Running proud and high, the Carolina Classic thinks nothing of 3- and 4-foot seas. Note the significant flare for shedding water, and high chine lines forward to soften the ride.

Mac Privott has an answer for everything, at least when it comes to his 35-foot open-cockpit express fisherman, the Carolina Classic 35.

With our sea trial complete, we’re standing in the vessel’s cockpit at the in-water portion of the Miami Boat Show, and Privott, the president of Carolina Classic Boats Inc., is explaining why his fishbox lids have no shocks, springs or other hardware to hold them open.

Without shocks, Privott explains, the lid can be opened farther and the hatchway gains a few inches of width. “When you’re boating a wahoo, you want as big a hole as you can get,” says Privott, with a no-doubt-about-it southern accent. “He will…