The American Heritage Masterpiece

1938 Custom Buyboat — $300,000

You idle up the river and the entire waterfront stops to watch you pass. You aren’t driving a shiny, disposable white fiberglass wedge that rolled off an assembly line. You are at the helm of a 65-foot, 1938 Chesapeake Bay Buyboat. Originally built by American craftsmen to haul massive loads of oysters directly off the skipjacks, these vessels are the undisputed working-class royalty of the Mid-Atlantic. You are driving a piece of living, breathing United States history.

Currently located in Maryland, this vessel represents the ultimate nautical loft-conversion. The classic raised pilothouse sits far aft, leaving a massive, sprawling deck forward that dwarfs the modern yachts parked next to it. But the true magic of this specific boat is what lies beneath the floorboards. Instead of an ancient, oil-leaking antique motor, the engine room is a masterpiece of modern 2024 technology. It is a historic shell built around a hyper-reliable, push-button modern core.

For our final boat this week,…