When is this weather going to Break!
  You know how March is. The brave dewinterize March 1st and then put heaters on their boat.Our first boat out prize goes to Mark Goodin. We dewinterized his motor in case we needed to demo his boat and he ended up going for a ride in February!

What's happening around the Marina
  We're going to move the pumpout to the end of the upriver travelift fingerpier so if there are demos or boats in for work against B pier you can still pump out and get gas. I have spies out checking pump prices. I want to be not quite as low as Captain John's (after all, I run a lot of gas sales on slip account) but really don't want to be higher than Occoquan Harbor or PW. Gas sales are a service at Hoffmaster's not a profit center (just wish I could pay what the guy at the top of the hill pays)

Boat Sales
  In a word, awesome! The Chris Crafts are selling well, the Chaparrals are off the ground, and the used boats are starting to get some play.

The yard
 

We have assigned a week to each boat in the marina for dewinterization/ work to be done. If you have work other than dewinterization and you have not put in a work order be warned, it looks like May/June right now. Over the next 3 weeks in fact the yard is way over scheduled. We'll take the work order but if it ain't float 'n go, don't expect it soon. We hope to change our policy from disappointing you at deadline time to being honest with you about the time frame. We have hired 1 full-timer to help out, placed everybody on 50 hours per week, and scheduled 2 outsourced helpers for the weekends so we're serious about getting the work done.

One other thing. I'm paying the guys OT on the weekends to get specific stuff done. During the week they work on a flat rated incentive system now. So don't be surprised if they won't just follow you to your boat to discuss something. They'll point you to the office. This accomplishes 2 things:

1-They get their work done on time which helps all of us.
2-There are no work orders that have not gone through the office. Just through the winter I'm real tired of hearing "well________ said"-I can't schedule that. We can schedule called, emailed, or faxed orders, or orders made in person In writing.

Slip Rental Agreements
  We haven't sent out lease agreements which is bad business. As soon as Richard and Chuck get through the back room redux they will be sending out lease agreements. When they do I'll post explanatory notes on this web site.

Rumors
  Looks like Chaparral will have a 34 this summer-V Drive boat
Chris Craft-I still don't know. We've got a new VP Marketing who comes over from Grady White, a new Customer Service head, and a new Engineering man over from a custom inboard boat builder. The meeting for "on or before 4/13" is taking place 4/11-4/12. Will keep you posted.
 

  1214 Swan Point Rd. * Woodbridge, Va. 22192
Phone 703.494.7161 Fax 703.494.8786
Open 8-4 M-F, 10-4 Sat, 12-4 Sun