"The next step was to decide where to have my boat repowered.  From the multitude of authorized MerCruiser dealers around Bay country I selected four that I thought had more experience with boats like Boofoo.  I visited all of them, I talked with their service managers and I then asked them for written bids- which were also to include the price for two 380-hp MerCruiser MPI Horizon engines, two Mer-Cruiser Velvet Drive transmissions and an oil X-Change -R system.  In the end I chose family-owned Ventnor Marine Service on Bodkin Creek off the Patapsco River-although its bid at first glance was most expensive. 

       There were several reasons for my unusual decision.  Ventnor was twice voted "Best of the Bay" by the readers of this very magazine, and was endorsed by an old boating friend, Mel Kushner, who had kept his boat there and still took her there for servicing.  The fact that Ventnor was the only MerCruiser dealer whose service manager, Jay Humm (also part-owner), came to study my boat before even starting to talk with me about the repowering job was another strong pull in their favor.  Finally, Ventnor was the only dealer that included "new propellers that will match the new engines" in its bid....."

"According to our agreement, Ventnor had to finish Boofoo by the end of May 1999.  Naturally, I doubted that they would beat this deadline-in all of my boating years no one had ever finished working on my boat by the agreed-upon date.  But I was wrong.  I returned to Baltimore a week before that deadline, and to my great surprise Boofoo was basically ready and waiting for me."

Ventnor Marine Service, Inc.
8070 Ventnor Rd. Pasadena , MD 21122 / Call (410) 255-4100
e-mail: info@ventnormarine.com
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