Ladies on Deck – BTH Marine

Meet the powerhouse women behind BTH Marine

The Hofstetter name carries weight on the water. Chief’s legacy in powerboat racing is the stuff of legends in these parts, and his son Blye has built something remarkable since they joined forces at their Key Largo marina. But spend any time at BTH Marine and you’ll notice who else is on deck — three women who bring brains, grit, and a genuine love of the Keys to everything they do.

Meet Abi, Amy, and Lorinda — the ladies of BTH Marine.

Abigail Doxey — The Number Navigator

Abigail Doxey grew up on St. Simons Island, Georgia — the kind of place where salt air and tidal marshes are simply part of the landscape. After studying at the University of Georgia, Abi landed in Charlotte, but South Florida had always called to her. When an opening came up at a brokerage firm in Fort Lauderdale, she didn’t hesitate.

Then COVID hit, and like so many, she found herself reassessing. She came down to the Keys for what was supposed to be a couple of months, and met Blye Hofstetter. They started dating and she never left.

By 2021, Tommy “Chief” Hofstetter had seen enough to know Abi was someone he wanted in the business. He asked her to come run the financial backend, and she dove in. When BTH Marine was born in Key Largo, Abi stepped into the CFO role and upper-level management, helping shape the company from the ground up. Today, as Blye’s fiancée, she’s personally invested in BTH’s success in every sense of the word — managing finances and operations while also holding a captain’s license and occasionally mating alongside Blye on client excursions.

BTH Marine offers charter and excursion services to take clients out on the very waters the team calls home — from local sandbars and backcountry flats to overnight crossings to the Bahamas. It’s the kind of firsthand experience that turns a boat purchase into a way of life.

Abi was also a diehard scuba diver for years, even earning her instructor’s certification, but since meeting Blye, she’s traded her scuba gear for a fishing rod more often than not. They often explore any stretch of water the day will allow.

“There’s truly nowhere else like the Keys,” she says. “We don’t just sell the boating lifestyle — we live it. Every trip out on the water, every crossing to the Bahamas, every sandbar afternoon is a reminder of why we do what we do.”

Amy McFarlane — The Word on the Water

Amy McFarlane’s path to BTH Marine reads like a great Keys story: equal parts wanderlust, right-place-right-time, and knowing good people when you find them. She first crossed paths with Abi and Blye on a vacation to St. Thomas — one of those trips where you meet strangers who don’t stay strangers.

Back then, Amy was living and working as a mate in Tampa, restless with city life and the peculiar stillness that COVID had pressed into everything. When Abi relocated from Fort Lauderdale to the Keys, Amy followed the pull, eventually working alongside her on the water. She’d also gotten to know Tommy, running into him at sandbars, out and about on the island. “From the moment I met the Hofstetters, I could see what they were building — and I wanted to be part of it.”

When BTH Marine launched, Tommy and Blye invited Amy to lunch and handed her the marketing baton. She wasn’t a seasoned marketing professional at the time — but she learned fast, immersing herself in social media strategy, SEO, website management, and campaign planning. As the business grew and her knowledge deepened, she was brought into sales as well.

On the sales floor, BTH Marine specializes in new Front Runner boats and recently added the Broadwater boat line so their clients can conquer both the open ocean and the Florida bay. They also offer a robust brokerage program for clients looking to sell, upgrade, or downsize. Whether someone is stepping onto the water for the first time or trading up to a multi-engine center console, Amy and the team are there to match them with the right vessel.

Outside the office, Amy is an active scuba instructor who loves nothing more than sinking to the bottom of the ocean and listening to her own bubbles. She’s also deepened her love of fishing since arriving in the Keys, exploring hidden oases that only locals know. She travels frequently with her fiancé, chasing all of it.

Lorinda — The Boat Relauncher

People light up when Lorinda’s name comes up— and for good reason. She’s been in the marine industry for over twenty years, has touched nearly every department there is, and has the rare gift of making people feel like their problem is the only problem that matters.

Originally from Texas, Lorinda has called the Keys home since 1990. She raised her daughter here — a Coral Shores graduate, just like her mom — and only trips to visit grandchildren can pull her away. “After nearly four decades, it still gets me — the warmth and sun, the water right there, the people who love it as much as you do,” she says. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Lorinda was recruited into the marine world, starting in parts before working her way through admin, service, and sales. But the parts department, she’ll tell you, is her favorite. “The relationships are what I show up for. At the end of the day, I want to be the reason someone’s boat is launched back in the water. That satisfaction never gets old.”

When Blye and Tommy decided to formally expand BTH Marine’s parts department, he recruited Lorinda to build and lead it — a decision that has paid off in spades. Their customer base stretches well beyond the Keys and across the world.

The newly expanded parts department stocks a wide range of maintenance parts, but Lorinda takes particular satisfaction in the hunt — tracking down hard-to-find components from a network of resources she’s spent decades cultivating. As one of the only Mercury Platinum Elite dealers in Monroe County, BTH Marine stocks everything from small outboard parts to components for the most powerful engines on the market, with a particular specialty in multi-engine center consoles. Whatever a client needs, Lorinda finds it — fast.

The same standard applies to BTH’s service department: get it done right, and get it back on the water. They handle everything from routine maintenance to complex multi-engine repairs. Their V12-certified technicians work on vessels with up to six engines, and they perform extensive warranty work for clients near and far.

Something Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

With over 45 years building teams, has learned that the best people are the best people, full stop. “The greatest thing you can do in business is help someone

grow — give them the tools, the experience, the confidence — and watch what they do with it,” he says. “What these three women bring to BTH Marine every day is proof of that.”

At BTH Marine, clients can buy, sell, service, repower, or charter their way into the boating life — with a team that genuinely lives it and loves it themselves. For Abi, Amy, and Lorinda, that’s not a selling point. It’s just another day on deck.

To learn more, visit BTHMarine.com and follow BTH Marine on social media.