Boat and its maker stay afloat.

• Position: Eastern

Queen Bee can't talk, but it has quite a tale to tell, and Edenton-based Regulator Marine Inc., which manufactured the 26-foot center-console boat, hopes that story will strengthen the company's recent resurgence. The vessel disappeared off Nantucket, Mass., in August 2008 after heavy seas tossed two fishermen into the Atlantic, forcing them to swim to shore. In January, the boat was found 20 miles off the northern coast of Spain, rusty, moldy and barnacled but still in one piece.

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Its fiberglass hull kept it from breaking apart, and foam insulation--designed as a sound-deafening feature--kept it afloat. Under international law, the boat belongs to the Spanish authorities who recovered it, but Regulator is trying to salvage it to use as a marketing tool. After all, there's a lot of promotional value in a craft that weathered the elements for 3 1/2 years across 4,000 miles of ocean. "Enduring value," is how Regulator President Joan Maxwell describes it. The company would display it at boat shows--where Regulator will distribute already-printed posters charting Queen Bee's odyssey--or as a museum exhibit.

The publicity should help Regulator, which has drifted through its own rough seas the last three years. Founded in 1988, it was BUSINESS North...