MOORESVILLE When a real estate agent drove him around Lake Norman looking for a lot for his family's next home, Ed Muir had a map and a depth chart on his lap.

He would have rejected the most stunning view had the water been too shallow for his beloved Frolic, a Luders 16 sloop-rigged mahogany sailboat built in 1948.

Most lakeside buyers choose an architectural style for their home, then select a dock and boat to fit it. For Muir and his wife, Cory, it was the other way around. "Here's the boat, build the home around this," Ed Muir told the architect.

The couple chose a 1-acre wooded lot in southern Iredell County overlooking the Hager Creek section of the lake, where the water was deep enough to accommodate the boat's 4-foot keel. "Frolic chose that land for us," Cory Muir said.

They built their seawall and dock, which has shingles and a Dutch gable roof, before settling on the design of their home. Its shingle-style architecture reflects that of homes built in the late 1800s and early 1900s on Cape Cod and Long Island. "The boat dictated the house," Cory Muir said.

Frolic became the first classic wood sailboat in the annual Charlotte Antique & Classic Boat Show in 2010.

The 14th annual show is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at Queens Landing on N.C. 150 and features a boat parade at noon.

Ed Muir, 54, has loved sailing since his youth in southern New Jersey. When he attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., he sailed two summers on the Tall Ship Eagle, which the academy still uses for training.

"I was always attracted to the old classic boats, the design of the old sailing boats, the shear line, their silhouette," Ed Muir said.

He and his wife have enjoyed sailing together since 1986, when they met in Southern California, where Ed ran a company in the printing industry.

The couple loved sailing the 32 miles off the California coast to Catalina Island. They also sailed over the years with son Andrew, now 20 and a junior at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

A Washington state native, Cory Muir, 56, grew up with motorized boats, so they also have a 26-foot Chaparral deck boat. Their third craft is a canvas-covered antique cedar canoe.

Ed Muir discovered Frolic in 2000 in Madison, Wis., where the couple had relocated. He owned Southern Herb Co. there, which distributes nutritional products to health-care practitioners and is now based in Troutman.

He was driving home one night when he saw the boat's silhouette beside a building. It was in bad shape but was being restored.

Its owner, he said, "was happy it was going to someone who appreciated it, that I was going to be the next steward of the boat."

Muir said L16s from that era are for sale in trade publications from the mid- to high-teens, or up to nearly $20,000. He didn't say how much he paid for the Frolic.

"Frolic" has been the boat's name since 1948. It was part of the Chicago Fleet of post-World War II Luders 16s crafted by Luders Marine Construction of Stamford, Conn., owned by famed boat designer and builder Bill Luders. "16" represents the waterline length of the boat.

Their hulls were hot-molded from thin layers of glued-together mahogany.

When the glue dried, the mold was removed to produce a ribless hull.

The boat is 26 feet, 4 inches long from stem to stern and 5 feet, 9 inches wide. Its lead keel, which provides the boat's stability, extends 4 feet from the bottom of Frolic and weighs nearly 1,800 pounds.

The boat has a tiller, not a steering wheel, and a cuddy cabin containing two small benches.

The Muirs were familiar with Lake Norman from visiting friends in Davidson whom Ed knew from New Jersey.

"I thought, there are a lot of people living here because this is where they want to live," Ed Muir recalled.

"We also felt drawn to the people," Cory said, "and felt this would be our final move."