I have a serious question about Marinas. If you owned a Marina, or could do something innovative with a marina, what would you do?

This hypothetical marina would be on the Great Lakes, have about 100 slips (30 to 60 foot) with most rented seasonally to weekend boaters looking to "get away" from the big cities, have plenty of land, and be very convenient to one of the Great Lakes. The owner would not want to be in the restaurant or bar business. Doesn't mean one could not be placed on site, just not run by the owner. And remember, most of the slip renters want some peace and quite after 11 pm or so.

Also, what could a marina do in the winter months to bring in a bit more cash flow other than the usual service functions?

Just hypothetically, that is.......

NO needless Revving of engines at the docks

First off.....I would never own a marina or marine repair business. Then you will have to give up boating .....you know what I mean!

My thought exactly. I like boating to much to get into any kind of boat service, sales, marinas, etc.

I've never dealt with rack storage. I suspect it would be good use of an empty building in the summer, but don't those owners with racked boats want to use slips? If so, then some number of slips would have to be reserved for the racked boats? Are those slips paid for by use, or included in the rack fee? Are racked boat owners open to having their boats filled up, cleaned, warmed up, and waiting for the owners to arrive? What would a customer be wiiling to pay for that level of service, and could you get enough customers to go with that level of service?

The gym sounds like a neat idea. Anybody here own or operate a gym? What resources are out there to learn about the business?

OK Fred....1st off your signature link is wrong....correct it

When you deal with hypotheticals....you bring in the intangible's

Then to get into the marina business....winter work is gel coat repair and touch up....got to do alot of ground pounding to generate enough work for your gel coat employee, because you will be out generating work for him or them. Also, mechanical repairs can lead into Nov or maybe Dec. Then start dewinterizing in late March and early April. Now being up north alittle further, then time factor might be different
Of course if you make enough money, you and the family can go south for the winter.....just a thought

Ok, did it, works now!


Now, what about sailboaters? How does a power boater learn to treat sailboaters with respect? But seriously, the marina has some large sailboats becuase it is blessed with deep water. I guess I'd have to learn to just get along, eh?

In/out service with person on call till midnight fri.Sat night

Allow and promote barge homes for year round living 60ft max.

Reliable Merc small service dept. mostly for emerg./small repairs/ winterizing. Same person to do shrink wrap.

Small in house brokerage business

A restaurant that serves breakfast and middle of the road
American food all day - hip Burger Joint

70 ton travel Hoist

Fish cleaning station

Powerboats only

Depending on location maybe half dozen small retail
spaces - 1 for summer clothing store

Small ships store with not a lot of useless junk.

Incredible Customer Service

Just treat people very nice! Just like U would want 2 B treated on your time off or vacation!! My 2 cents, the service world in a lot of cases, is falling short! Let's face it, boaters R spending a lot of $ on luxury non essential items! It helps the economy on many levels.

Yup, for sure on the service level.

If I could pull this off, my place would be a destination point, not the town.

Been boating since 88 with a 28 Carver and then a 42 Carver, taking a 2 to 3 week trip almost every year. I've learned quite a bit about both high and low levels of customer service, and would hope to provide stellar service - mechanical/repairs, sales, after-sales, gas dock, and taking care of the tenants.