Mercruiser Dealer/Repair Facility Recommendation Request
 

Hi Folks, looking to get the raw-water pump replaced on my 2007 Caravelle Interceptor w/350 Mag and Bravo 1 drive and hoping to find a good shop in northern Mass.

I'm not too far from East Coast FlightCraft, they look like a high-end dealer with Cobalt/Fountain/Malibu boats. Any thoughts about the quality of their shop?

Any other sothern NH - northern Mass recommendations???

I think this is a pretty simple job, its just a very tight space with limited access and I just dont have the time to wrestle with it myself.

Any thoughts about what to watch for or other items to replace at that time?

This boat has very low hours (~50)

Thanks - George

Paugus Bay Marina
 

In all my years on and around the lake I've found them to be the most reliable when it comes to repair work.

Dave's Motorboat Shoppe
 

Best damn marine technicians on the lake! Second to none!

My neighbor brought his there as well. I did it for him and everything was done the way he wanted it done and in the time frame he said it would be down.I will give him two thumbs up!:)

I'm just guessing the lakes a little far north...

Yes you are correct, my first preference is to find somewhere closer to home (Andover MA)

But as I do most of my boating on Winnipesaukee, I am not opposed to having the work done up there, it just adds an extra trip to go drop it off.

I'll keep the Paugas Bay Marine recommendation as my fall back if I dont get a recommendation closer to home.

Not interested in cut rate shops, I'm willing to pay for a good shop to do good work.

Thanks

GH

I'll second that! The work they've done on my Baja has been excellent! They went out of their way to get my boat running properly when I was on vacation 2 yrs ago!

They had done some maintenance work for me right before my vacation and when I dropped the boat in the water, it had a misfire that wasn't there before. I met Dave at Glendale docks, he ended up taking the boat back to his shop for diagnosis and work. Since we were staying in Wolfeboro, he had one of his staff drive us back to Wolfeboro! The next afternoon, my boat was fixed and ready to go! Now that, to me, is customer service! :)

I don't know what I'm going to do if he retires before I get out of boating! :(

South of the border.
 

I know of no shops South of NH and North of Florida, sorry.

I'm not sure if they exists, but there was a Middlesex Marine off of the Merrimac River in Tyngsboro? Before performance boats were outlawed they did a lot of performance tuning and maintenance on the lake. They had a mobile shop and came to the dock! I would check to see if they are still around.

They closed down years ago, maybe 15+. I had an Evinrude that blew, they rebuilt is 3 times before they got it right. :confused:
I used to water ski on that stretch of water from the Hudson bridge to Lowell.
Great stretch of water to ski on after they cleaned up the river. What a change from the sewer it used to be.

Since they are right down the street from you (and me too) I would think that East Coast Flightcraft would be able to handle a very simple job like this. Baert Marine is right down the street in Middleton in East Coast's old building on River Street. Bang a right at Daileys on 114 and they are immediately on the right.

BT

Sounds like another solid recommendation, just wish they were closer to me,,,

Thanks

george

RE: Middlesex Marine

WOW haven't thought of those folks in years, I think they were the guys who turned out the Polaris turbo-charged triple snowmobiles. Was his name Mike???

Anyway they are long gone. Someone else was in there for a shore while trying to see Chinese repos of Glastron GT 150's A cool boat in its day, but not useful for anything but a small pond today. Just way too many big boats tearin up the water now. Even my CVX-20 is way too small for Winnipesaukee these days, so I cannot even imagine what a GT 150 would be like on a busy Saturday. Besides the Chinese repo were not 100%, they had some odd changes,,,

Thanks for the memories.

GH

I agree, but thought I would ask just in case there was a lot of bad press for East Cost. Its not a complex job, but I dont want to go to a shop that is a pain in the ass to deal with either and sometimes the dealers that sell top of the line stuff can be a bit challenging to work with. I dont know anyone who has been there so I posted here to see what comes up.

As for Baert, for some reason I thought they were just an outboard shop, no idea where i got that idea,,, Dont ever recall seeing them selling anything but fishing boats with outboards at the old location, so maybe thats where I got the idea.

Have you used either shop?

Thanks!

george

I have used Baert as a source for my parts locally since I do things myself. I have not used them for repairs. The price on their webpage for water pump service is $300 plus parts for an "inside the boat" water pump which I assume yours is since it's a Bravo ( I'm a Volvo owner). If I'm not mistaken that is a belt driven pump in a separate housing mounted lower left on the engine. Their shop rate is $115 per hour. Hope this helps.
http://www.baertmarine.com/custompage.asp?pg=ratechart

BT

There should be some decent guys in the Newburyport area. I can ask a few people I know down there. My father is a marine surveyor and Captain, and works in that area a lot.

For the lakes region, I would suggest Supreme Marine. Fast, efficient, cost effective and knowledgeable. He is right behind Dave's, and does a lot of work with/for Dave. As I know it, the outboard work typically gets referred to Dave and a lot of the stern drive work goes to Matt.

Not sure how far you want to travel, but Green's Marine in Hooksett NH is a great place and the guys there have always been really good to me. I try to throw them as much business as I can, mostly buying parts cause I do my own work, but one time I had a serious problem I couldn't tackle myself and they did a bang up job and charged a fair price for the work. I've been over there numerous times to ask about various things and they are always great at answering questions, even technical ones. They are also a certified Mercury/Mercruiser shop.

Nice thing about these guys, they don't have the "big lake marina" attitude or exorbitant prices that go with it.

Ditto for my support for Supreme Marine. When I had my vacation problem (as mentioned in my earlier post), Dave came to the Glendale dock initially and eventually called in Matt from Supreme; I believe it was Matt that figured out the problem and fixed it quickly! Either way, I received excellent service from both of them! :)

Thanks Much!

George

I'll vote for Portside Marine in Danvers.