Onslow Bay Boatworks, Built Around a Kingfish Rulebook

A tournament angler reads the rules

Brad Knight's family had built boats in North Carolina before him, and he spent his own free time competing in kingfish tournaments run by the Southern Kingfish Association. Reading the SKA rules closely, he spotted an opening: boats in the smallest division were classed by length at the waterline rather than length overall. A cleverly drawn hull could therefore be several feet longer on deck than its rivals and still enter the same class. In 2005 he founded Onslow Bay Boatworks to build exactly that boat, and the first one went into the water in the summer of 2007.

The company began in Hampstead before settling in Holly Ridge, both small towns in coastal southeastern North Carolina, and it remains in family hands.

Built to order, sold without a middleman

Onslow Bay keeps production small, roughly 30 boats a year, and each is specified with its owner before the build begins. There are no dealers. Customers talk directly to the people who design and lay up the hulls, and the company posts full price sheets and option lists on its website, so a buyer can cost a boat line by line before calling. Factory performance data is published too.

The design language is consistent across the range: a sharp entry, steep deadrise aft, tall flared bows in the Carolina tradition, and rigging aimed at live-bait tournament fishing. Today's lineup includes the 27 Offshore Edition and the 33, 37 and 41 Tournament Editions.

Our two Onslow Bay reviews

We cover two boats in depth. The Onslow Bay 27 review follows the founding hull from its first life as the 23 Tournament Edition through its rebranding as an offshore model and a family-friendly variant. The Onslow Bay 33 Tournament Edition review covers the larger stepped boat that grew out of an earlier 32. Both pages carry hull geometry, power ratings, test numbers and current factory pricing, so we do not repeat them here.

Reputation, resale and buying secondhand

The direct model has a price: outside the Carolinas you will see few Onslow Bays, and routine service runs through Mercury or other outboard dealers rather than a brand network. Among tournament crews, though, the name carries weight, and well-kept recent boats hold value strongly. Secondhand boats move through the company's own owner marketplace and through Southeast brokers, and the older small hulls are a relatively inexpensive way into a proven kingfish platform.

Before buying used:

• Pin down exactly which model and version the hull is, and how much fuel it carries
• Get hours and lower-unit inspections for every outboard
• Look for cracking around the engine bracket and transom
• Run all livewell pumps and check fish box drainage
• On stepped hulls, examine the step and bottom for impact damage