This rating is based on customer reviews, inventory size, pricing, and service quality
Guilford Boat Yards & Marine LLC in Guilford Township, CT scores 91/100 with a clear positive tilt. Customers praise professional, personable staff (Jodi, Don, team), strong Mercury expertise, and a solid inventory—parts on hand and trailers in stock—making it easy to get what you need. Pricing is often called fair, advice is candid, and work is completed promptly, even mid‑season. The small yard feels personal with ongoing facility improvements. Still, a minority cite slow follow‑ups, month‑long waits, unresolved tune‑ups, or curt responses.
As a lifelong Guilford resident, I can say with confidence that the Guilford Boat Yard is one of the true local treasures—especially thanks to Jodi. She’s the kind of person you hope to find when you’re scratching your head over an outboard engine issue. Friendly, patient, and incredibly knowledgeable, Jodi has helped us troubleshoot repairs and understand the ins and outs of boat maintenance more than once.
Buying parts here is a breeze—no runaround, no confusion, just honest help and the right advice. You can tell she genuinely cares about keeping folks out on the water and enjoying the Sound safely.
My go-to spot for marine items includes service with a smile! A few years back, the team helped me obtain all the necessary parts for our mooring ball, created the right-sized pendant, and was there when I needed them with questions. I stopped in today for bottom paint and was guided right to what I needed. Thank you to the entire team for demonstrating what excellent customer service is all about... going above and beyond!
We’ve used Guilford Boat Yard’s services a few times over the past couple years and we are always very satisfied with their work. They can handle large & small crafts, do good work, and always shoot straight with you. The owner & team are friendly, knowledgeable and always willing to help. It’s always a pleasure, thank you!
Guilford boat yard repowered my 2001 Boston whaler with a brand new Mercury outboard. They answered all of my questions and completed the work in the height of the season within a great timeline. I could not be happier with the new engine and the entire crew at Guilford boat yard. Not only do I have complete confidence in the new engine, I know that if any issues do come up there is a great team at Guilford boat yard that will assure I am taken care of.
I started using Guilford Boat Yards and Marine a year ago May for my two boats. The level of service is the best I have ever experienced over my 60 years of boating. The mechanics are first rate, the attention to detail is beyond great, the people are friendly and incredibly responsive. This is a place where you can trust that the workmanship and timeliness of the work will be as promised. Highest marks!!
I highly recommend Guilford Boat Yard for engine maintenance and care. We had a great experience getting our outboard tuned up! Awesome customer service and we even got pro tips to keep our Merc running like a top!
Bought a used mercury optimax 225 from them for a great price installed. There were some issues with top end power that were extremely hard to diagnose on this, however they stuck to the original deal and honored fixing it even though it needed a replacement powerhead.
Great to see and work with a local boat yard that has been serving the local shoreline community for years. In the day and age of large corporation owned boat yards that lack personalized service, this independent shop gives personalized service to get you on the water…just ask for Jodi or Don!
I have been taking my boat to Guilford Boat Yards for over 20 years for winter storage and maintenance. I have never had a problem with my boat. The service has been excellent. Thank you Jodi
Everyone at Guilford Boat Yard has been helpful and friendly since I first contacted them this summer to see about servicing and storing our 'new' (to us) Whaler. I am impressed with how flexible they are and how many services they offer.
I've had my boat stored and serviced for almost 20 years. They are honest and do a great job. The mechanics are top notch and Jodi in the office is very knowledgeable. Rest assured your boat is in good hands with Guilford Boat yard
Such nice friendly people! So accommodating as I needed a last minute haul and clean. They even winterized and wrapped the boat saving the day for me !!! Thank you GBY!!!
Guilford BY is always super responsive and helpful when it comes to maintaining my 2000 Whaler. I honestly have very few issues (knock on wood) once my boat is in the water and they are trying to keep my old motor running which I truly appreciate.
Friendly, expert service.... I've been a customer over ten years and appreciate the personalized service. Don, Jodi, and Matthew treat me as a family member, and I appreciate their expert advice and constant improvements to GBY's facilies and operations.
Mike Meisel (Guilford)
Everyone at Guilford Boat Yard is friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable. Mat, Pete, Jodi and Don have consistently gone the extra mile to keep my 50 year old Mako in good shape and running well.
We boat out of Mystic River and two weeks ago our Zodiac was stolen off the dinghy dock. Last week it was recovered and I needed a trailer to bring it home and clean it up. I saw they were the dealer for EZLoader and after viewing their web page they had the trailer I needed in stock.
I drove down without calling ahead and left an hour later with my new EZLoader trailer and an appointment at DMV to finalize all the documentation for the trailer.
Everyone on staff was friendly, professional and quite frankly, a joy to do business with. Easy to find, great web page and wonderful staff! Please support this great local business!
Got my boat tuned up here and it never ran right after. Called the owner Don and doesn't want anything to do with it . Very bad customer service and won't take responsibility for their mistakes. Cost me another 1k to have another mechanic fix it
I be purchased a 2.5 horsepower outboard here and the engine after it warmed up died and wouldn’t start. I complained to the boatyard about this issue and they told me because I’m a woman I don’t know what I’m doing and never solved my issue They are really nice to you here until you have a problem
Not an honest place to go to again !
They try to cover the lies , when I have screenshots, bills , and payments and they try to above the problem I have all the Proof’s I called many times they say they will call back the never did’t I did have to called back over and over and when they respond they were like they don’t care. They didt take the time for me
Living in NH, I needed a CT Mercury dealer to evaluate a boat I am buying. Jodi is an incredibly knowledgeable about all things GBY, capabilities, & pricing. She worked hard to coordinate everything. And when it was time for an engine sea trial, Matt direct quality time with me, walking me through everything I should think about when buying a used boat. An excellent experience. My only regret: GBY isn't in NH. Highly recommended!
This is a Hidden Gem if you need some work done to your boat this is the place to go the owner and his workers are true professionals. They're always there to help you no matter how small or how big the problem is they will get it done
Worst! Got charged over $500 trying to fix my 9.9 merc. The gems of mechanics they got, couldn't fix it! A 9.9 merc! They had it a month! An actual boat mechanic replaced the choke in an hr and good to go! RIP OFF ARTISTS. Get a real mechanic, they are not.
I have had my Whaler winter stored, painted, start up, and any other repairs needed done, by Anne and crew for many many years. I've always felt very comfortable here and have had great communication and service with everybody. Their prices are fair and the work done is very good. I am definitely going to continue keeping my boat here and I would recommend it to anybody. Thanks for all the help!
I've rented boats from them multiple times and every single time they were awesome. In particular, Anne was most helpful, even giving me the marine advisory for the day I wanted to rent, and running through the pros and cons of doing so based on the weather. In addition, other staff members spent plenty of time with us giving us tips on what fish were biting and what they were biting on. Great staff and great place to rent a boat (and I would definitely trust them on buying, docking, and maintaining too given their candor). Five stars...
Could not ask for more a more responsive, professional staff with that unique hometown feeling. I bought my boat there and have had it serviced every year since. Highly recommend!
absolutely no customer service,took them 3 weeks to respond to me with pictures I requested of a boat I intended on buying,not sure how they can still be in business when they don't seem to want to sell their inventory. if you get a response at all from Anne then good luck getting anywhere! look elsewhere
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