NC Boating Lifestyle
October 2003

The Sheer Artistry of Custom Boatbuilding
By Leigh Pressley

Hand-building wooden boats dates back centuries, but now a Morehead City company is blending the traditional craft with cutting-edge computer technology.

Shearline Boatworks, owned by Mason Cox III and Chip King, builds custom center-console Carolina boats using detailed designs generated on computer software and parts cut from a computer-operated router.

“It’s marrying the old with the new,” says King. “Wooden boats are the oldest kind of boats built, but we’re doing it with the latest in computer technology.”

Cox, a Chapel Hill native who has a bachelor’s degree in marine science from UNC-Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Ocean Science from Duke University, founded Shearline Boatworks three years ago after working at Jarrett Bay and seeing a niche for smaller, luxurious custom boats from 23 to 43 feet. King, who grew up in Greensboro and has a business background, joined Shearline earlier this year.

“Everything in Carolina boats had gone larger to 54 feet, 58 feet and 61 feet that cost over $1 million,” says Cox. “Typically smaller boats were scraps left over from bigger boats and were seen as runabouts just for fun. I saw a gap in the marketplace for smaller center console boats 23 feet to 43 feet, built to the same standard and the same fit, finish and quality of larger boats.”

Shearline customers can design every aspect of their boat, including its size, settee placement, center console shape and position, hull color, fuel tank size, number of rods, fish box and drink box placement and materials used in decking and railing.
“It’s totally custom,” says King. It’s all up to the customer’s imagination. There’s no list of standard features and no list of options. It’s like building a custom house. Tell me what you want, and we’ll build it.”

Shearline boats, generally set up for offshore fishing, appeal to customers who don’t need more size and who like the lower price point.

“Our 31-foot boat has a $245,000 base, which is far less than the $1.3 million they’d pay for a 57-foot boat other companies make,” says Cox. “Plus the customer goes through pretty much the same process of starting from scratch and entirely custom building the boat.”

Collaboration between the customers and boat builders is key.

“We start with what they want to do in the boat – do they fish a lot or cruise a lot?” says King. “Do they need twin engines, an air conditioner, a generator and a microwave? We all throw in our ideas; it’s very collaborative. That’s part of the fun and part of the allure.”