Visited Prince William Marina

KevinS

KevinS

Member
Nov 22, 2007
49
Tampa, FL
Boat Info
2003 340SDA
Engines
8.1 VDrives
Drove up from Tampa to Fairfax, VA last week with the family for spring break. We also stopped in Williamsburg for a few days and had a great time.

Anyway, gettting off of I-95 at Occoquan and right there is a Sea Ray dealership. And it wasn't a MarineMax! I had to stop in.

You know how the Harley guys all wear T-Shirts from all the various dealerships and they kind of make it a quest to get shirts from the most exotic locations. Well, apparently we don't do that - no shirts there other than the general Sea Ray stuff we can all order through the catalog.

I did have a great conversation with one of the salesman though talking about boating in the mid-atlantic area. I was amazed to walk into a little building with a few sport boats and find a 300 slip marina with many boats over 40' behind it. Also interesting to learn about the Occoquan river boating.

So no shirt but I did get a hat that I'll ahve to wear to the next MarineMax gathering :)

Kevin
 
Too bad you didn't get to test out the lovely no wake zone, one of the greatest attributes of the Occoquan! :smt009

We are now three days from delivery at PWM- and my current boat made it in from Annapolis Monday thanks to our helpful salesman.

Definately getting excited!:smt038
 
Congrats on the new boat - 420DB is also in my sights for next although no idea when next will be :)

Yeah, I asked the guy I spoke with how far you had to go before the no-wake ended, it looked pretty narrow there. He said only 2 miles, shorter than I thought it would be.
 
We bought our last boat 270DA from a private party at PWM.
The test trial was out and thru the long no-wake zone. About 20 minutes each way. Once you got out, it opened up to the Occoquan Bay area and that was nice. He showed us a sand bar area that everybody seams to go to and hang out.

Very nice marina with a lot of very nice and much larger Sea Rays than I'm use to seeing........

Then our 200 mile maiden voyage down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay.

Loved It!!!
 
We bought our 260 there and have really enjoyed it. Support after the sale and service have been very good too. I can honestly say that we look forward to any time we need to go back, and the restaurant adds to the experience.
 
PWM is a great full service dealership. We bought our used brokerage boat there and they've been totally accomodating the last 3 years since our purchase. It is definitely a long ride out through the no wake zone, but their discounted gas for customers makes it worth while for us to head in there from our slip at the end of the no wake on the Occoquan when we're filling up with a full tank.
 
Well we picked up our new 260 Sundancer last Friday, and I can’t possibly say enough good things about PW Marina and our salesman, Jeff Miller. This is our first boat and it was one of the best buying experiences we have ever had. We have had our share of major investments; homes, cars, etc. but Jeff is a no nonsense, straightforward and honest broker who made this experience educational and truly enjoyable.

We went to PM on recommendation from a boating friend who told us to specifically ask for Jeff. We were looking for a used 260 Sundancer and we had done our homework and knew just enough to be very, very dangerous. My wife just happened to ask Jeff what a new 260 would run and he let us know the bottom line. It was a great price and at the end of the day the price we ended up paying. He then gave us a 2 hour, no nonsense discussion about boating and boat buying that we really needed to hear. It wasn’t until the last that we decided to go with the new boat that he had shown us.

In subsequent weeks he took us out in a sea trial to see if we would even like boating before we made the final purchase. The day we went out, there were 20 mile an hour winds and the boat handled beautifully. I know Jeff was holding his breath but we LOVED it and were hooked. Jeff said he wouldn’t let us take the boat until he was sure we could handle and properly dock it. If you are familiar with PW Marina you know how tight the docking is.

I guess we passed the test because after a 3 hour orientation and test drive we were tooling up the Potomac on a 2 hour cruise to our home port. It was a bright sunny 80 degree day, and all was right with the world.

I’m not sure if all Sea Ray dealers are as conscientious and caring as Jeff and the folks at PW, but I would, and have recommended them to anyone, especially anyone new to boating.
 
I've purchased two boats from PWM. 02 260DA and 02 320DA. We bought our 420 from a Tiara Dealer onn the Chesapeake, but PWM still treats us well. They won't service the 420DA since they did not sell her to me, but that is just fine-it has compelled me to learn the boat and be my own mechanic (albeit with Frank W on speed dial). PWM's service is good and the facilities are outstanding-but you pay a premium price for it, unsurprisingly. A couple great things PWM does-for servicemembers who keep their boats at PWM and get deployed to the war zone, PWM covers their berthing cost for the period of the deployment-or at least they used to. PWM is also sponsoring this year's Wounded Warriors Cruise. We are taking a group of wounded servicemembers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and their families, out for a river cruise on 12 May, then PWM is sponsoring a BBQ and other festivites for these great Americans after the boat rides. Truly Blessed II is participating, along with about 20 other boats. Because PWM is running it, it will be a professionally executed and enjoyable event for the Wounded Troopers.

regards
Skip
 
Damn Skip, if PWM wasn't such a long haul for us, I'd try to sign Full Circle II up for that event...it sounds awesome, and good on ya for doing it. :thumbsup: I'm looking forward to the full report when we finally manage to get our respective families together again.

For those that don't know, we bought Skip's old 320DA when we moved up from our 260DA. We manage to get together several times a season at various marinas on the Potomac, in our neck of the woods (Solomons) and beyond.

-CJ
 
Skip....sounds like a great event. I think there was an article in a Sea Ray Living last year about a couple with a bridge boat that participated in that event.
 
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