Business View Magazine
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the corporate world and one day, while looking for a
campground, wound up in White Lake, where he pur-
chased the marina and operated it for many years be-
fore handing its day-to-day operations over to his son.
When Carl first bought the dealership, there were ten
or eleven other Correct Craft dealers in the state. But,
deAndrade says that his father saw a greater potential
for the boat business than many of his competitors did,
and that their more relaxed attitude gave their opera-
tions more the appearance of a seasonal hobby than
a growing enterprise. “They had the idea: ‘We’ll park
a couple of boats on the lot and if they sell, great,” he
explains. “But Dad started doing boat shows and actu-
ally promoted the business. By the late 80s, early 90s,
and right up until some of the soft economic times, he
took it to one of the top ten dealers of Correct Craft in
the world.”
Today, there are only two Nautique dealers left in
the state. The other, Race City Marine, is outside of
Charlotte, in Mooresville, N.C. There’s another dealer
on Lake Gaston, which straddles the North Carolina/
Virginia line, “but, technically, he’s in Virginia,” deAn-
drade quips, “so we pretty much have the marketplace
from the center of the state – the research triangle,
Raleigh/Durham area – east. It’s a large geographical
area, when you consider we basically cover half the
state of North Carolina.” deAndrade admits it can be
particularly challenging serving such a large area, es-
pecially since there are only a few ski lakes across a
huge swath of that land from Wilmington on the south-
east coast, northwest to Greensboro.
In addition to the Nautique line, White LakeMarine also
sells Moomba wakeboard and ski boats, as well as pre-
owned boats from trades and consignment. “But no
pontoons, jet skis, fishing boats, or runabouts,” says
deAndrade. “We’re in a niche market. Most boat deal-
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
White Lake Marine
WHAT:
Seller of inboard ski and wakeboard boats
WHERE:
White Lake, North Carolina
WEBSITE
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