Preston Hartge had the idea for Megalodon. He knew he wanted a boat that would handle the shallows and shoals of the Chesapeake but be "tough enough to make a showing with the big boys." The boat is a model bow since it will run light 40% of the time, kort nozzles will boost the power. Hartge, a yachtsmen descended from yacht designers wanted a "classic little tug," as he puts it because "Life's to short to go around in an ugly boat."

Hartge turned to the renowned naval architect Oliver Bryant in Pascagoula, Miss. to turn his idea into the drawings that would become Megalodon.