Seaview Boatyard Inc

I have used Seaview Boatyard for about the last 20 years. During that time, they have done everything from simple bottom paint jobs to a complete interior and exterior renovation of an older trawler. Most of the work was done at the (now closed) Seaview East location, but we had the complete renovation handled by their yard in Bellingham. I plan on hauling out at the Seaview West yard, at Shilshole, for bottom paint in the spring. I happen to know there are several good boatyards in the Seattle area, but being a creature of habit I will always return to the last place where I was well treated and got professional service at a fair price. I can highly recommend Seaview, with a few caveats that apply when dealing with *any* boatyard: Get a firm, written price, whenever possible, before the job begins. Make sure the work order spells out exactly what is going to be done, and for how much. If you decide to expand the scope of the job, (""Uh, while you're changing those through hulls would you mind installing a new depth sounder as well?""), take the time to clarify how much the additional work is going to cost. Boatyard bills can creep up pretty fast, but the staff at Seaview has always been willing, when asked, to provide advance estimates for any requested or additional work. They have always been fairly close. When it comes to customer reviews, it's less common to hear from the hundreds of people who are satisfied than from the handful who think they have an axe to grind. After all, the people who had a satisfactory experience got exactly what they expected for about what they thought it would cost- why spend an evening burning up the internet just to tell everybody you were satisfied? It seems like a tiny minority who might feel they were ill used (even if in some cases they were at least partially to blame) will make it their life's work to spread as much negative press as possible. more

After a series of TERRIBLE experiences with this yard, I vowed never to go back. It seemed like other boatowners at Seaview East were always having their share of problems too; improperly conducted work, far higher than promised bills, dropped boats, shoddy blocking, the list of grievances against Seaview seemed to go on and on. Went past in my boat yesterday (July 6th 2011) and discovered that they have ceased operations. Perhaps someone was finally successful in suing them. Good riddance, particularly to Rick, the whining manager who seemed particularly ill-suited to his job. Not to worry, boatowners- there are several excellent yards n Seattle. Canal, Dunatos, CSR Locks... more

I was completely taken aback when I read the reviews of Seaview since there were no positive reviews. Fortunately The boat had already been on blocks for a couple of weeks when I became aware of this site and the 2 negative reviews. I consider it fortunate because I might have entered the yard with a different attitude if I had allowed the existing reviews to influence me. Once you sit back and give just a bit of thought to the review process it is fairly obvious that no review can present all the factors that went into a negative review. The reviewer may have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, gotten a traffic ticket that day or been told a personal relationship was failing or any number of other influences. more

I have had a few experiences at this yard. The employees seem very hardworking and friendly, however the management needs a severe overhaul. I have seen the resident manager of the yard (at Shilshole) come and scream and yell at their employees and be VERY un-professional (little bald, angry fellow) and basically make a mess of an otherwise smooth operation. It made me feel very uncomfortable as a customer. The place has a very high rate of turnover and it seems the friendly faces I come to know don't last very long. Also, they have been less than upfront about billing and charges. I recommend go somewhere else! Pros: Hardworking employees Cons: Shady management & billing practices more

We had some fiberglass work done. The estimate was 50% less than what the final bill came out to. We never authorized the additional money to be spent and they racked up our bill and we were forced to pay in order to get our boat back. Pros: decent work Cons: inaccurate estimates more