John White, the owner of Whitehall Marina in Annapolis, often gets calls from boat owners who ask whether he does maintenance and repairs on recreational boats. No, he doesn’t, White explains. Whitehall is strictly a marina—a facility that rents out slips where boat owners can keep their vessels. But the adjoining office suite houses Scandia Marine Center, a boatyard operated by owners Erik and Marty Lostrom on marina property leased from White.
Scandia maintains and repairs boats but has nothing to do with slip rentals. That distinction may confuse some new boat owners, but if you phrase it in familiar automobile terms, it isn’t that hard to understand. “A marina is like a parking garage, and a boatyard is like an auto-repair shop,” says John Fountain, a retired manager of Abner’s Marina in Chesapeake Beach, MD. “There are variations, but that’s pretty much the basics.”
The variations seem endless. Although the Whitehall-Scandia arrangement—a marina and a separate, independent boatyard, located on the same site—is common, some marinas stand alone; other marinas offer country club-like amenities, such as a clubhouse, swimming pool, and shopping facilities. Some boatyards only make repairs and have no slips at all.
At one end of the spectrum is Leatherbury Point Marina in Shady Side, MD, which provides slips for smaller boats that can negotiate its narrow and relatively shallow channel and which refers its customers to nearby boatyards for such extras as haul-out and launch services, repairs, fuel, food, and other amenities. At the other end, Bert Jabin Yacht Yard in Annapolis not only offers hundreds of slips and full repair service for boats, but its sprawling, three-part property on Back Creek also hosts some 24 full-scale, independent, on-site, maritime-related businesses, from riggers and fiberglass specialists to engine specialists, brokers, and canvas providers.
There are plenty of marine facilities from which boaters can choose. State records list more than 450 marinas in Maryland—and that doesn’t include independent, stand-alone boatyards. (Some homeowners who have waterfront property and piers also rent out their slips, often at bargain rates.)
How do you decide which situation is best for you? First, think about how you use your boat: occasionally for two or three hours? For day trips? For longer ones? How deep an approach channel do you need? Will you need fuel on site? Do you plan to haul out your boat each winter? Where will you store it during that time—on a trailer in the boatyard or on jackstands? How extensive a repair facility do you need? A small trailerable runabout with a single outboard engine won’t require as much on-site attention as a 42-foot trawler.
What reputation does the repair shop or boatyard have? Are its customers satisfied with the quality and price of its work? Will it let outside contractors work on your boat? Will it let you do your own work? How important is the facility’s location—both for the access you’ll have from your home to your boat and from your slip to the Bay? How is the drive between the boatyard and your home? What’s the traffic like? Is the marina’s clientele made up of primarily powerboaters or sailboaters? What kind of amenities do you and your family need? Electricity, showers, laundry facilities? How about parking for your guests, picnic areas, a restaurant, club facilities, swimming pool, social activities, or shopping? Just as important, what don’t you need? There’s no point in paying for expensive amenities that you’ll never use.
There’s also another caution point: In cases where a marina and a separate boatyard occupy the same property, the two may not be of equal quality. In one such combination a few years ago, the marina drew high marks from its customers, while boat owners complained that the boatyard on the property was overpriced, arrogant, and mediocre, an unfortunate combination.
Marina and boatyard owners come from a variety of backgrounds. Scandia’s Erik Lostrom, 48, grew up in water-friendly Tom’s River, NJ, and has diplomas in naval architecture and boatbuilding from the Landing School in Kennebunkport, ME. His wife, Marty, grew up in the Cayman Islands and in Chicago, and did a lot of sailing from both locations. Before starting Scandia, Lostrom managed a boatyard at the Kentmorr Marina in Stevensville and moved to the Whitehall property in July 2014, when a previous boatyard company decided to leave that spot.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Lostrom says. So far, the volume has far exceeded their expectations. “It was a real learning curve,” he recalls. Whitehall’s White also grew up in a family steeped in boatyard and marina operations. Privately, he’s a passionate sailboat racer. His own family helps manage Whitehall Marina. Although some 35 percent of Lostrom’s Scandia boatyard customers own powerboats, a full 90 percent of White’s marina slip holders are sailors.
Lostrom points out that Maryland’s wide choice of marinas and boatyards may begin to wane after a few years. “The industry is aging. The younger generation isn’t as interested, and there aren’t enough skilled, motivated people to fill the jobs,” he says. Many younger people seem to prefer kayaks and canoes, which don’t require slips or yacht yards. For now, however, slip space and repair facilities are abundant. As Fountain advises, do the same sort of groundwork in choosing marinas and boatyards that you would in looking for a good parking garage or a competent auto-repair shop. “Walk around and talk to some of the customers who use them.” Then try them out and see how they perform.
About the Author: Art Pine is a USCG-licensed captain and a longtime Chesapeake Bay powerboater and sailor.