Dave's Marine Services

This is the third year in a row that I've taken my boat to Dave's Marine Services in Garner on Hwy 70. Every time I take the boat in, I get honest, timely feedback, at which point repairs are my choice. I always choose to have Dave/Team work on my boat because they are friendly, inexpensive and trustworthy. Dave's is growing as people hear about their reliable/affordable marine services, so I would encourage you not to turn a boat in the same week you want it back. Certainly don't complain about their great work taking quality time away from your schedule. Dave's expertise will save you commas in the long run, since he's been in the industry for decades and has developed a foundation of knowledge designed to find the lowest cost, highest reliability for solutions to your boat's problems. You'll find someone who can do it quicker, probably, but good luck finding someone better.

I started going to a local parts store, they were able to find the alternator that they said belonged on my boat, but it was about $300. That seemed high to me so I decided to keep looking. I went to another boat shop in Garner and the guy there said the “office people” had left for the day and they didn’t sell parts anyway, shooed me away and sent me to the next guy down the street, thats were I found Dave. Dave, was not only friendly he was helpful. I showed up at his shop at around 4:20PM. Stuck my head in the shop and he was the first person I met. Dave stopped what he was doing and came over to me and asked how he could help, he didn’t ask me what I needed, he asked me how HE could help. Its a subtle difference, but an accurate predictor of how the rest of our time together would go. I told him what I was doing and asked him for advice or suggestions. Dave, took me in the office and when he heard how much the parts store wanted for the alternator he spent no less than thirty minutes helping me find the right alternator from the company he recommends, all while knowing that he wasn’t going to make a dime off of the deal because I was reinstalling it myself. Dave had to reference at least two different books and pulled up about 50 different pictures of alternators and the backs of them to determine which one I needed. Ultimately we fount the exact replacement alternator this company and it was less than half the price I had originally been quoted, $75 delivered. Needless to say, Dave has made a customer for life out of me. I'll be looking for something that needs to be repaired on my boat just to be able to take it to him.

RUN, DON'T WALK, AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! My boat was having issues going into forward gear. I was told by Dave's that it was out of adjustment and to adjust was $130. I was also informed that my prop shaft was bent and needed to be replaced. They quoted me a total of $600-$800 for everything. According to Dave's the boat would be ready in a few weeks. A few weeks passed and when I followed up, I found out that they were waiting on hard-to-find parts. This was not a big deal since I was not in a big rush. Approximately two months later I got a phone call saying that my boat was finally ready and that I owed $2,000! This was the first time I heard that the cost of repairing my boat, including parts, was two times the original estimate. I pushed back and we agreed on a total payment of $1,500 .. which is after Dave's made me feel like I was the bad guy in the situation. I picked up the boat and paid the agreed upon $1500. I put the boat on the water today and guess what?! NO FORWARD GEAR. I gave Dave's a call to see if there was a fine adjustment or anything else I could do so I was not stuck on the lake. The guy who answered the phone yelled to someone, presumably the owner in the back, that I'm on the phone and am broken down on the lake. I could clearly hear the owner's response to the guy who answered... "Tell him he didn't pay his bill and to go **** himself" Yep, go **** himself. The guy on the phone repeated the response he was instructed to say and hung up on me. I called back and got no answer. Now I'm out $1,500 and my boat is in the same position that it was when I initially brought it to Dave's. If you actually read the review this far I would hope your next step will be to find someone else to fix your boat.

I don't make recommendations, I simply tell my story and let you decide. The saga of Dave's Marine: I will start by saying that everyone is friendly with the exception of Dave's son, "Dave #2" who works the front. He has no personality or people skills. Dave Sr. is knowledgeable and does good work, unfortunately he does not do most of the work. I bought a boat and it ran but needed work. I took it to Dave's for a service and to see why it was not running at top end. I was taken aback by Dave #2's demand that I pay a non refundable deposit of $128 up front just to leave the boat. His attitude more than the money was what put me off. I almost did not leave the boat. After a week, I called Dave's they dont call you in a timely mannerthey told me the top carb needed rebuild and the lower carb was broken. It needed to be replaced. They bought one off eBay and rebuilt it. After 3 weeks and $900.00 later, I picked the boat up and was ready for a nice day at the lake. I put the boat in the water and all it would do is idle. No matter the throttle setting it would only idle. I called Dave's open on Sat till 2. Dave Sr told me to check the carb linkage. So I pulled the cover and sure enough the lever that attached to the linkage was missing. The cam was not engaging the throttle. He told me to bring it back over and he would fix it so i could get back on the lake. Dave Sr gave me his cell number to call if they were not there. I made a makeshift lever and was able to run the boat that day. I took it back over, they were gone. Called Dave and left it overnight and the next morning Sunday it was fixed. I took it back to the lake the following Saturday and it ran fine. It ran fine for 3 weeks. Then the engine started doing the same thing. It would not run full power. Took it back to Dave's. They did not charge me a drop fee and told me they would check it out. After a few days they told me to come pick it up. It was working fine. I picked it up and headed to the lake on Sat. Put the boat in the water and nothing. Power was so low I couldn't even get it off the trailer. Took it back to Dave's immediately. The mechanic, "Dave" yes there are 3 of them, said it was working fine when he checked it out. He put it on the hose and it fired up and ran full throttle. I informed him it ran fine on the hose at home for me but when in the water it would not throttle up and it dumped fuel all over the lake. They kept it for 2 more weeks and called me to come get it. They had rebuilt the lower carb again. They found a defective gasket. They said they tested it at the lake and it was fine. THEY DID NOT CHARGE ME FOR THE RETURN SERVICE. I took the boat home and the next day was going to the lake. I put it on the hose at home to check the function. When I fired it up, the boat was in WOT. No matter what I did I could not get the linkage to return to idle. I immediately called Dave Sr. He said bring it over right then. I went to the shop and Dave looked at the the lower carb. Dave #3 had rebuilt the carb but left a loose bolt in the air box when reassembling. The bolt worked its way into the carb and blocked the butterfly open. Dave Sr. put everything back together and reset the idle. I left for the lake, put the boat in the water and it would not engage in reverse gear. Called Cave Sr. he said bring it back After a day I called them, they said the shifter cable was broken at the shift head. I authorized the repair hesitantly. After a few days they called to pick the boat up. When I arrived Dave 3 and Dave Sr were still working on it. They said they were making sure it was ok. They also said for some reason the shifter was having difficulty going into reverse. It was stiff. It was never stiff before. They charged me the min fee $128 plus parts $208.00 End of Story. I have not put the boat in the water yet. I am leaving for the lake as I type this. Bottom Line: I WONT TAKE MY BOAT BACK TO DAVE'S even if its not fixed. Perhaps my experience was not the norm but after so many problems I have lost confidence in the shop.

The staff at Dave’s Marine Service is professional, friendly and they genuinely care about your boat. When I dropped my boat off on a busy Saturday morning, I was assured that they would "...take good care of it..."". I gave them a description of the primary issue along with a recent history of maintenance. I especially enjoyed it when they said “be honest”. They determined the cause of the problems and repaired them and also performed some routine maintenance that I requested. I told them about one item I thought might need to be done but they said it looked great and there was no need to do it. I love it when service providers don't spend my money unnecessarily. They even put the cover back on my boat and fully secured it as it was when I brought it in. Dave's service was a HUGE step up in so many ways from the mechanic I had used for several years and I will definitely be coming back!

Took my running 2 yr. old Yamaha 8 hp. in for a tune up and general maintenance. Three weeks later, I picked up the motor trusting that this had been tuned up properly, and TESTED. It has not run since. The bill was $254.00 for the alleged tune up. Took it back, and Dave acted as if I did something to it and kept it another 2 weeks. I then was told that I need a carburetor. This was a running motor before it was worked on. No confidence that they could fix what was as running motor when I took it to them, I asked them to put it back together so I could get it the motor repaired elsewhere. Beware of this shop ! Update 7/9/2015-Took motor to Collins,Inc.. No carburetor needed. Parts missing. Went back to Dave, got the missing part that Dave failed to install. Also got the middle finger from his employee. Class Act. Dave said nothing.

Awful experience and lost my jet ski to mechanics lien. Took it in for tune up . Gave 140.00 Left for my brother's funeral in Florida. Came back 2 weeks later to this... Telephone call I asked about it. man on the phone said he would order parts and adjust labor accordingly. Now 323.00 Phone call 3 price now 650.00 After the gentleman on the phone checked they realized they were not sure about parts. Some mechanic in background yells some parts billed were for another ski. Will get back to you they said. Month later it was more than last call. Plus now they were adding storage fee per day. I get a letter from their attorney MWH attorney at law. Lien placed on ski. I sent the attorney and Dave the letter the attorney sent, I Michael George hereby serve notice on Dave's marine,LLC ,via the law firm of McCullers, Whitaker and Hamer PLLC, that I request a judicial hearing to contest the sale of property upon which Dave's Marine LLC.asserts a Lien. Call the firm about 2 weeks later, I am told I should have sent a CERTIFIED RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Letter. I copied the letter But she said regular mail is not the same. So I lose the ski to Dave Marine That jet ski was never worked on by any local shop. I can not believe you would spread lies. You can call all the shops in NC.

He will take you for a ride.........My SeaDoo would not start. He replaced the starter June 2013 which turns out it was not the starter a good mechanic would have known this before replacing the starter the engine was locked up. Had someone else replace the engine thank goodness then in August 2014 the gear fell off the starter while in the middle of the lake, took it back to him and charged another $400 to replace the gear $99 to over night the part-was not aware he was going to do that. Now July 2015 the starter has gone bad. I took it to another boat repair place Watercraft Concepts and had an OEM starter put on. I have spent $1K+ on starter issues because of this guy that knows nothing about what he is doing. DO NOT TAKE YOUR BOAT TO HIM UNLESS YOU WANT TO WASTE MONEY.

WARNING, do not take your boat to daves marine. terrible customer service and terrible work. I took my boat there 2 months ago bc it was running hot and running rough. They charged me the 127 diagnostic fee to figure out the problem, 4 weeks later they finally told me it was the impellar and it was going to cost i think 400 to replace it, which they already did without asking me. i picked up the boat and they told me if it was still running rough that i could bring it back. i took it out on the water the next day and it was still runnimg rough and kept cutting off on me. i brought it back to them and they said they would look into it, but first it was going to cost me another 127 just to diagnose it, which i told them i refuse to pay that since the boat wasnt fixed and i paid the 127 diagnostic fee already when i forst dropped it off. they ended up saying fine and let me leave it and said theu would try amd diagnose it by the end of the week. well 4 weeks later they finally call me back and tell me that the distributor cap and ignition coil needed to be replaced which would be almost 700 which i told them dont work on it ill just pick it up and do the work myself. well the guy that always answers the phone with the long girly pony tail tells me its going to be 380 for me to pick it up. i told him thats outrageous since all theu did was diagnose the problem which i ready paid for the first time. he started yelling at me on the phone saying that they wont let me leave with the boat until i paid 380 for it. they did no work on it, all they did was tell me what the problem is. this place is all about some fraud, other people have had similat problems. Do yourself a favor and take your boat somewhere else.

I went to Dave's a few years ago and needed a general engine tune up. I ended up spending over 2000.00+ for repairs to my outdrive. After I left, I realized they ripped me off.They said my lower unit was about to quit on me and my drive shaft was warped.. NOT... DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE. Later I asked around about Dave's and other mechanics said "DO NOT GO THERE AGAIN. They rip people off"