Egret Boats, a Flats Skiff Legend Returns to Florida

Born on running plugs, raised in North Carolina

Egret's roots are in shallow water. According to the company, its hull shape was worked out and tested on several running plugs in the early 1990s before series building began in Fort Lauderdale, and it still uses the slogan flat out the best since 1989.

The yard later relocated to Washington, North Carolina, and stayed there for more than two decades. That period produced the boats that made the name, especially the Egret 189, which guides came to describe as the Rolls-Royce of flats boats. By 2015 the catalog included the 167, 189, 2011 and 306 along with an offshore console.

How Egret keeps its boats light

Weight is the obsession. Archived company literature describes vinylester resin with Kevlar or fiberglass laminates vacuum bagged over foam cores in both hull and deck, and a composite stringer grid bonded in place with methacrylate adhesive so the hull, grid and deck act as one structure. On a skiff that means poling ease and shallow draft; on a bigger boat it means less fuel for the same speed.

In 2006 Egret applied that approach offshore, announcing the Egret 29 Offshore with the stated goal of doing for center consoles what its 16 and 18-foot skiffs had done on the flats. The boat was sold for years as the 290 and has now returned to its original name. Our dedicated review traces its tankage, power options and weight differences between laminates.

New owners in St. Augustine

Ownership changed in 2024. The buyers moved Egret's headquarters back to Florida, this time to St. Augustine, and assembled a new team of fabricators, marine technicians and finishers.

Today's lineup covers the Egret 16, 18 and 21 skiffs, the Canebrake 21, the Moccasin 21 and 21 HP, and the 29 Offshore. Egret does not use dealers. A company sales force handles every boat, and each one is priced by quotation.

Resale and the value of build records

Not many Egrets come up for sale, so there are few comparable sales and condition carries the price. The skiffs have a loyal following among guides and fly anglers in Florida and the Carolinas, which keeps values firm in that market.

Because laminate choice and options varied, start any purchase by asking Egret for the build records for that hull number, and confirm the listing's claims against them.

• Laminate type and weight versus the capacity plate.
• Moisture or delamination in the cored hull and deck.
• Cracks along the bonded grid's adhesive lines.
• Stress cracks at the transom or bracket mounts.