The high-pitched screech of power tools sounds through the phone as Jon Duffie answers my call. “Hey, can I call you right back?” he asks. “I’m sanding a shower right now.” I quickly tell him to call me whenever it is most convenient for him. As we hang up the phone, I can almost feel the mist of fine fiberglass dust raining down around him. Minutes later, Duffie calls me from a quieter place, likely an office within his state-of-the-art workshop in Ocean City, Maryland. We jump into a conversation, and I get my first inside look at the man running Duffie Boatworks.
A relatively new addition to the boatbuilding industry, Duffie fits into a nebulous category of custom builders loosely considered to be the “next generation.” It’s tough to define what that even means because age and family history aren’t enough to draw the line between the original guild of boatbuilders and those who are considered new blood. Some next-generation builders are working in a family business, while others have started their own companies. Some started the business with financial security, while others got into the industry with different risks.
Though loosely defined, this group of custom builders also includes men such as Tim Winters, Cliff and Daniel Spencer, Alex Gill and Dusty Rybovich, John Bayliss Jr., John Floyd, and Ricky Scarborough Jr. Regardless of how they entered the industry, they’ve each stepped up to the plate out of sheer love and appreciation of boats and the hands-on craftsmanship it takes to build them.
A LEGACY: BORN TO BUILD
When I called Ricky Scarborough to let him know that