Owning a Marina
 

Hey everyone,

I'd like to own a marina, race boats, and build custom boats later in life. I'm going to college next year to major in Ocean Engineering. Anyone have any advice in order to reach my goal?

Thanks,
Lance

Yes, win the lottery and live it up. Just kidding. I cant give advise as far as the racing or boat building but I can comment some on the owning of a Marina. It is a great occupation. Best advice I can give is to put together a good business plan laying out what you want to do. The hardest part is getting all the information put together but after a while it just falls into place. I would recommend taking some business managment classes also. Good luck with the dream.

Start out with lots of $$$ first...
win the lottery, it's easier than making money in the boat biz.

I'll admit, as a start up its not the best money maker but can you really argue with a career where you deal with boats and water 24-7. Plus, the perks. Free dockage, storage, gas if you have it, tow vehicle, cleaning and storage. Additionally, I live at my families marina so I pay no bills, care of the business. I am also able to write off any boat trips as business related to include the Miami boatshow last February. I payed up front but will get the money back come tax time. :D

Be a lawyer and just sue everyone beter yet be a politician and just lie to everyone.

Lance, check your PM, not from my personal experience, but from asking around.

I'm in research mode myself. Though I have never run a marina, I feel I have two strong assets that should help me if I ever jump in.

1) I worked for a machine shop for many years where the owner treated all of his employees like family. What he got from me was loyalty, an honest days work, and respect. What I got from him was an appreciation of all the little things you can do to make your employees like you and their jobs.

2) I recieved I degree in Finance. This gave me a good understanding of accounting and the time value of money.

What I feel I'm missing:
Tons of "extra" cash
Experience actually working at a marina

Hope this helps you. I know there are a few marina owners on the board. I hope they chime in to help.

The biggest barrier, at least in my area is the cost of water front property needed to establish a marina, even a small one. The cost is pretty much beyond most of our means. So, you must first have tons of cash to get started or have a corporation behind you to support the funding necessary for such a costly venture.

Good luck!!!

The boat biz is driven by the economy, it is the first thing people quit buying in a recession and the last thing they buy when the economy picks up.
There have been a few times when I was really worried about just making enough just to pay bills.
There is lots of competetion on the biz, sometimes too much.
Sometimes, it's not how good you are, it's how cheap you can do it and still stay running.
I've lost many deals that had no profit to someone, that seems to me, is losing money on the same deal
I don't think you become a millioniare selling and building boats, you have to start out with the $$ first.
Many times my customers end up being my competetion.

If you really like pleasure boating and racing do it as a hobby... If you make it your business, sure it will be fun, but after a while it will feel more like work.
I remember years ago breaking dates, sometimes with a hot babe, to even now missing out on time with my family and kids, just to make sure a customer's boat gets done. I've missed out on holidays, just to go rescue a customer, who ran the snot out of his boat an blew a motor. Sometimes, I worked for hours/ days straight with no sleep to get a raceboat done in time. Just recently, hauled a boat straight thru a 26 hour drive with no sleep to New York, just to make sure he got his new boat by the weekend.
There were many times, I had to ask myself, if this was worth the money. I could write a book about how many times I killed myself, and then the guy didn't want to pay or whined about how much it costs.
I get in a brand spankin' new Cigarette, and I don't think about how much fun it is to run it... I worry if my customer is going to like it? Is the engine running right? Are there any problems with the interior? DON'T SCRATCH IT !! Are the props the right size? Does the boat handle correctly? blah blah blah...
How many boat biz guys that really know their stuff, that started from nothing, actually OWN a boat?
I work on so many boats... on my day off (when/if I get one) I don't get near a boat.
Sometimes, my buddies ask me to go boating with them, and I know I'll just end up working on their boat.
All in all I still love it...

Hey,

Thanks everyone for your responses. My plan before I actually run a marina is to build up a few other businesses before hand. Then sell those and start the marina. That away I've got the cash to begin it, plus maybe get some outside funding. I may partner with someone or a few people on the marina instead of taking it all on my shoulders. If I do decide to just have marine and racing as my hobby, then I'd still like to work on people's boats in my off time. I'm not sure though, I have a fair amount of time to decide. I know that I want to get my education and run a few other businesses, then start up a marina. In the mean time I want to learn as much as I can about boating and I'd like to race jet skis but we'll see. My girlfriend is in strong support and her family has done nothing but marine work. They are actually all from the Bahamas. They were big in the Keys until they moved up into northern Florida. Again, thanks everyone for responding, it helped out a lot.

Lance

talk to someone who has tried.

ben barry kramer
#32655-004
fed. prison system.

OUCH :eek:

As a very wise and wealthy business man once told me "In order to make a small fortune in a 'hobby' business, start with a large one".
He was right, I should have listened.:rolleyes: ;)

Mav
Here's the deal if I knew how to do anything else besides dig dirt and lay pipe I probably would. Anyway I love what I do even with all the BS that goes with it.

Back to the marina thing. My parents had a big resort w/ restaurant & bar, marina, cabins, and all the other stuff that goes along with it. I grew up there and eventually ran the whole operation for 1 year. At the end of that year dear old dad asks did you learn anything. Oh yeah, Boss means getting up earlier, going to bed later, for half of the money, and ALL OF THE HEADACHE!!!! Furthermore Pops if you die and will this f***ing place to me, I will contest the will. Would I do a marina again? Maybe but as someone said earlier it is a costly venture because of the real estate, EPA, Coastal Commission, Corps of Engineers, and whatever other govt agency can get their hand into your pants.

One more thing everyone's day off is your work day so you might as well scratch any holiday's and weekends off of your go and have fun list.

Good Luck.


Lucy LMAO on the ex marina owner reference.

Sean

It takes money to make money;)

And as was already said, for every dollar you make, their is some govt. agency wanting two.

Also I wanted to say that rocknrace has put it into well said words.

Sean

Most of the marina owners I talk to say they barely break even if at all. They make their money by developing the land around the marina with condos and such.

Lance,

There have been many true words spoken here. I worked at 2 marinas in High School and College. Both owners told me the SAME thing, and I saw it with myself just being a summer employee. If you want to go boating, don't be in the boating business. Same thing goes for recreational vehicles, like bikes, atv's, snowmobiles etc. Don't let any of this discourage you however, just go into it understanding what it will take and what sacrifices you WILL have to make. Best wishes in school.

Shane

rockinrace, be more select in choosing your customers.
do not work for uneducated cheap ass boat owners.your efforts will not be appreciated. there are a few out there who opperate the equipment properly.

cya lucy.

I hear ya.
Most of my problems would be from another "Brand X" marina/ shop/ mechanic, bad mouthing the cost or quality of the work.
Another came from guys buying big $$, big power, time bombs and expecting it to stay together for more than 100 hours when they go WTFO the whole time on Poker Runs.

Hey,

Thanks again for responding. I've re thought about it some and I may just have marine as my hobby and run a small shop later on. Seems that running a marina means more business rather than actual fun boating. So I may just have marine as a hobby and get nice boats and then open up a small shop. There's other marine stuff that I want to do too, in particular get involved with some kind of marine environmental agency. That away when I'm 65 years old I can still go enjoy boating around a Caribbean reef rather than knowing it died. However I still do want to work at marinas and such to get more experience that away I can run a small shop/better knowledge for myself.

Lance

Anyone have any idea on round about guesstimate cost to open up a 5 bay marine shop that does engine work, drive work, general repair and installation?

Thanks,
Lance

too much ;)

lol I figured that one Airpacker. $800,000 or so or more?

filling it with good customers would be a task!!!!!!!!

As was said before, running a marina does cut into your play time. You will have to tend to the customers needs while not taking care of your own. There are times when I watch everybody else out on the river having fun but I still get a good amount of play time in. Alot of the experience depends on what kind of operation you have. The other is how hands on will you be versus hiring somebody else to do the work. My families marina is real small. At this moment we dock 30 boats to include mine which is free dockage for me. A perk. We have a launch ramp open to the public which we charge $7.00 for boats and $5.00 for jetskis. This does not generate a massive amount of money but it helps when you need some quick cash. Other than that, at this point, we just sell ice and beverages not to include alcoholic. We are in the process of getting the documentation to sell alcohol and food but this takes alot of time, effort and money. It should pay off in the end as we are in a good business location. Since we are not too big of an operation, we can get away at times or take turns in running the show. The biggest thing for us, once the marina is opened up and the beginning of the season, is having somebody around to handle anything that can arise. The key is to start small, read affordable, and build it up as you can build up the money. If you jump in too big too fast you will probably fail. Pick out a good location, make a business plan and get the financing. The best cash for least effort part is from the dockage fees. That part is usually problem free and it does not matter how much the boats are used or not. Once they pay, the money is yours. Let me know if I can help in any way. You can email me at [email protected]

Jason Hall
Newport Marina
412-322-9151

MavFlyBy:

I graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and put my law career on hold to run the family marina business. That was nearly 18 years ago! I wouldn't change a thing!

The business is now expanded to four full-service marinas, one of the largest Formula dealerships in the world, importing of exotic European boats, etc. Being in the boat business also allowed me to pursue offshore racing as a hobby (it is MUCH easier to afford when you are an industry insider).

Yes, there are other vocations that I could pursue with my education and capital investment that would probably through off a better return than marina ownership, BUT I doubt there are any that could match the quality of life and sheer enjoyment that this industry has afforded me. It is not for everybody, it may not be for you, but it was absolutely the right decision for me. Keep your expectations realistic and ENJOY!

Good luck!

Tom Caruso
Total Marine

These guys have said it all.
You just let me know if you want to jump in the water and install some boat lifts with us..:cool:

Tim Gallagher
Sunstream Boat Lifts, FL

Is there a need to get an Ocean Engineering degree to run a marina/shop or I should I get a degree in my second passion, business? I actually wouldn't mind getting both. Just trying to decide which to get first. Most Ocean Engineering colleges will say that the job market is good and all their graduates got a job without much delay. Some even had a job before they graduated.

Business first bro, that would be the degree best suited to your dream of a marina. Then you could fall back on your other pursuit.

Sean

I second the notion of the business degree. It is much more usefull when owning and runnig a business. Even a marina.

Just sing that Cowboy Song by Waylon Jennings .
except instead of Cowboys place Boatbuilders.:D :D :D :D :fish:

All Joking aside get a Degree..