Captain Mac's Used Boats

I wouldn't buy a boat paddle from this place. When I lived in Austin, TX I had an older jetboat and dealt with him off an on several years for parts. Every part I bought from him was crap and had to be returned. When I tried to return the parts they would not give me a full refund, they would charge me a re-stock fee or give me store credit. I bought two boats from him & had numerous problems of one sort or another before I could get either of them on the water. Boat #1 - I waited three weeks for the title and never got it so I returned the boat for a refund of my money. They tried the BS of giving me a store credit or re-stock fee when I returned the boat until I threatened to call the Texas Attorney General & report him for selling boats without titles, then they game me my money back. Boat #2 - they sold me a boat that ""has been just sitting up awhile, but will run fine when you get it out on the water."" I took the boat to my local boat mechanic for a full service before putting it on the water and it turned out to be a good thing that I did. The outdrive gear housing was full of water and would have locked up if it didn't sink first from taking on water from the busted drive bellows. Before I bought the boat, the u-bolts in the drive shaft had came loose inside the bellows then chewed up the inside of the transom assembly while it was running. Captain Mac's crew put new u-bolts so someone could see the prop turn when they were considering buying the boat. Then they covered up the busted transom assembly with another drive bellows and the boat would have taken on water & sank within the first 15 minutes of being on the water had I not had it replaced. A $200 outdrive service turned into a $1800 job that called for transom assembly being replaced, new shift cable & bellows, new drive bellows, new gimbal bearing, etc.\r \r Don't buy anything from this place. They are some shady SOB's!!!\r \r more

If your looking for used parts this is the spot, I have never had them work on anything of mine i do all my own work ........\r But if you dont wont to pay a butt load of money for what you wont .......this is the place....\r more

I've been to Captain Macks a couple of times. My impression is it is primarily a salvage yard. Capt mack is a very nice guy. For the people that had a bad experience, do you take your car to a salvage yard to have it fixed>? No you dont. If i need any parts at all, I will visit the Captain. The place is amazing. Pros: They dont make em like this anymore more

I needed a part to fix my old boat motor (69 Evinrude 85 hp). I searched every online store and local 'Boat Salvage' I could find. Captain Mac's Had it.\r \r If you are the type of person that has been around a salvage yard, and or people that work them, you will appreciate their abilaty to track every little nut, bolt, part, engine, in their entire yard. And they will know a thing or two about most everything they have. So treat them respectfully and curtious and youwill find they will do most what it takes to get the job done. On the other hand, if you think you are above them, then you will probably write a bad review and need to go buy 'NEW' at a very high price at a dealer.\r \r They helped me get the part that worked after 3 tries, of getting it right. Not their fault, the boat had the wrong one to begin with.\r \r Thank you Pros: Very Friendly, Right Parts, Knowledable Cons: Loing Drive more

Ok, so I feel stupid for going to this place more than a few times. I've had bad luck with boat mechanics in the past and this just added to my misery, but it's very hard to find people that work on the old stuff anymore, so I kept going back. In all respect this place was probably a great place at one time, it's been around probably since the 70's, but I think it's gone way down hill since. Things that you will find out quickly are: they don't give you a time estimate that's ever close. They may say a week and it's a month. They hardly ever give a close cost estimate, sometimes my bills have been double what was quoted. They rarely call you to give any update or let you know when the work is done, 9 out of 10 times I would be calling them. The Office staff is just ""nice enough"" to you. There is a revolving door of mechanics at that place, I think I've had four different guys work on my boat and a few times I could definitely smell alcohol on their breath. I think the only person that is a certified mechanic is the captain himself, but he doesn't turn a wrench anymore. He may guide the mechanics, but he can't watch over their shoulder all the time. So, the last time I went there they took a long time, did un-approved work(didn't call) installed parts without my approval and then told me my engine was trashed. Now, I can't prove that they destroyed my motor, but it was running with a carb problem when i dropped it off and when I went to pick it up it looked like a grenade went off inside and the motor is in pieces. They wanted to charge me over $1000 dollars to fix it, and I had bought that motor from them about 6 months before for around $1500 dollars. I took the motor back in pieces because I didn't want them messing with it anymore and now that's what I'm left with. Don't end up like me. If you have a boat you want to scrap then take it there, it's more of a scrap yard than a repair shop. Pros: They work on old motors, good luck with the mechanics Cons: Everything listed in my statement more

I took my boat to Captain Ma'cs for routine maintenance. They did the job very promptly. However, they mechanics did the work so poorly that caused other problems on my boat, costing a lot extra repairs. I asked around and found out their machanic turn over rate is extremely high. They are not certified and don't get treated well. I enjoyed talking to the friendly folks there. Regrettably, I won't be taking my boat back for service. more

We took our boat in for repair and they had it for 5 weeks. On many, many occasions they said it would be ready and that they would call us back, but they never called back. When we would finally reach them, they would tell us there was yet another problem they found and that it wouldn't be ready until the next day or week, and then it would start all over again. This went on for 5 weeks! We finally told them we are coming to pick it up whether it's ready or not and will have it fixed else where. Our original quote was $300 - but when we went to pick it up they said it was going to be $800! Cons: Poor customer service, Inaccurate quotes, can't be trusted more

Captain Mac's Marine has a large selection of used boats and 'fixer upers' to choose from as well as jet skis, and other aquatic recreation gear. This is definitely a used boat store so don't expect anything fancy, but there is a LOT of selection. Acres of it. They do repairs and sell certain parts for boats as well. The staff there is a little bit country, a little bit 'old Austin'...even if a bit grungy, but on the whole, honest and helpful. They have been around for a long time and have a lot of experience. Did you know that the Captain used to be the head chef at Austin Country Club? Ask him about his cooking adventures... more

Okay, so we had this old boat that we didn't want anymore. It needed a lot of repair work. When asking where we could take it to drop it off, we were told to go to Captain Mac's. Well, we took it by there in August and it was HORRIBLE customer service from the moment we walked in the door. A very gruff gentlemen talked with us. When we told them we heard that they sometimes pay people for the parts, he said ""let's go take a look..."". When we got out there he said our boat was a ""*$%#ing piece of #!*^. He said, ""I bet you're glad to get rid of this, huh?"" Unprofessional, rude and crass would be the words used to describe this man. My husband just tuned him out and drove away. True, the boat wasn't the newest or the fanciest, but it was still ours and I felt that warranted more respect in words and demeanor than this man could offer. Sadly, it seems in Austin there's just not a lot of options for someone in our situation. Captain Mac will still get business not because of his cheery attitude, but because of a lack of better options!! Pros: at least you can drop off your old boat there Cons: foul language used, rude attitude more