From Boats to Tires: Global Manufacturing is Thriving in Charleston, South Carolina

During day two of my visit to the Charleston, S.C., metro area, we visited Scout Boats in Summerville, S.C., which as a boat builder, is a more traditional type of manufacturer than you would expect to find in a deep-water port community.  A family-owned business, Scout builds luxury center console sort fishing and bay boats.

Steve Potts, who founded the company in 1989, told me, “I have been in the boat business since I was 14 years old, and my wife and I made a decision to start making 14 foot to 15-foot fishing boats in a garage we rented after planning for years and saving $50,000.

“We got off to a good start, and then Hurricane Hugo hit and leveled our building.  We salvaged what we could and started over. The next winter, we got 11 inches of snow and the roof partially collapsed while we were developing a 17-foot sized boat. This boat put us on the map, and we sold this model for years. We displayed this boat in the local boat show and came out of the show with a list of 31 dealers that we developed into a dealer network.  We sell exclusively through dealers.

Read more at Industry Week…

Learn more about Foreign Direct Investment in Charleston | SC, HERE.