NAFCO

NAFCO Boats

North American Fiberglass Corporation

High Point, North Carolina

History by Tyson Philyaw

My Grandfather Woodrow Wilson Tyson (Woodie) was a Physician in High Point, NC. along with his brother Thomas Tyson (Tom). Woodie was a cardiologist and Tom specialized in OB/GYN. In the early to mid 60's Woodie, Tom, and a few other investor's decided to start North American Fiberglass Corporation in High Point, NC. Every one in boating knows about Hatteras Yachts, and their birth in High Point.

Hatteras was started by Willis Slane, who owned Slane Hosiery. Not to go into too much history about Hatteras, but Willis knew he needed someone who had a specialized understanding of fiberglass, which was relatively new for boat hulls, especially larger yachts which is what Willis had in mind. Willis went to the Miami, FL area, and called on Don Mucklow. Don had a fiberglass boat company called Chrystaliner. Don had won the Miami to Nassau race in 195(?) beating Don Bertram, who had not created a fiberglass boat yet. Bertram later went to Hunt and designed the Glass Moppie to be used as a tender for the America's cup. The Moppie received such strong reviews, he built the legendary 31 Moppie. Anyway, Willis convinced Don Mucklow to come to High Point to help start Hatteras Yachts as Vice-President of Engineering. Don Mucklow became a patient of my Grandfather. Together they built 19 of the 22 foot fiberglass boats. Don's participation in NAFCO was a favor to my Grandfather, but he did own a diesel model named the Slopoque (see photos below). My grandfather had a lake house at Badin Lake in New London, NC where they would test the boats before delivery. You will see in the pictures below, the boats all at Badin.

My grandfather and the other investors got out of the boat building business, but Don Mucklow continued a successful career with Hatteras, creating some of the most desired fiberglass hulls still to this day.

My Grandfather passed away while I was in college, and well after the demise of NAFCO. I remember boating in his personal NAFCO 22 the "Queen Mary" named because she was the biggest boat at Badin at the time.

About 6 -7 years ago I was creating a home office. I wanted the office to have an old Hatteras/ classic boat motif. Little did I know, but my sister contacted Tom Slane, who rebuilds classic Hatteras, and who is also the son of Willis Slane, about getting some old Hatteras material. Tom said to he I will do you one better, and gave her a NAFCO catalog. By the way, Tom Slane, was delivered by my Great uncle, Tom Tyson, thus his name. (HP was a small town then). The catalog is the only one I have ever seen, and I framed it in a shadow box. At that time, I began to research more about Hatteras and NAFCO, and was introduced through a website to Glenn Mucklow, Don's son. Glenn was able to provide me most of the history I am sharing with you. In addition to the details of the history, Glenn provided 99% of the photo's below. There is much more that can be written about Don Mucklow, and I think Glenn can insert the information because it really is neat how Hatteras and NAFCO are bred from the same cloth.

Two years ago, I convinced a buddy of mine to take my Wellcraft down to Badin Lake to look for the Queen Mary. I knew the boat was sold with the lake house in 1980, but didn't keep up where or who owned it. By luck some of the old neighbors were on their dock and I introduced myself, and asked if they knew where the boat was. The directed me to the Old North State Club, at the North end of Badin. I went and spoke to the Boat Yard Manager, who knew exactly where the boat was. It was now called the Badin Maiden, and had not been in the water in 3-4 years. It was outside under a boat cover.

I introduced myself to the current owner and provided the background on the boat, and not too surprisingly, the boat was for sale. Tom Slane had refurbished the boat in 1998 but nothing had been done regarding upkeep. I brought Tom down to look at her. I was able to reach an agreement with the owner to purchase the boat, and currently, I have her at Tom Slane's shop awaiting a new engine and other cosmetic work.

That is the history as told to me.

Don Mucklow's "Slopoque"

Slopoque Trailered
Don Mucklow on Slopoque

The port and starboard back to back seats had storage under and would fold flat. The hatch in the deck ,visible to the left of the seat in this picture, was to an ice box. The hull was foam filled, so ice would last over a week in the ice box. Don Mucklow cruised the entire coast of North Carolina, in a single trip, with the Slopoque, his own NAFCO boat. With the small diesel engine, the boat had excellent range.

When North American Rockwell bought Hatteras, they considered Don Mucklow's involvement with NAFCO to be a conflict of interest, as he was an executive and general manager of Hatteras. He had to sever his relationship with NAFCO at that point, and, NAFCO continued on without him.

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