Self guide

Widely regarded as one of the finest sportfishing boats in the world, Albemarle Boats was founded on an idea that each of us has uttered in our own lives: “Sometimes, if you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself.”

In the mid 1970’s, J. Scott Harrell Sr. found himself in just such a predicament. For several years he had owned a thriving boat dealership selling the kind of sportfishing boats that he and his family felt were the best available at the time. The problem was, when customers would trade in a boat he had sold them just a few years earlier, he found that it took a tremendous amount of work to get the boats ready for resale. Even though these were some of the top brands, they were just not built strongly enough to stand up to the unforgiving waters of the Albemarle Sound and the rugged seas off Cape Hatteras.