The lake is nice. The staff is nice. The parking, infrastructure, and layout is a straight up nightmare. God forgiv you spend $400 to rent a boat and can't even park close to the marina. This place would be 4/4 stars if they figured out a way to get people too and from cars or make more parking. 90% of the negative experience is with the wild and unorganized parking mess. Get your a$$ there early if you want a spot. read more

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend on the lake with family. We rented a boat for that day, very early on it had an issue but the staff was great and the manager/owner (not sure which one she was) made sure to go above and beyond to fix the issue and make sure we were still able to have a great time with our family who was visiting. My husband and I live less than 30 minutes from here so we will definitely be coming back. read more

Skippers Cove Marina - Marinas Near Me - Smartville, California

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Not sure why the bad reviews. My Dad has been coming here for 40+ years and me (his daughter) 26 years. The marina people are always so friendly! Best place to camp! We come here every year read more

Beware of the scam! It's amazing how in such a beautiful and unique place there can be someone so arrogant and unhuman. I'm talking about the staff of Marina: the witch, her dumb son and an annoying blond, sons gf. Our $300 deposit was forfeited after we camped at a location which was just on the border of their "marked zone", previously approved by the blond (Kelly). Next day she denied she allowed us to camp there. But if only that happened, I wouldnt bother to write this review. Heres what pissed me off and completely shocked: the Witch didnt let us use the boat to pick up all of our gear from the campsite, nor offered any help! She simply sent her square son to take the boat keys and kick us out from the store. Can you believe that? We had to ask random people to give us a ride, luckily everyone besides staff of marina was very nice. We took a ride back to pick up our stuff on Patrool boat operated by US Army Corpse of Engineers. They are amazing guys who truly care about preserving environment and having a good time. At the end of the day, we had a great time and the poor lady couldn't ruin our vacation as she wanted. But beware of their small family operation! I bet an IRS check would reveal a lot of unreported income collected from those deposits, he he read more

We've been coming to this lake since the mid 70'S we dated here and we raised our boys camping here. Thrn one day my husband rented the ice tea and that's the only way to go for me. Thus next week we are taking our grandson here. Three generations!! Love this lake read more

We just had a great three days on Lake Engelbright. The owner and all the staff were great - easy boat rental, the marina store was handy, and we had the entire lake to ourselves. Our kids had a blast, the camping was perfect. Plan to head back next summer. Thanks Lisa! read more

I live nearby and have been to Skipper's Cove over a dozen times. The boat launches are what you would expect - launch your boat and pay the self-service fee for day use. the Marina itself is where you go if you are renting a houseboat or meeting friends who have one moored there. It sounds like most of the reviews focus on the marina itself and the staff, so here's what I have seen when going there: 1. in my experiences the staff was courteous and helpful, directing me where to stop to unload and park for free, saying "hi" or asking "how are you doing?" etc. 2. the bathrooms were easily the cleanest at any marina i've ever seen. they are simple, but not gross in any way. I'm guessing they are cleaned multiple times every day based on the smell of cleaning products 3. some of the young guys that worked there offered to help my wife and kids carry things down the ramp to the floating docks 4. there's a store on the dock if you forget any essentials. it was reasonably priced. frozen otter pops were 25c each, which was cool for the kids 5. i haven't interacted with the women who work there, so i can't comment on their attitudes. they definitely look busy, so maybe that''s part of the problem other people have experienced my take is that they make most of their money by leasing slips and mooring for ski boats/house boats. a lot of people live there, or come every weekend to use the houseboats they own, so it's a community on the water. All the negative reviews are from people coming in from out of town, so maybe the focus is on catering to the local crowd over people who might come up once a year (or once ever). read more

Good straight up folks! they don't have a lot of sympathy for stupid people that's my guess on all the bad reviews. Very clean well maintained place. read more

We have been going to Lake Engelbright for over 10 years now, and let me say that Shippers Cove Marina is Amazing! The staff is great, the owners are wonderful, and the lake is beautiful. The store has everything you need, and they honestly don't jack up the prices like you would expect with such a captive audience. Gas and propane are available and convenient; and again, not crazy priced like at most lake stations. The facilities are clean and well maintained, and I have never had a problem with security in the parking lot. Terrific operation! Love it, Love it, LOVE IT! read more

I strongly believe one star is being extremely generous. As beautiful as the scenery is, customer service lacks in full. I have never witnessed such caveman like behavior towards customers in my life. If your looking to get ridiculed and disrespected on your vacation, this is the place for you. read more

I have been going to this lake for 45 yrs. Have been through 3 owners and was a little worried with a new owner things might change. They did change and for the better. Carol and Dave were always good to us so no complaints there but Nick and Lisa are really cleaning the place up even more. They have helped us with a smile when ever we needed help. Love this lake and love the new owners. read more

Was at the marina yesterday late afternoon buying ice and noted the girls working their were being very rude to the several customers!. One older gentleman was buying ice cream for his family and if I was him I would have dropped it and walked out the way the thin girl was treating him! She was being extremely rude to him.. will never spend another dime at that marina after witnessing what I witnessed yesterday...I play on this lake often and love the lake..owners need to take note of their rude behaviors displayed! read more

I grew up going to engelbright lake and it is a beautiful lake, however the new owners (i think it's been 4 OR 5 years now) are running that place into the ground. The old owner Carol wasn't the friendliest but she wouldn't intentionally screw you over like the new owners. These people have no clue how to run a business and know nothing about customer service, they told us not to drive our rental houseboat in and wait by the damn so we did for over an hour and they charged us a late fee which was almost our whole deposit. I also know several houseboat owners who can't stand the new owners especially the ones who were docked close to them. Great lake not great owners, STAY CLEAR OF THE MARINA! read more

Just got back from another AWESOME trip on Englebright. My family and I go every year. We usually rent one of the big houseboats. We've never experienced any problems with the staff at Skippers Cove like some of the others. In fact, they are quite helpful and very straight forward with the expectations. If you can't seem to remember all the rules verbally explained to you, there is a contract for reference, which you must sign. The contract also includes a map, which tells you where you can and can't dock your boat. On occasion, there are those boaters who choose break the rules, and end up beaching their entire boat, after the lake level goes down over night. You, then have to pay for someone to come free the boat on top of losing the deposit. So, follow the rules, and be considerate of other boaters at the marina, as well. Especially, you newbies to boating. It's rude to leave all your crap in the walkway, when others are trying to load and unload their boats, and keep your dogs on a leash. It doesn't matter if your dog is friendly, it's just bad etiquette overall. If you're catching an unfriendly vibe from the staff, maybe you're being an energy sucking jerk. My family has been going to this lake for 20 years. If the staff were jerks, we probably would have noticed by now, read more

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And then after customer service read my review, I was called a dipshit. Way to go, keep up the good work.

Another great family houseboat trip!!! This is an annual trip in July for us and we normally spend 5 to 7 days on the boat. We are accompanied by about 4 or 5 other couples. As always, we rented the Camelot. It is well worth the money because of all the amenities and room on this houseboat. Everyone has a comfortable bedroom with bathrooms both upstairs and down. The boat has a very nice kitchen, refrigerator, BBQ, and stereo system with speakers both on the front and back of the boat. The boat is fantastic and everything worked as expected. The water was great again this year and the weather was nice. I am not sure why there are negative reviews about the staff because we have never had a problem. But then again we follow the common sense rules. I have witnessed people who regularly exceed the speed limits, park their boats where they shouldn't, climb on the roofs of the rented houseboats disregarding the STAY OFF ROOF signs, etc. I just think that if more people used common sense the negative reviews would end. We have already booked the houseboat for next year and cant wait to go again!!!! read more

my family and I rented the Nirvana houseboat for 5 days last week and paid over 1800 bucks plus gas and numerous stops to the marina store. We launched our boat and parked in the marina parking. Upon leaving I discovered that our gas was syphoned out of the gas tank of my truck and was extremely upset as you could imagine. Supposedly they have cameras to view people coming in and out and have employees on the golf carts all over the property. We notified the employees and they said they would notify the owners but there was nothing they could do and proceeded to charge us for the use of gas on the houseboat. No apology, or offer of simple discount or call or appearance from the owner. I will be looking elsewhere to spend my hard earned money next time. read more

If you want to go to a lake that smells like poop, where you are treated like crap from employees & staff and where you get ripped off, then this is your lake! We called to reserve a pontoon, gave a deposit and then drove all the way up there to be given a "runabout" which was an old beat up outboard dingy basically. No cushions, no windshield on the passenger side, and smelled of gas while running. When it was running...took 15 minutes to get it to start. So we went back to the marina after a short period of time to be told that "oh yeah we've had complaints about that boat before", but no refund. read more

This is no doubt my favorite lake around. The marina is ALWAYS clean and the bathrooms are even cleaner, the store has good selection of last minute items you forgot at home or a treat for the kiddos (or adults) The staff is always welcoming and very helpful when questions arise. Renting boats has always been a quick and smooth process. read more

My experience at Skippers Cove was great. Lisa and Nick are very friendly nice people doing what they love. Pride of ownership is evident as the facilities are very clean and well kept. The fishing is great and if you are lucky enough to catch one of "lisa's babies" you will have hooked one of the largest trout of your life as I did. read more

The lake is lovely, but a special family day was ruined by the bad experience renting from the Skipper's Cove Marina staff. While not the Skipper's Cove's staff's fault, our our son was injured on rocks while he was on the shore of the lake while exploring a little cove. But the ordeal the Skipper's cove staff put us through when we returned the boat was jaw-dropping. While swimming in a cove, our son's foot crushed and bleeding profusely and he was in a lot of pain. We used several of the life jackets on the boat to float him across the cove and back to the boat so we could get him to the hospital. Upon checking the boat in, we were hassled by the Skipper's Cove Rental staff for wetting the jackets and were told we could be charged the full replacement value of them. We were also accused of leaving beer cans in the engine case! We did not even drink beer, they were rusting beer cans from some previous renter. In the meantime, our son's foot was leaving little pools of blood all over the marina deck. In the end, our son's medical care was delayed but we were not charged for the presence of the old cans or the wet life vests. But returning the boat was terrible ordeal, the staff should have been helpful and understanding instead of confrontational. If you want to risk this kind of abuse on your vacation, I would recommend that you bring your own life vests, and that you check the boat thoroughly for trash or other problems before you leave the dock or you might be charged. read more

Just got back from Englebright, one of my favorite places. I'm a 50 year Englebrighter grew up on Beale AFB. Needless to say we have seen changes over the years as each owner has brought new ideas. I'd just like to give a shoutout to Lisa and Nick owners for the past 5 years (approx) they have improved everything about the Marina. These two individuals know how to run a business and have provided customer service above expectations. Some of you may look at the review and think my tenure is the reason. My brother came out with his boat on one occasion and had trouble starting it. Nick and crew gave him starter fluid and told him bring it back when he finished. They had never seen him before. If you want to go to a family lake and enjoy it this is the place. There are rules that must be followed in the Marina all owners have had a low tolerance for repeat offenders and stupidity. I suspect the reviews which are negative could have been from some of those who just don't get it... Thanks again to the whole Englebright team who were friendly and helpful. read more