|
|
Posts: 897
| After reading and responding to the thread below, I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread dedicated to experiences with boat shops. Everybody needs a mechanic at some point, why not save some people headaches and money. Per forum rules, no bashing is allowed, so keep it to objective experiences only.
My boat shop experiences:
Duane's Outboard Repair, Duluth, MN - Brought the boat in when the motor was bogging down at full speed. Told I'd have it back in 2-3 weeks. Called them 4 weeks later and was told they hadn't even touched it yet. Ended up taking them 8 weeks to replace the power pack. I was extremely frustrated with the inaccurate timeline and lack of communication. A buddy of mine had a similar experience. Won't be going back there again.
Repair shop by Young's Bay (can't remember name), Lake of the Woods, MN - Up on LOTW last year and my oil alarm starts going off when I'm 10 miles from camp. After checking to make sure it was getting oil we made it back to camp and I brought it to the the mechanic the next morning. Told him briefly what was going on and he said he suspected it was water in the gas. Turned out he was right. Disconnected the wire going into the bottom of the fuel filter and the alarm shut off. Siphoned the water out of the gas tank and that was it. 15 minutes and $20 later I was back to fishing. I was in a position where he could have told me anything he wanted and this guy was perfectly honest with me. I'd recommend him to anyone...just wish I could remember the name of the shop and mechanic.
-Chris
Edited by whynot 5/10/2011 10:51 AM
|
|
| |
|
Location: MN | I have had my boat to three dealers in the Twin Cities area:
Grandpa Joe's Marine/Joe Carlson
Frankies Marine
Hallberg Marine
All three have been excellent. Great people to work with, good communication, all did what I wanted them to do and met or exceeded my expectations. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 22
| I have had great experiences with Plowman's in Woodruff. They have done quite a bit of rigging on my boat and I am always happy with the work that they have done and communication that had gone along with it. Good folks over there. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 253
Location: Birchwood, WI. | Thumps up for THOMAS MARINE in Birchwood,WI...Tom telits -owner/mechanic.. |
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | S&S sports in Mercer has always treated me well and gone out of their way to fix things and open up for me when my batteries were dead etc...great guys...John does a good job.
Pharo in Madison I've had decent experiences with as well...
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 258
Location: Mayville, WI | Bob's Marine in Cortland, IL. Nothing but good things to say! Bought my first boat from there last year and he was more than helpful & willing to answer any question. Made my first purchase a great experience!
Johnson's Pontoon in Montello, WI. Great service & turn around time. Took the work boat in a few days before fishing opener with a bad system check gauge & had a new one in & ready to go a few days later, which is earlier than they said they'd be able to get it with the rush before opener. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 80
Location: Geneva, IL | Bought my boat from Bob's Marine 11 years ago. Great place to deal with. Chuck, Lynn and the crew are top notch! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | Just thought I'd add a little to the post about the guy at Young's Bay.
The guy's name is Duane Sellen the name of his business is D and S storage (he does lots of boat packing away in the fall).
He's an old time friend, and although not "factory" trained he's easily one of the best boat mechanics I've ever found. He seems to have a real good feel for what's wrong, and can fix lots of things! If he feels that it's a little more than he can do he'll correctly send you someone else (usually LOTWs Marine in Baudette, who are also great).
Duane has fixed my boat on a Sunday afternoon, and at 10:00 PM at night, knowing that I was suppose to fish in the morning. He doesn't have lots of expensive parts in stock but can get them far quicker than you'd think given the location.
Those of us who fish the Angle every day appreciate his effort and expertise.
Doug Johnson |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32953
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | OK, do NOT bash any business here or the entire thread is gone. I'm tired of babysitting it. Positive experience only, that's enough to say who SHOULD get the business. |
|
| |
|
Location: Sawyer County, WI |
Great experience over 5 years with Hayward Power Sports. They've earned my continued business. Enough said. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 395
Location: NW WI | Big thumbs up to Crystal Pierz in Rice Lake, WI. Kris is great to deal with and I've heard nothing but positives from others who have taken their boats there. One guy told me that Kris emailed him to see if all was OK after he had the boat back. THAT'S going the extra mile! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 255
| Custom Snap boat canvas: Erichson Marine in Shakopee, MN did a great job on my custom canvas for a great price and was very accommodating since I drove up from Illinois on a Saturday just to have them do the cover.
Mertens Marine in Oshkosh, WI. Swapped out my Titan Tiller system for the full hydraulic EngineSteer system. Tim is a great guy and very knowledgeable.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 726
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Kris Gottwald at Crystal Pierz in Rice Lake is great to work with. He saved my bacon a couple weeks ago and got me back on the water quickly.
Marine Plus near Lake Wissota in Chippewa Falls is another great shop. They can be slow but do great work and the owner Steve has gone out of his way to take time and talk with me about my boat.
Jono
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 4342
Location: Smith Creek | Kris at Crytal Pierz is the best in his field. And he's an outstanding muskie fisherman to boot. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2089
| Kris Gottwald is a great guy and an even better fisherman. He's one of our own and an asset to the organization. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1096
Location: Hayward, WI | Thanks for the kind words guys. We try our best to keep our customers happy and on the water.
Kris |
|
| |
|
| Best customer friendly business owner, mechanic, and dealer I have meet in quite some time is Darren at S&R Marine in Beardstown, Illinois. He is the owner.
http://www.sr-marine.com
Keith |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1168
| Bumping this thread.
SS Marine in Shawano has served me beyond very well. I've had my rig in there twice for a fuel pump issue and a starter issue. Total amount of time my boat spent in mothballs as a result was about a week combined. Rory not only addresses what needs to be fixed but he does a great job of explaining exactly why it broke and what needs or needed to be done to fix it.
Case in point...my starter was acting up on Saturday. It would spin but would not engage the flywheel. It ended up being a simple fix to clean the drive so the gear would spin up but a pile of quirky gadgets and sensors had to be removed to get at the thing. Instead of taking it apart quick and fixing the thing, Rory went through each of the sensors with me, what their settings were, and walked me through it if I ran into the same issue again. I dropped my boat off on Monday at 10am, without the thunderstorms we had it would've been on the water by 4pm on Tuesday. For curiosity's sake I called the other marina across town to get an idea of how long it would've been before they could take a look at it and I would've been looking at a month.
Like I said, the guy will fix just about anything. Currently he's restoring a pontoon boat for a customer...replacing the entire deck, wiring, and doing an engine rebuild. He's done complete rebuilds on everything from old Elgins or Kiekhafers to the new computerized injected stuff as well as jetskis. He hasn't had to do any advertising because by simple word of mouth and the quality work he does he's established a pretty darn good reputation....plus his shop is right on the water and he's open on weekends tinkering with oddball projects that he will set aside if someone pulls in with an issue. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | I cant say I have had any good luck with dealers for anything over the past few years. Trucks, boats, sleds, ATV... my experience has been #*#*. If I cannot fix it myself, I find free lance guys and race team guys to have the best knowledge and turn around times.
Edited by HomeTime 6/22/2011 11:33 AM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 238
Location: Rhinelander | Have a problem with my Minn Kota Terrova.....auto pilot works sporadically but everything else is fine. So I took it back to the dealer it was purchased at. They could do nothing as it is a warranty issue and pointed me towards the closest dealer that handles Minn Kota repair.
So......I arrive at Anchor Marine in Appleton, WI (working down here) .....never been to the place. The service/counter man, Greg, drops what he is doing and heads out by my boat. Changes a few boards checks the foot pedal with another he has laying around and determines it is a bad main board, spending at least a half hour with me. Tells me to bring the trolling motor back Monday and should have the warrantied part in by then and he will replace it.
I was shocked, here is a service man that dropped everything to help me knowing that one; I never purchased anything from their shop before and two, that I wanted to fish this weekend. He could have just of easly told me to leave the motor in the pile that was laying there and get to it in the order they are dropped off.
For me that/this is excellent service and I will be utilizing Anchor Marine in the future for any other issues that may come up. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1224
Location: Okoboji | all i know is they cost too much- |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Frankie's Marine in Chisago City has been top notch on my opti. They're the only people I will let touch the thing as they seem to have exorcised all the demons from it.
Frankie is also a great supporter of muskies and Muskies Inc. They're one of the few shops that I know of that really walks the talk when it comes to supporting the resource. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 36
| I have nothing but great things to say about Formula Propeller and Marine in Brooklyn Park, MN. Todd Hesse and the crew are all great people and they can repair anything quickly and at a reasonable price. They have even gone so far as to deliver my boat back to me when I couldn't get to the shop to pick it up. Boat work, trailer work, electronics, wiring, they seem to be able to do everything I could need. If you're in the north Metro, give them a call. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1168
| Hodag Hunter - 6/23/2011 12:56 PM
For me that/this is excellent service and I will be utilizing Anchor Marine in the future for any other issues that may come up.
I would agree with this. It's where I go to get Minn Kota parts when I have some rebuilds on trolling motors to do for a few guys. They simply have to know that I'm not going in and getting those parts for myself unless I have about 5 different MK motors but they still are very helpful when I ask for advice on snuffing out gremlins. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 217
Location: ladysmith, wi | j&m marine on 27 between ladysmith and holcombe
crystal piers in ricelake kris is a great guy
thomas in birchwood
hayward power sports
i have dealt with all of these places in the last 3yrs for one thing or another and have had top notch service from all |
|
| |
|
Posts: 621
Location: Seymour, WI | +1 for Anchor Marine in Appleton. They have been very good for me for both outboard motors and Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
|
|
| |
Experiences with boat shops