What do you get when you combine a creative and tenacious boatbuilder with a successful businessman and engineer? In the case of Buddy Davis Boatworks, Inc., you get an investment of all new tooling and molds designed to double both productions and revenues in only a year.

That's the ambitious plan laid out by the Wanchese, N.C., company as it makes the leap from a small-volume, custom builder of "Carolina"-styled sportfishing boats to a higher-volume, semicustom builder. The strategy is part of the company's effort to reposition itself in the post-luxury tax, post-recession era.

"I wasn't sure I was going to expand," says Buddy Davis, the 52-year-old founder and CEO. "We had a very secure niche in the industry. No debt." But, since so many luxury yacht builders failed to come back after the early 1990s slump, "We decided it was too good and opportunity to pass up."

Part of that strategy includes abandoning the older models and introducing an all new product line with five new models - a 45 Express, 50 Express, 50 Sportfisherman, 58 Sportfisherman and its flagship 70 Sportsfisherman. Actually, the 70 is the only model that's brand new; the other designs all have a background as one-offs of different sizes, but are new to production building.

A New Partner

"With all these new tools and resources at our disposal, we're going to create an awful lot of excitement," says the former charterboat captain. "We're already ahead of where we wanted to be with new orders, and as the word is getting out, we're seeing a tremendous interest in our new line," he says.

The "we" Buddy Davis refers to includes his new partner and company president, Jeff Dickson. An avid fisherman and longtime admirer of the Buddy Davis design, Dickson became a major investor in Buddy Davis Boatworks in early 1999, bringing with him years of experience in running his own manufacturing company and fresh ideas on how to expand the Buddy Davis operation.

With Dickson's equity investment, Buddy Davis was able to complement his existing 40,000-square-foot manufacturing plant with and additional 50,000 square feet of new, state-of-the-art facilities. This includes buildings for an all new engineering group, a dedicated paint shop and additional production space.

The expanded operations, which required and investment of several million dollars, also includes new three-dimensional modeling software that allows a quick flow of concepts to execution. The company also invested in all new tooling and molds for each of the five new models.

Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, Buddy Davis built all its own tools. That responsibility now is outsourced to Precision Shapes of Virginia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Marine Concepts Inc. The result has brought Buddy Davis state-of-the-art equipment, including computerized numerically controlled routers and foam plugs that lessen the cost of building molds by speeding up the process.

'Flawless finish'

The new tooling is designed to reduce the number of molded pieces for each model, wielding a higher quality finish than ever before, according to the builder. In addition to reducing assembly time, the use of a single mold for the deck, cabin and bridge eliminates many seams, joints and secondary bonds. Buddy Davis says this all leads to amore naturally sculptured look and a reduction of long-term maintenance issues.

"Our hulls are coming out of our new molds with an absolutely flawless finish," Buddy Davis says. "These are our best-looking and best-built boats ever. What's really exciting is that with this advanced tooling, it's actually possible to keep our prices within reach of production boats."

Also new to the Buddy Davis line is the use of high-tech, composite material. While all hulls are laid up with solid fiberglass below the waterline, various composite core materials are used in the hull, deck, superstructure and interior bulkheads to create strength and stiffness while reducing weight. As a result of the weight-saving materials and refinements to the hull designs, Buddy Davis says all the new models are capable of achieving speeds in excess of 40 knots, with optional engine packages, compared with the 30-knot barrier that was broken just eight years ago.

The familiar 'flare'

The new and improved models still embody the "Carolina flare" that helped shape Buddy Davis Yachts' reputation for a smoother, drier ride, even in the rough waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks. The deep-entry, sharply pointed bow flares up to the deck, allowing the boat to slice through rough waters, while the exaggerated flare of the foredeck deflects spray away from the boat. The flat chines and convex surfaces aft help the boat get up on plane.

The first model to emerge from Buddy Davis' new product line was the 58 Sprotfisherman, unveiled at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in October. The Buddy Davis 58, with newly drawn lines that are even more fluid and curvaceous than previous models, resulted from the collaboration of naval architect Don Blount and the master builder himself, Buddy Buddy Davis.

Buddy Davis began working with the Norfolk, Va., architect in the early 1980s. Blount has assisted the boatbuilder in all preliminary designs, completed most of the bottom layouts, and worked with Buddy Davis engineers to develop speed and power curves. More recently, Blount and his two sons, Don Jr. and Bill, have teamed up to form a new company, Precision Shapes of Virginia, which is building the new tools for the Buddy Davis plant.

The business side

While Buddy Buddy Davis has been preoccupied with designing and building his new product line, Dickson has been busy building a bigger and better company. In recent years Buddy Davis had been building 10 boats a year. The company already is on target to build 20 boats in 2001 and projects at least 30 for the following year. With base prices ranging from $750,000 to $3 million, the increased production will represent an increase in revenue of at least 100 percent for 2001.

Dickson has instituted manufacturing efficiencies and techniques aimed at reducing the typical production time from 18 months to 12 or less.

"As our orders increase for each model, we fully expect to reduce that time even more significantly," he says. "We know that as we get our facilities up to speed, we'll be delivering some models in less than six months."

Dickson, 43, is drawing from years of experience setting up manufacturing plants that use new technologies and processes. His career began when he took over his father's precision metal fabrication company in Luzerne, Pa. It was his passion for fishing that led him to take an equity position in Buddy Davis Boatworks and assume the day-to-day responsibility for the company.

Direct Sales

Dickson and Buddy Davis have a different approach for the sales and distribution of their new product line than most builders. From 1985 until 1993, Buddy Davis worked through a traditional dealer and broker network to sell his production boats, but as he switched back to custom building he found he didn't need them any more. When he began the process of returning to production building he toyed with the idea of starting up another dealer network, but, in discussing his options with Dickson, he elected not to go that route.

Instead, the company is opening its own "Buddy Davis Direct" sales and service offices. There are currently offices in Cape May, N.J.; North Carolina's Outer Banks; Fort Lauderdale; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Each office is responsible for the sales and service of both new and used Buddy Davis yachts.

"It was a gamble because we lost that assurance of being able to send our inventory to a dealer network," Buddy Davis says. "It made us work harder."

On the plus side, Buddy Davis says his company is more responsive and more reactive to clients' needs.

From growth to recession and back again

As a charter boat mate and captain more than 25 years ago, Buddy Davis learned firsthand what the turbulent waters off the coast of North Carolina can demand of a boat and crew- especially getting out of the infamous Oregon Inlet.

During the off-season, Buddy Davis joined his fellow fishermen building boats. As he learned boatbuilding from the local legends, his own designs began to take shape. With a natural eye for the "Carolina flare" and an understanding of what it takes to cut through monster seas, Buddy Davis began building his own line of juniper-planked sportfishing boats in the 1970s.

He founded Buddy Davis Boatworks Inc. in October 1973 in a small boatyard in Wanchese, N.C. By 1976, the company had grown from a crew of seven into a full-service custom boatbuilding yard with 60 workers. Between 1973 and 1984, Buddy Davis Boatworks designed and built 35 custom sportfishermen ranging in size from 37 to 73 feet. The early boats were all wood, using native North Carolina juniper planking. By 1978, the builder was using cold mold techniques with lightweight plywoods, epoxies, polyurethane and various Kevlar and fiberglass reinforcements. Beginning in 1982, Buddy Davis switched to an all-composite, one-off construction of PVC foam core, Kevlar-reinforced fiberglass.

In 1984, the rising costs of labor and materials for one-off fiberglass construction convinced Buddy Davis to evaluate the feasibility of building an all-fiberglass sportfisherman on a semi-production basis that was totally molded.

On June 6, 1984, Buddy Davis Yachts Inc. was founded and the design for the Buddy Davis Yachts' 47 Sportfisherman and 61 Sportfisherman began. Buddy Davis built a new 18,000 square foot manufacturing plant later tat fall, and in July 1985, delivered his first all-molded fiberglass yacht.

In early 1986, with the financial backing of Rocky Mount, N.C., businessmen Mayo and Nick Boddie, Buddy Davis Yachts aggressively began true production boatbuilding. The Wanchese manufacturing facilities were expanded, and in 1988 a second facility was built in Elizabeth City, N.C., to support the assembly of the final product. Maximum production was attained in 1988, when 30 sportfishermen were delivered.

In 1990, Congress enacted the luxury tax - a 10 percent levy on the portion of a boat price in excess of $100,00. Buddy Davis Yachts quickly introduced smaller, less expensive models - 38 and 44 Express and Flybridge models.

However, like many other U.S. boatbuilders, Buddy Davis could not completely shake off the effects of the luxury tax and the sagging economy. So, in June 1993 Buddy Davis ceased operations and offered the molds for sale as well as the manufacturing plant in Elizabeth City.

In early summer 1993, Buddy Davis completed the purchase of the majority of the assets of Buddy Davis Yachts from the Boddies, reopened the Wanchese location as Buddy Davis headquarters and, with a crew of 12 employees, continued to build the smaller models.

Between 1993 and 1995 the U.S. boating industry began to experience a gradual rebound and Buddy Davis began to design and build some new, larger sportfishermen - from 50 feet to 78 feet - which have become the nucleus of today's Buddy Davis fleet. By early 1999, the Buddy Davis operations had expanded to include a full service boatyard, metal fabrication facilities and several other small sub-shops. The work force in January 1999 was up to 200 employees and growing.

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