Boatworks of NC, INC.

To start, I don't normally do reviews on places that I go to but after my experience with Steve I need to warn people before bringing their boats to him. This is all started when I dropped off my boat on Tuesday 4/2/2025 for a Carb clean since I believed the carbs were dirty on my 1998 2 stroke 90 Yamaha. Steve tells me over the phone that it will be $100 per carb plus maintenance and states he can get to it later in the week or the following week. I call the office on Friday and leave a voicemail with no response. I then call again on Monday and leave a voicemail to which Steve calls me back later that afternoon after saying "Your boat is ready to go". He then lists off a multitude of things that him and his team did to my boat without any authorization or approval and states that I owe them $1,300. Basic business etiquette is to call the owner and let them know of the problems and give them a quote of how much it would be to fix it, which I never received. Majority of the extra work they did to the boat was stuff I could have done myself and was planning to do myself to save money. I mentioned that to him and got immediate push back with a following response of "well what did you think we were going to do". He then continues to push back, threatens to keep my boat until its paid, and then tries to accuse me of not having the money. We were able to reach an agreement once I told him I spoke with an attorney and he told me to "never come back here again". I would make sure to keep everything you guys talk about on file and make sure he is giving you quotes for the work he is doing. I have seen mechanics try to rip people off which I don't think he was doing, but going from a $400-$500 carb clean to a $1,300 job is a big difference that any owner would want to be made aware of. If this happens to anyone else you can use NC General Statue 20-354 (Prohibited acts and practices) and if they try to keep your boat when they perform unauthorized work you can use NC General Statue 44A-2 (persons entitled to lien on personal property).

I took a smaller boat motor here for a fix and expected it to take a week or so to repair. To my surprise, they fixed it and called me back the same day! I knew it was a simple repair, but for them to get to it so quickly was awesome. This is a great shop to work with!

Boatworks is extremely professional and easy to work with. Steve is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of all brands of boats and gets the work done on time as promised. You can’t find a better boat mechanic than Steve

This boat is 19 years old. Steve and his team did the most amazing job of redoing the wiring and full detail on my 2005 boat. Solid. It's basically brand new. I also had the covers and Bimini done at Auto Interiors and Tops in Raleigh at Steve's recommdation. They do fabulous work as well.

DO NOT USE THIS SHOP FOR MAJOR REPAIRS! THEY GAVE ME A GHOST ENGINE! Yes, read that again. Save yourself a lot of money and go somewhere else! This all started when I had a bad winterization done. I took my boat to Boatworks in 2022 after noticing that my freeze plugs had popped. Took it to Steve and yup, the engine block was cracked. Steve stated he could fix it and have it back to me within 6 to 8 weeks. Fast forward 4 months, I started stopping by the shop after hearing excuse after excuse about the delay. Steve stated he was having supply and shipping issues (a common excuse for many businesses post-COVID). Fast forward another 3 months and Steve finally called saying the engine block had arrived and he was starting the installation soon. Another frustrating 3-weeks later I picked up my boat. First trip out on the lake, the engine died and I needed a tow back to the docks. Back on the trailer, I found the fuel pump wasn't plugged in tight, no big deal. On the second trip out, the engine overheated and needed a tow back to the docks. Back on the trailer, everything seems plugged in, even the engine flush port which was closed tight. On the third trip out, the engine overheated again, and once again I needed a tow back to the docks. Given all the delays and excuses I got from Boatworks the first time around, I took my boat to another shop. Explained the new engine block and rebuild, and the now overheating issues. They called me 3 days later with the horrible news. The rebuild by Boatworks wasn't done properly as nothing was torqued down to specs and the entire engine was hydrolocked. Many of the bolts were so loose they were simply removed by hand. To make matters worse, they were unable to tell where the new block came from because the tag (S/N) was missing. THEY GAVE ME GHOST ENGINE!!!! Another engine rebuild and thousands of dollars later, I have my boat back, and it's running great. Never again will I deal with Boatworks! Save yourself the time and money, go somewhere else.