was real diversified," says 

 Eddie Guthrie, Julian's son. "He was 

 always willing to try new techniques and 

 designs. The crown jewel of his work was 

 the Allison, a 72-foot custom sportfishing 

 boat that cost $1.5 million in 1981." 



Over the years, Guthrie has received 

 numerous awards, including the first 

 Living Treasure of North Carolina Award 

 from the University of North Carolina at 

 Wilmington in 1988 and the prestigious 

 N.C. Arts Council Folk Heritage Award in 

 1993. 



"Julian Guthrie is important for the 

 boatbuilding tradition in North Carolina," 

 says Allen. "He went from being a lone 

 boatbuilder in a one-man boat shop to 

 being a creative force behind a crew that 

 built and exported luxury yachts." 



While Guthrie's business was 

 thriving, other Harkers Island residents 

 learned the trade. 



Alex Willis, who has a full-time 

 boatbuilding business on Harkers Island, 

 learned the craft from his father. "Dad had 

 a boat shed three times as big as mine," he 



says. "When I was 11,1 began helping him 

 on weekends and evenings in the back yard 

 of our house." 



Willis, the grandson of patriarch 

 Brady Lewis, thinks you have to be "bom 

 up in boatbuilding" to master the craft. 

 "You can't teach someone who is 30 or 35 

 about boatbuilding," he says. "It's not like 

 building a house. Nothing is square. Every 

 frame is cut differently." 



His first boat was the Joyce Moore, an 

 80-foot shrimp trawler built with his father. 

 Later, Willis began specializing in 

 sportfishing boats that sell for $300,000 to 

 $325,000 to customers as far away as 

 Alaska. 



Now, he is working on a 42-foot 

 sportfishing boat in his blue and white 

 garage, which smells like fresh cedar. Piles 

 of sawdust cover the floor around the boat. 

 An array of tools is scattered about, 

 including an old handsaw used by his 

 grandfather. 



Willis employs two other men in his 

 shop. Over the years, he has had trouble 

 getting help. "I look at it as a dying trade," 



he says. "The younger generation doesn't 

 want to do it. It is too much work for them. 

 I have young boys work with me and quit 

 in a week or two." 



About a mile from Willis' boat shop 

 on East Bay, Ricky Gillikin runs the largest 

 and most modem boatbuilding business 

 on the island. At East Bay Boat Works, 

 which consists of three building sheds, 

 20 employees custom-build sportfishing 

 boats and small yachts. 



Gillikin has merged traditional 

 boatbuilding with modem techniques. 

 "We combine the best of both worlds by 

 using wood and fiberglass," he says. 

 "However, my brother James still uses 

 juniper on his sportsfishing vessels." 



When a customer orders a boat, 

 Gillikin draws the design on paper. Then 

 he makes a one-of-a-kind mold from triple 

 layers of laminated wood and fiberglass 

 with high-tech fabrics. "The hull is built 

 upside down," he says. "Then we pull the 

 boat out and flip her over." 



In one of the East Bay boat sheds, a 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 17 



