Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

I'd like to start a thread about the Good People in our High Performance boat world. We hear plenty about the scammers and crooks, but how about the honorable people who go out of their way to be "Stand-up" and honest. You know, the Fred Cecils, Fred Kiekhaefers and the Scott Smiths of this business.

Simple rule: The justification for listing this person or company must be something that happened to YOU. Not something you heard.

This may not be "Troutly Popcorn worthy," but the Scott Summerals of the world get more attention than the good guys.

To start off this thread I'd like to tell you about Mindi Doller and the crew at Doller Offshore Marine.

Mindi Doller is truly a credit to the boat business. Her crew is the best bunch of professionals in our area. They have sent empty trailers to the boat ramps several times for me after hours and on Sundays when gremlins have decided to invade my world.
Mindi personally has met me at Doller, or arranged to have one of her guys meet me, after hours and on weekends, so I can buy a part I need to get somebody rolling again.
They constantly go beyond the call of duty for their customers and are a fitting company to lead off this thread.

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

The Guys at Sunsation, you couldn't ask for better customer service, more people should follow their lead.. :)

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Trick Marine :drink:
G.S. Marine, Corona, CA. (Greg Schumacher) :drink:
Terry Sobo (Nortech) :drink:


What a shame it's so short of a list :(

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Brad Fortney
The Brokerage Shop
336-656-9999

As well as being an OSO advertiser, Brad went against his policy of not listing older boats when he took mine on. Not only did he get it sold, he got it sold quickly. It took about four months, and he got me the buyer for the price I was asking. That is better than most of the boat selling stories I have heard.

Brad, If you read this, I haven't forgotten the listing contract. :cool:

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

I have personally done business with Mindy Doller, and I must say that Doller Marine
is by far worthy of being at the top of this list. She stood behind what they did for me even after the warranty was up. She gives 110% to her customers all the time.

Steve Berk aka Lucky Strike

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

There are two places that I will recommend without hesitation. They are Martin Offshore and Lip-Ship Performance. I have worked fairly extensively with Tres and the crew at Martin Offshore on the Apache project and they have been great every step of the way. I have to say the same thing about Phil and his crew at Lip-Ship. I worked quite a bit with them on both of the race boats and they were fantastic. From my personal experiences, both guys and both shops are 100% straight up and the customer service from both is phenomenal. I have had limited experiences with other shops that were great as well, but I have had a lot of exposure to Martin Offshore and Lip-Ship in particular and you really can't go wrong working with either one.

Lip-Ship Performance

Martin Offshore

.

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Bennett Marine...Top notch customer service and committment to their product. They went above and beyond for me.

Livorsi...Same thing, customer service excellence and friendly to work with. They have earned my repeat business.

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Another name to put on this list is DCB.
I bought my boat used through the factory, and I could not have been happier with the experience.
The boat was brought by the previous owner to the factory for detail and clean up prior to my arrival, and when I saw it for the first time it looked new.
There was a problem on the sea trial with an oil filter mount that resuted in some very minor cosmetic damage to the filter mount and the crankshaft pulley.
I had replacement parts in my hand within two days, and they promised to pay the repair bill no matter how much it was or where I chose to take it.

It was very minor work and I chose to take care of it myself (took about 30 minutes, no big deal).

Dave told me personally that he would not be hapy with the sale until I was 110% satisfied with my boat and their work.
Great people, great company, great product. I would never hesitate to buy another boat from them!

I too have had great service with several mentioned in the above posts, most notably Tres Martin in a new boat purchase and Fred Cecil for parts. Both have my business no matter what.


Also, for anyone at or near Lake of the Ozarks, all of my business regarding service, repair, or anything else boat related, goes to Central Power and Rigging. Period.
I would not even think of going anywhere else. Scott and Reuben are great to deal with, the prices are fair, and their service is outstanding.

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Not high performance related but definitely industry worthy:

SurfSide 3 Marina is a Sea Ray Dealer and many other boat brands, with locations in CT, NY and on Long Island, great bunch of people.

I'll make it short and sweet, they know how to treat people! I purchased from them and anyone I recommended, all say the same thing, great customer service!

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Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

I've used Boatfix.com for years for marine parts. They don't get into high performance stuff but you cannot beat their service and support for just about anything marine related. Their site also has some very good maintenance articles.
Owner George Van Parys is base in New Jersey. I'd guess he and Fred Cecil have a lot in common.
ed

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Brian ( Martiniboat) was a pleasure to do business with also, answered all my questions and he rushed me a set of tabs and delievered them directly to the factory.

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Mark Adams with Marine Managment, great guy with great boats for sale no B.S.

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Martin Marine
I have bought two Cigarette from Glen and Ralph Martin. They have been a pleasure to deal with and always did what they said they would do. I never had any issues with the paperwork on the sales and they were always there for me when I needed assistance. Ralph and Glen have always treated me like family and have gone out of there way to make my trips to south Florida more enjoyable. Glen has picked me up many times at the airport and taken time out of his day to help me get my boat in the water years after the initial sale. In addition to the courtesy they have shown me they have an incredible depth of knowledge about boats within their organization.

Martin Offshore
Hot Duck already spoke about Tres being a straight shooter. Tres has gone above and beyond to the call of duty when I had issues with my boat. Once he sent a mechanic from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West to fix a warranty problem with my Cigarette during a poker run. The mechanic was professional and had the boat fixed before the next days events.

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Don't forget Steve at Offshore Only!!!!! :evilb:

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Yep, I was gonna say Jeffrey Cheng for creating OSO and Steve Shuble for developing it.

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They have definitely changed how to get the best info on our favorite sport. Long Live OSO :cool:

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

I agree!

Julie

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tres and glen martin have been great. i call them for everything, and will continue to do so. stecz

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I've got to throw in a vote for Kenny at Velocity... great guy, always helpful! :drink:

Jim

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Are Martin Marine and Martin Offshore two different companies ? In different locations ?
Or different operations within the same company ?
and
Does Marine Management have a web site ?

thanks all,
ed

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

Martin Marine is Ralph & Glen Martin, Scott Smith, Bob Carlson, Craig Barrie and Bill. They sell boats, brokerage and new..

Martin Offshore is Tres Martin. Setup, service, riggin, throttling and boat school. I probably left out a lot of stuff.

I believe they are different companies. Ralph is Tres and Glen's father. Ralph was the first person to sell boats for Don A and Reggie F. Ralph also ran Evergaldes Marina at one time and sold a lot of the big Apaches.

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I will have to add Mercury Marine and Gates Marina (under new management). Mike Anthony from Mercury and Jimmy from Gates Marina took care of our problem on our 38' Scarab 500 hp. We had low water pressure. They sent Jimmy to measure the X dimension and found it high and then sent Mike Anthony down to assess the problem.

Mercury decided that the water pickup was insufficient and had Gates install low water pickups to correct the problem. Problem was fixed with no money out of our pocket.

Prior to that, we had one of our mid sections blow out on a regular basis. By the 3rd time, Mercury went out of their way to ensure this would never happen again.

This happened in 1998 and we logged over 276 hours trouble free. Mercury stepped up to the plate and took care of the problem allowing Gates to handle the work.

My opinion - Mercury is the way to go.

OSO Steve is second.

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[QUOTE=Troutly][COLOR=Blue]Oh don't sell yourself short Ed. I will dish some out for your thread.

Troutly, you made me smile!
Thanks, the popcorn's delicious.

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That about sums it up :drink:

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

THROTTLE UP
SPECTRE POWERBOATS (JAY PALINI)
OWENS & SONS TRAILERS
COLLABELLA PERFORMANCE
All 4 have been excellant with personel service and getting me back in the water ASAP........It's like having a race crew standing by..........

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

How about that old goat SyGoldberg :drink:

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sabre marne and oh yea oso

Re: Positive Influence People in our Industry
 

If you guys frequent the Tech Forum, you would know of a member who has "given" more free camshaft advice than anyone else on this forum.
Bob Madara, aka. RMbuilder, has been more helpful than you can imagine.
He knows camshaft technology and how it is applied to a marine application.

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Sy Goldberg is NOT a goat!

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Every single person that I have spoke with through OSO has been a tremendous help.
I have to add, Carolina Performance and Fountain. I've called Fountain on more than one occassion with questions and each person was very helpful (even returned phone calls). Carolina Performance sent me my trailer title (the previous buyer had a balance on it) without hesitation and no cost to me.
To me, a positive influence doesn't mean that they will give the store away. Simply that they do what they say, return phone calls, and abandon the bull****.

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Brownie at Stainless Marine...
Everyone I've met at TNT...
Pierre at Hideaway Marina...
Hector from Cigarette...
Everyone at Hydromotive..
Nunez family at Pantera (They've been especially helpful to me)

All good people. :drink:

You guys are right... In a small specialized industry, which is unfortunately flooded with crooks and thiefs..... We need to point out the good guys to deal with.
Cheers to those of us that make an honest effort. :drink:

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Howard Arneson. He is the man. Still holds the Miss. N.O. to St Louis record. I promise you he has driven more hours over 150 m.p.h. in a boat than anyone alive. He is a marvel, always there to help, and still going strong at 80 years young. :D :D

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I've found Formula Boats and McCleod Interiors to be very helpful.

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Although I am no longer involved in the business, I will give my $ .02. with the thread........IT'S ABOUT TIME (great thread Eddie) that a thread comes up about the good people in the industry get the credit they deserve.

In the 15 years I was involved with the performance boat industry (insurance), most of the people I met and/or had dealings (friendships) with are first rate..... :drink:

The horror stories you read about here are about fly by night wannabe's.

The Cozzis, Doller's, Lip-Ships, Martins, Nor-Techs (Schou/Sobo), Adams, McManus's, Livorsi's, Pilini's (Spectre) of the business (sorry if I missed anyone) are very special people....It was a total pleasure to have known you all........ :D :D :D :D

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He's "retired" now, but in a world populated by snakes (and far worse) Bobby Moore steered me and many others along the straight and narrow path of honest folks. He's now a lifelong friend and opens his house to me whenever I'm in North Carolina.

Also:
Anyone at Formula, but especially Scott Porter - a true gem of a man.
The OSO gang (well - except SuperCrash and a few other "notables".)
Fred Cecil (Too Old) - the voice of reason.
Dave Patnaude of NJPPC - the best of people.
Ocke Mannerfelt (of BatBoat fame) - Incredibly intelligent and diverse; fascinating.
Forrest Barber - for infinite hospitality and intensity.
John Tomlison and Mike Thomas - For being so very professional.
Troutly - for being such a good sport.
My wife (Woo-Hoo!!) - for being the best First Mate in the world....

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Yup....Man how did i forget this man.....thanks C..... :cool:

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Oops. I forget to mention one really important person. I consider them to be in the marine industry because they build boat trailers, but how about Bill and the entire crew at Myco? I have owned several of their trailers and I have had nothing but good experiences with them. They are great to work with, they build a fantastic product and they deliver it on time. Thank you Myco!

Myco Trailers

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Fred Cecil who has helped, offered suggestions, and just been so helpful in way "TOO" many ways. Thanks Fred.

Our own member "Gusman" aka SMS Mobile Marine Service who has helped me in putting Outlaw back together, especially considering some of it wasn't much fun, and ruing a pair of shoes in the process. I owe him some sneakers.

Formula Customer Service

Kenny at Eddie Marine who sent me all my brackets and gaskets including four extra for my spacers, at no charge.

And most of all, 99% of the members of our Board who offer help and suggestions and make this such an addictive place to be. Thank you all.....

The Sarasota Hyatt Hotel who has helped in so many ways in our boat races and poker runs.

City Council Member Lou Ann Palmer who is our personal "bodyguard" against any attempt at screwing with our 10th St. Boat Ramps.

Jim "Rambo" Christman who headed the "Raise the Bridge" group that got our new US 41 bridge doubled in height and quadrupled the width of the boat passageway under the new bridge. This will open up our entire area to medium size cruisers and the fishing guys with "tee tops". WE (RAise the Bridge) fought the Sarasota County Commissioners, The FDOT, The Venice Chamber of Commerce, the Nokomis Area Civic Association, we fought everyone, and yet with the Coast Guard on our side, we kicked their azz and got our new higher, wider bridge. "Rambo" probably spent a thousand hours or more. It was one of the most successful "grass roots efforts" ever. WE WON......

And Cuda for being such a good friend.

Troutly for keeping our "favorite" section in "order" as the official librarian.

Wasabe for just being herself.

And of course the Board Gods of OSO for making all this possible.

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Charlie Amann (Merlin540) is a great drive repair and upgrade guy to use. Great prices, quick and does the work correctly. I know literally dozens of guys who have used him for different things and we all never hestitate to use him over and over and over and over....;) His shop is White Oak Auto and Marine in Cincy.

www.agitatoraoffshore.com