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Shown is a drawing of one of the fast ferry vessels Harbor Town Inc. is having built for its Inner Banks ferry system on the Albemarle Sound.

Shown is a drawing of one of the fast ferry vessels Harbor Town Inc. is having built for its Inner Banks ferry system on the Albemarle Sound.

Fabrication and assembly of the first boat for the Harbor Town high speed ferry project is expected to begin next week.

“We should be cutting metal by the middle of next week,” Nick Williams of Smoky Mountain Jet Boats said Friday.

The N.C. General Assembly has set aside $5 million to built boats that can provide high-speed ferry service on the Albemarle Sound, offering tourists access to the waterfront towns of Elizabeth City, Hertford, Edenton, Plymouth and Columbia.

Williams said Rob Schofield, a Florida-based architect with experience in naval and aerospace engineering, is currently finishing up the vessel’s design. The plans will be submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center for its review.

Williams said the design that Schofield and Smoky Mountain Jet Boats are looking at for the Harbor Town boats is a foil-assisted catamaran.

“Catamarans are very stable and do very well in rough conditions,” Williams said.

Rough conditions, for instance, like those that can arise on the Albemarle Sound.

“The Albemarle Sound offers unique challenges,” Williams said. “You have an average depth of 17 feet. If the wind is blowing in the wrong direction you can have challenging sea conditions. You can get waves with really short fetch.”

In order to meet the planned ferry schedule it will be necessary for the boat to travel at speeds as high as 28 knots, according to Williams.

“We needed a boat that could handle the challenging conditions of the Albemarle Sound,” he said.

The boat for the Harbor Town ferry will have seating for 30 passengers and two crew members. It also will be able to accommodate bikes and people in wheelchairs.

“There will be a fair amount of room,” Williams said. “It won’t be cramped. People should have good views.”

Williams, whose background is in the tourism industry, has been building aluminum boats since 2007. He explained that his wife is from New Zealand, which has a strong aluminum boat industry.

The Bryson City-based company typically builds 12-, 16- and 25-passenger tourist jet boats. Williams said cruise ships have been a primary customer for the company’s vessels, but that part of the business slowed considerably due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams said Smoky Mountain Jet Boats also manufactures custom boats.

Pieces of the boat are manufactured using three-dimensional modeling, he explained. “Then you weld it together like a jigsaw puzzle,” he said.

“We’re exclusively aluminum plate builders, Williams said. The company builds with marine-grade aluminum.

Since the pandemic cut into the cruise ship market the company has diversified into building aluminum trailers.

The Harbor Town vessels, coming in at 45 feet in length, represent a foray into the manufacture of larger craft.

“It’s bigger than what we have done in the past,” Williams said of the boat being built for the Harbor Town ferry.

New Zealand company Hamilton Jet is manufacturing the jet drive for the ferry. Williams explained that the jet drive enables the craft to operate in shallow water.

Williams said he hopes to have the first Harbor Town jet boat completed by Christmas. The company is building another after that, and plans to have both ready by next year.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Williams said.

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