Cal Kona has always done me right. Anytime I've had an issue they have resolved it for me in the best way possible. I've seen the reviews of people saying they have to wait for repairs and same boats there forever yada yada... I dry dock my boat there as do a lot of other customers, and ive seen it where people don't take care of they're boat during the off season. they wait until it's last second then drop off and think there isn't gonna be a line of other procrastinators and feel like they are the only one that matters. I'm sure they are the same cats that take their reels in for service during July and expect it back same day. Bottom line, take care of your boat and stop blaming the mechanics. Derek and his crew work like dogs all fishing season to keep fisherman on the water. read more

The team stands behind their work and are very knowledgeable. They are great to work with especially for a new comer to boating.

Very knowledgeable, honest, and great communication. Derek, Nick and the team are very welcoming and have done a great job servicing our boat. read more

Derek did a good job for me! He got my boat back in shape. I would recommend him to anybody.

I recently bought a used boat and soon discovered it was taking on sea water near the stern drive. Took her to Cal Kona and they found my drive shaft bellows was torn which was allowing water to leak into the engine compartment. This leak also corroded my drive shaft, U joint and gimbal bearing. But Cal Kona fixed everything and now my stern drive is as good as new. Unfortunately, the drive shaft part had to be ordered from their parts supplier and shipment was delayed for about 4 weeks. This was primarily caused by covid-19 supply chain disruptions, so I in no way blame Cal Kona for the delay. Overall time to get my boat back was 6 weeks. I'm very pleased with Cal Kona and will use them again in the future. read more

Cal -Kona-Marine - Sporting Goods Near Me - Oceanside, California

This review is for anyone who is unsure of using Cal-Kona Marine for their service work. I too read the reviews before bringing my boat to their shop, but I also met Nick (the service manager) at the Fred Hall show prior to having them repower my boat. My experience with them was excellent, very honest and fair, and the workmanship is top notch. As mentioned by another reviewer, do not expect to have your vessel repaired overnight during peak season. They have many jobs going at once and are trying to get to everyone in a timely manner. I think they are very easy to deal with. My biggest disappointment was dealing with the traffic to and from their shop. I am in Long Beach. So, it was quite a drive back and forth. But, I would do it again if I needed to. Thanks: Derrick, Nick, Hal, and everyone else. read more

Met all expectations in a timely matter. Had a service on my outboard the guys at CalKona had it done in a day. Every person on site was knowledgeable and friendly. I'll be back in 100 hrs tyvm for the excellent service. read more

So I have been talking with Derrick at Cal Kona for about 2 month about getting some work done. The time finally came where I was ready for a new custom bait tank from blue water and a Lewmar V700 windlass, along with a full service for my Yamaha 250. Brought the boat to them last Monday, got the boat back today, 9 working days in total from dropping it off to having it back in my driveway. The work looks great...sea test will be tomorrow morning!! Thanks Derrick and crew!! read more

Cal -Kona-Marine - Sporting Goods Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Took boat in for an impeller replacement. Was quoted $210, charged $310. That was kind of weird... 7 Days later, I get a call. They pointed out that my starter solenoid was failing, and now it won't even start. Take it in for 1 problem, get it back with 3 more problems. read more

These guys(Derrick, Greg, Nick) are such a circus. I would never bring my boat here even though they are certified mechanics for the brand of motor on my boat. My boat sat and sat and sat, just for the circus try to pull the wool over your eyes to get you to repower, that is all they want you to do is repower to evinrudes. Well my motors had nothing wrong with them just needed an actual mechanic to look at it which Calkona wasn't. I wouldn't waste my time with calkona....Such a joke, ask questions and stick around you will see exactly what I'm talking about. You will notice the same boats are there for months and moths....because they don't have the know how to fix them. read more

Cal-Kona is the best, they fixed our dingy that another shop messed up. Everyone one there is great ,very help full and knowledgeable. We will be back to them and letting people know how good they are. Thank you guys again read more

I don't know how these guys keep the door open. My boat sat and sat and sat for weeks, only to have them keep telling me "well your engines are 15 years old and I need to re-power" only to find out they were not capable of actually trouble shooting an engine they are supposedly "certified" for. I have learned my lesson and will never bring my boat here again. Derrick(the owner), Greg, and Nick are very dishonest people and have no integrity. Derrick and Nick cut corners and try to pull the wool over their customers eyes. Do yourself a favor and take your boat over to WOT in vista these guys are legit and are actual mechanics who truly care about there customers. If i would have just started off at WOT I would have saved myself thousands and not contributed to Derrick's beer fund and actually been on the tuna grounds this year for a $50 dollar part. read more

How & why are these guys still in business? Derrick told me time & time again my boat would be ready & 6 months later when it's time to take her away MY BATTERIES are gone?? "My guys didn't do it" That's all I got Well bud Bye read more

Just got my boat back from the guys at cal-Kona....should have read the reviews prior. Do yourself a solid and bring it elsewhere. Derrick, Nick, Greg just give you the run around. My boat came out worse than it went in, these guys are nothing but shade tree mechanics at best and want to work on nothing but new warrantied engines, if it's not they will push and push you to re-power. If you do re-power go elsewhere, I have seen there work on a buddy's boat . One positive thing about these guys is they always have beer on deck! read more

Yes, the reviews are all over the chart when it come to Cal-Kona. And yes it's true that Chevy owners hate Ford owners. With this in mind I'll give you my perspective of Cal-Kona. First of all they are located about 2 miles away from a 1,000 slip marina. Second if you notice just in O'side it seems every other driveway has a boat of some kind. If you take your boat in during "boating season" you have to expect a wait of at least 2-weeks for them to get to you. After they figure out what is causing your problem and the give you an estimate it could be another week waiting for parts. This is life. Expect it. No need to bitch and complain about it. I'm a repeat Cal-Kona customer and I'll keep coming back for the big stuff. Dave is a highly skilled boat mechanic and takes the time to tell you what is going on. My bill was over $1,000.00 and I feel I got more than my money's worth. The boat runs like new. This is my second boat Cal-Kona has worked on and I can not complain about any of my visits. I highly recommend Cal-Kona. Just remember where you are when you drop your boat off for service or repair. Do not go in on Monday expecting to come out on Fri. And remember to say thanks. It goes along way. Hey, you could even drop off a dozen donuts when you pick your baby up! This O'side resident HIGHLY recommends Cal-Kona Marine. read more

So not sure how else to review this but here's what happened paid them to service my outboard filters oil etc, they forgot to inspect and chage the fuel separator I took it out and there was water in the fuel separator, and it seized. Then they tried to rebuild it 2 months later and charge me for it, I padi, I sued them in a court of law, I easily won!! Justice served. This is a great place if you want to get ripped off!! Found out later from a outside source they were drinking starting at 3 deliberately lagging on the repair and dragging feet , but they got used and lost!!!! Beware!!! read more

Took my boat to Cal Kona for a fuel related problem. Nick calls me a couple hours later and say's my #5 fuel injector is bad, it does not pump fuel and my fuel pump is on it's last leg. Want's almost 4K to fix. LOL. I think the motor is worth 2K, it's a 2001. Anyways happy to sell me a new motor for 20K. I go pick up my boat. I discovered that fuel injectors can be rebuilt. I send off my #5 fuel injector and EMM for testing and if bad they will rebuild. Get the results back. The #5 fuel injector tests fine. So either Cal Kona is just trying to rip me off or they don't know what they are doing. Either way not good. So when I pick up my boat I find; motor was up but not locked in for travel, batteries were left on, motor cover not installed properly, and finally his orange juice left on my back step. All of these little things very unprofessional. My advise stay away from Cal Kona. read more

Very nice highly recommend. Parts prices reasonable. Priceless due to the fact of limited parts install support. If I was to have someone do my boat repairs, I would take my boat here. Car and Marine mechanics normally offer very little support on parts installation. Don't expect to be told how do a repair. If you have read the manual, google the repair have worked on boats before they may give you enough tips to complete your job. If you don't work on cars and other things, Don't try to fix your own boat. It will cost you more to fix than what has been broken in the process. If you are a good mechanic and has a general idea what to do the go for it. The parts prices are not much different from Amazon or Ebay. If you get a part from them you know it works. Not some low quality spin off. If not get your place in line for a repair with Cal Kona. By answering a few general questions they saved me from a @1000 repair. Thanks guys. * * * read more

I had Cal-Kona rebuild a trailer for me in preperation for a long tow to seattle, the boat had been on there for 7 years with no problems. They charged me 3800 dollars and I had a hub fire 70 miles away. They installed the wrong bearing (rated for 1500) and the brakes were reversed despite the arrowes that show the direction. They also installed rubber brake lines. I had Anchor Marine in LA re-rebuild the trailer. They photo documented all the issues they found and charged me 1000 to fix it. I sent the info to cal-kona and was told all my problems were because the boat was too heavy for the trailer. I took it to a scale and it was 1000lbs over gross, Cal-Kona never responded to the photo documentation I sent them electronically. I should have just towed it with out them servicing it. They basically cost me 6800 dollars between their bill, having it re-done and having to go back for it a second time. I hope this helps other make a choice on who works on their stuff. After it was rebuilt by anchor all the trips were with no issues. . read more

I have gone here about 5 years ago to have my outboard motor serviced and they did a good job. However, this year I brought my motor in around January because it was having some problems. I knew their turn time was about a month or more, so I brought it in the off-season so that when summer came around, I would be good to go. They charged me $400 for a carburetor and fuel pump rebuild, which is ok. When I got it back, I started it up and it started, so I figured I was good to go. I noticed after I got it back that is was dripping oil out of the exhaust in the propeller, which it had never done in over 10 years. When I finally had a chance to take it out on the water, it ran like crap!--way worse than when I brought it in. It initially started, but then died and wouldn't restart. I had to figure out how to increase the idle so it would start and not die. There was tons of oil in the water and tons of white smoke. When I brought it back, it was past the 90 day warranty. The guy behind the counter seemed annoyed. He was willing to look at it again, but they basically said there was nothing wrong with it. I took it out on the water again, and it was even worse!!! I brought it to another shop, WOT marine (which I'll review later) and they had me bring in my fuel tank too. They analyzed the whole thing and said the carburetor was running too rich and that it either needed to be rebuilt or a new carburetor. That explained the oil dripping. So, basically, I spent $400 at Cal-Kona for nothing!!! I could have jut driven there tossing $20 bills out the window as I went and gotten the same result. Basically, this shop has so much business that they don't seem to care. When you go in, you have to wait a while before being helped as they talk to their friends or regulars, and then, you feel like you're not really welcome. My advice to anyone with an outboard motor is to not bring it here to have it serviced!! If you do, make sure you take it out on the water before the 90 day warranty. Even then, they will just tell you that it's ok. I will never go back to this place, especially after going to WOT marine!! read more

10 out of 10 would NOT recommend. Horrible customer service, i felt as if i was not wanted in the store. They were about to charge me $80 for a part that i found down the street at Pepboys for $12. read more

I was a several time repeat customer and I did not have a good experience with this business. I made an appointment several weeks in advance. When I brought my boat in it sat there for another week while he gave others priority over me. I questioned the owner about this and he got defensive. It took a week to get the parts and fix it. I paid over $1,000 and when I got it home it still did not work--same problem. I called the owner about it and got attitude. Instead of giving me priority to fix it he said I would have to wait another couple weeks for an appointment to start the process all over again. This is not my idea of customer service. I feel I should have been given priority to get what they screwed up fixed and been given a discount, or given my money back. Don't go to this business if you expect to be treated fairly, even if you are a long time repeat customer. read more

Took the boat in to have the motor coupler replaced, got the estimate over the phone and I approved it over the phone because I was told that a long laundry list of parts were straight up bad, i.e. not functioning. Was told that the both the aluminum motor coupler and the steel output shaft were completely gone - not a single spline left on either one. When I got the boat back I looked at the parts that were "bad". The output shaft was fine - all of the splines were still there and in perfect working order. I kept wondering how the hell an aluminum coupler shredded a steel output shaft, but figured they were experts. They also replaced the bellows, which was practically brand new, and they said they replace those out of habit, so my question was, why didn't you tell me that, instead of it's straight bad? I could have told them it was recently replaced and leave it alone. But again, was told one thing over the phone, and it was a completely different story once I got the boat back. The boat did run when I brought it to them. It coughed and spit when I got it back. Had an argument over what timing the motor was to be set to. Whatever, i corrected it myself (I have the damn book and I'm not stupid seeing that I've owned the boat for 10 years). Since having the boat back I discovered the wire for the temp gauge on the engine block was disconnected, so was the oil pressure wire. All of these things functioned prior to Cal-Kona. While I think they are perfectly capable of performing the work I don't believe these guys want to fix boats any more, I believe they just to take your money and play around in the shop. I should have sued them for the output shaft, but didn't. I think that ended up costing me an extra $1000 in excess parts and labor (still have the receipts and parts). Bottom line, don't authorize work over the phone, look at what parts they are replacing, take before and after photos. Verify all connections are made, because they seem to be getting sloppy in their old age. I was a loyal customer for several years. Will not be going back, even if it means driving to San Diego for service. read more

My dad died in 2011 and we owned an old boat together. I hadn't started or used the boat since my daughter was little and she's in college now. The boat sat out in the weather for years. I wanted to remember some of those old fishing adventures by fixing up the old boat. I took it over to Cal Kona and talked to Derrick about my dilemma. He cautioned me about investing $2000 into a boat and having a boat worth $1500 but he understood what I was trying to do. Kona fixed up the old outboard that I thought was a goner. They fixed it quickly and under budget. I think they did a little extra work for me. These guys were awesome. I highly recommend that you take your boat to these guys. Thanks Cal Kona Marine. read more

We recently had business dealings with Cal-Kona-Marine. We had a problem with an item we purchased and The good people of Cal-Kona-Marine stepped up and took care of us right away. They will stand behind what they do as long as you give them the chance. read more

If I could rate this business and the owners integrity a ZERO I would. Went out of our way today and travelled 4 hours (one way) in. Memorial Day weekend traffic to see a boat at Cal Kona Marine and it was a complete waste of our time. We communicated with the owner of the company several times before going to see the boat initially and were told it was a 2005 Seaswirl. Went to see it a few weeks prior and were still under the impression that the information we were told about the boat was correct. Then today we went to view the boat again to put a deposit down and when we arrived we were blindsided with new information. The boat was really a 2000 and the entire time we were lied to. I would not recommend this business to anyone. read more

If I could give this company a zero I would. The worst service I have ever experienced. Brought my boat in to get routine engine work done plus I specifically asked for other work, that was never done. Paid these guys over 2k to get my boat back dirty and covered in greasy hand prints. It took this shop over a month to complete service work, and in the middle of it call to check on my boat and get told they fried my main harness and had to pay for a new one and wait for two weeks for parts, when it was never an issue. I went over my boat to see what worked and what didn't and the harness was not an issue. Asked for a switch panel to be installed which it was, half sealed on the dash and none of my accessories attached and all my wiring hanging underneath center console. The work that was not done was major stuff, lower end unit being one of them. I can't stress enough how crooked this company is and very surprised they are still in business. Also they did not finish all the work that was "done", and repaired things I told them were already repaired. These guys are complete idiots!!! I HAVE BEEN CHEATED. DO NOT BRING YOUR BOAT HERE, UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CHEATED AND RIPPED OFF. read more