Services

Brokerage, Carpentry, Communication Systems, Control Systems, Dealership, Diesel Engine, Electrical, Electronic Equipment, Engine Cooling/Heat Transfer, Engine Parts, Exhaust Systems, Fiberglass, Fueling Systems, Gelcoat, General Services, Inboard Engine, Inboard/Outboard Engine, Lighting, Navigation Equipment, Outboard Motor, Paint, Thrusters, Winterization

Address

1919 S Marina Dr., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207 United States

Rachel F said:

07/02/2013

How does one review a marina? As of late, I've been including a lot of Wikipedia definitions in reviews. I have been doing this for a number of reasons: 1. knowledge is power, 2. the more you know... (star trail, sing song xylophone, dun dun dun duuuun!), and 3. context is king Clearing up any misconstructions/understanding proper definitions of things (foodstuffs, etc.) creates a better climate in which to appreciate a review and properly understand context. --- Marina, from Wikipedia: A marina (from Spanish, Portuguese and Italian marina, "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters. The word marina is also used for inland wharves on rivers and canals that are used exclusively by non-industrial pleasure craft such as canal narrowboats. --- So now, a review for Skipper Bud's Marina, of which I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out at/on this past Sunday afternoon. Skipper Bud's, in a nutshell: they'll take care of your boat for you. They house a crapton of boats, from smaller four-person vessels to giant-sized super-rich person yachts. They have three storehouses, and tons of heavy loading equipment that will scoop any size boat of the water and gently place it into its designated housing area. Boat storage at Skipper Bud's is crazy... they stack boats three high on super industrial boat-holders/pallet-type things. They have three storehouses, each holding somewhere around 150 boats. Math! They put them in the water, they take them out of the water. It works like this: you reserve dock space for any specific date/time, and Skipper Bud's takes care of the rest. It's water camping, ostensibly! Seems like the staff knows all of the boat owners/inhabitants on any given day. They're friendly, helpful, and funny. Notice I'm not reviewing Barnacle Bud's. Notice I'm not reviewing the water itself. I'm reviewing the staff and facilities as Skipper Bud's Marina, a very different thing (although together they create one very unique spot in MKE that you won't find anywhere else... that's for sure)!

Justin B said:

11/26/2014

Originally drawn in by a storage discount, I thought I would give it a shot. If you own a sail boat, head in the other direction. I have wintered at Harborside and Southwind and would recommend those over Skipper Bud's. The receptionist was friendly and courteous, but that's about it. I scheduled 3 times during the day to have our boat hauled out. I showed up for each, but none of the staff were present or willing to pull the boat. Frustrating as I made my plans around their schedule and used vacation time....to sit around. In the end they convinced me to tie the boat up on their wall over night with the impression it would be pulled out the following week. Skipper Buds did not follow through on this either. Our boat was slowly moved up the dock until it was tied up in front of the restaurant. No effort was made by the staff to adjust fenders or ensure the boat was secured in a way it would not be damaged. We ended up having to replace and repair 3 lifeline stanchions from the time staff left the boat secured improperly. I pulled the plug after 3 weeks of failed attempts and went elsewhere.

Doug D said:

04/29/2015

The service manager, Pete Deri, is completely incompetent and he has a severe anger problem. He rants and screams at customers in a threatening way and if he gets mad, he will demand payment by "cash only", no checks or credit cards. This is not Skipper Buds policy, this is Service Manager Pete Deri's policy. He ran up my bill to over 5 times the original quote with no estimates along the way. The repair time went from an estimated "few days" to several weeks, After installing a new transmission, he could not diagnose a vibration and noise problem with it so he began throwing parts at it and he ran my bill through the roof. He installed a flex plate, cutlass bearing, removed the prop shaft several times, installed another new transmission, tuned up the engine and installed numerous other parts, charging me for everything and every hour of labor and still he could not fix the issue. His solution was to drain the transmission fluid and put in heavy engine oil to dampen the vibration. I'm a machinist and part-time auto mechanic and to me this sounded wrong. It seemed like the equivalent of putting saw dust into a noisy engine. Being that it was a was a brand new transmission, I called the manufacturer. They told me this was completely wrong and that what he did voided my warranty. I politely asked Pete about this and he went nuts. He started yelling and ranting and calling me names. He told me how long he had been doing this and said that all boat mechanics did this. He was screaming at me and turning red. I actually thought he was going to hit me. I insisted that he put the correct fluid in my new transmission, which he did and he charged me for it again. Now, after spending a fortune on replacing every part he could think of, the boat is still making noise with severe vibration and Pete Deri made it perfectly clear he "was done with this boat". I have to take it somewhere else to have them fix what he did. The bill went from my estimate of about $1200 for a trans cooler to around $7000 and it's still not usable. I have never been treated so poorly by the representative of a company in all my life. I would strongly suggest you NEVER go to Skipper Buds for anything. Service Manager Pete Deri is a disgrace. Oh, and he is keeping my boat until I pay off the last couple hundred dollars in "CASH ONLY' because he got mad. I contacted the corporate office but have yet to hear back. If they refund my money I will be much happier but this hot-headed, incompetent bully of a service manager needs to be fired.