On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:58:34 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

OK, so-- what makes a Hatteras so special?

Good design, good engineering, good construction, nicely finished.
Other than that, nothing special. :-)

Hatteras and Bertram both fell victim to the ill advised 10% boat
luxury tax of 1990. It drove construction overseas for a while and
mass produced, high quality boat building in this country never fully
recovered.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/03/opinion/l-boat-luxury-tax-drives-an-industry-aground-926091.html

North Carolina still has a lot of specialty builders making very good
boats but they are mostly custom or semi-custom.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=north+carolina+custom+boat+builders &meta=&aq=f&oq=