DANGEROUSLY INCOMPETENT! DISHONEST! DISRESPECTFUL! I bought a new boat from them a little over a year ago almost every system has failed or needs attention. The electrical system, engine system, fuel system even the trailer. I called and left many messages they do not return my calls. The oil level was low, the trailer winch was bent (they must have overloaded the trailer with some massive boat) all the hardware is not the correct material I have rust everywhere I am going through the boat and replacing all the hardware to 316. read more

I would like to take a moment and thank Ken staff for taking such wonderful care of me. I recently purchased a new Yamaha 90 for my Novarunia. They went above and beyond when I brought them my boat to install the new motor. They drained the fuel tank to make sure there was no contaminated fuel, they went through my complete electrical system and fixed many problems, they detailed my boat , and they repaired by GPS as well. With all the craziness going on, they did all this within one week.. most of all Ken takes great care of all of his customer, and he enjoys what he does for a living! Thank you, my friend ! Dean read more

This family owned business has been amazing finding us parts for different Honda motors and other boat parts. Ken and his entire crew here at Tradewinds are friendly and go out of their way to help every customer. Give Ken and his crew at Tradewinds the opportunity to help you with all your marine needs! read more

Another great result for the service work on my Yamaha! Tradewind Inflatables has always been particular and it comforts me to know that they take their work as serious as I take not getting stranded on the water! Thank you again! read more

Tradewind Inflatables - Boat Dealers Near Me - Santa Ana, California

I've been working with Ken and Ed to buy a new Yamaha motor for my pontoon. Ken has been extremely patient with me with all my questions and my sources of funding for the motor. Hoping to make it happen. At the very least I know that I have a new shop for my pontoon. THANK YOU Ken! read more

Had been struggling all year with our dinghy davit set up. Ken saw immediately three things wrong, fixed them all, and now we raise our dinghy with no problem. Couldn't be more pleased. read more

I have been using Tradewind Inflatables for all my service and maintenance needs on both my Honda and Yamaha outboards engines since 2009 (14 years now) The owner Kenny has always made himself available and likes to stay involved... he has always shot me straight on upgrades or questions I've had. Something that has always been important to me is they are fair on cost not at the compromise of quality to services they perform ... this has kept my boats reliable and turn key! I am confident in the loyalty to being their customer. read more

I have been a customer at Tradewind inflatables for the past three years. Worst mistake(s) EVER!!! The owner Ken seems like a very nice & knowledgeable guy when you meet him,, that is, if you can find him through all of the dead boats and junk he stores on his property,, but he's a very personable guy, so I thought I'd give him a shot at working on my outdrive. He wanted it there by 6 AM on a Monday morning because they were going to "get right on it",, so I pulled it out of the water, and was there by 5:50 AM,,,that was in late September, I didn't get my engine, back until middle of January! I missed the fishing season, and All of the holiday parades & light shows that I usually take friends and family to see. Not to mention four + months of slip fees. The only reason I got it back when I did was because I got so frustrated. I took it upon myself to chase down the missing gasket myself, which I found at his supplier 3 miles from his shop. I'm not really sure why I came back, but like I said the guy can sell ice cubes to an Eskimo. After another expensive year with my old motors, I decided to get 2 new ones. A big decision for a guy like me, they're not cheap and Covid had them back ordered,,,, Yamaha's were almost 2 years out, I had Ken order two Honda 250s because they would be closer to one year out. I also wanted an auto pilot system installed. He wanted half the money and he got it the day he asked for it. Well, over a year later, they finally arrived. I was stoked! I had my retirement year of fishing all planned out. When Ken and I spoke about the install, I asked Ken to give me an "accurate completion date",,,he told me it would take two weeks and that I would have it by Father's Day & because " I had been so patient,,,I was his number one priority" he was gonna "work on it until it was done",,,,, "wow, that would be awesome! I could take my daughter out for Father's Day,,w/ brand new motors,, sweet! Just like last time, he said if I had it there by 6am they would "get right on it" ,,, it was there at 5 AM. A week into it, he called and says the auto pilot they usually get was backordered,,and if I wanted one now, it would be $2000 more for a different unit,,Even though I pre-paid for it six months earlier, he hadn't ordered it,, I didn't want to hold up the project, so I okayed the "upgrade". I still didn't put a lot of faith into getting my boat when he said that there was always hope. The Saturday before Father's Day I knew something was wrong when I asked for a picture of them on the boat and I didn't get a response. No response Monday after multiple texts,,Tuesday, after multiple attempts, He finally called me back and told me what I already knew, He basically hadn't done anything,, but he was gonna get going on it now,,, and I would have it before the fireworks show that's in my harbor on the third of July,,, I thought, surely he wouldn't be lying to me again, he's gonna pull it off. It's been twice as long as he said it would take,, and since he's a smooth talker, I believed him,,,,, so I set up cruises with family and friends/kids for the third,,and the fourth. Well, the short version, Ken went MIA,,,& the only fireworks I saw were the ones around my house. At this point he had the motors on my boat, but the engines have a five year warranty, and there's no way I'm going to be tied to a guy like that for five more years ,,,so after what he put me through (again) I had him remove them and reinstall the old ones. I couldn't be any more disappointed/angry. I waited over a year fantasizing about those new engines, and how cool it was going to be to finally have auto pilot,, but the toll of believing in this guy just wasn't worth it. This has taken a huge toll on me, mentally and financially. I have spoken with him and he has no remorse for the collateral damage of his choices. If anybody wants more proof, I have a ton of text from the first time he screwed me around,,through this time. Be careful when choosing a mechanic,, I wouldn't wish these experiences on anyone! read more

Tradewind Inflatables - Text to Ken,,, lots more available - Boat Dealers Near Me - Santa Ana, California

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I am a new boat owner and have had troubles with finding a shop that is straight up and has your best interest in mind. Ken and his team at Tradewind Inflatables have been amazing and have gone above and beyond. They worked with me to find an outboard in my budget and got my boat dialed in. Last weekend I took my boat out and ran across a small issue. I called Ken and he had me come in and took care of the issue himself, even though he was busy with other customers. I won't take my boat anywhere else. read more

Tradewind Inflatables - Boat Dealers Near Me - Santa Ana, California

This outfit has been very responsive and fair to me. Mitch sold my wife an Inmar inflatable. I'm very happy with Mitch and Tradewinds. Not so much with the Inmar quality read more

As my Dad said, "if you want a job done right, give it to a busy man". There is a reason these guys are busy, they are experts who care. Over the past 20 years I've bought boats, engines, had services performed, discussed issues and gotten advice from Tradewind Inflatables. Inspiring this review was a recent annual service on my outboard before an upcoming long cruise. Timing was short, they got the job done, but on my instal back onto the dinghy I made a mistake. Had to bring it back. They prioritized it, told me what I did wrong and how to avoid in the future, and I was back on my way. Rare to find friendly professionals who care about you these days. Tradewind knocks it out of the park. read more

Tradewind Inflatables - Boat Dealers Near Me - Santa Ana, California

Tradewind has taken care of my boat for years and have proven very honest, fair, detailed, and knowledgeable. While I have a closer Yamaha dealer in Newport Beach, I will travel the little extra distance to deal with Tradewind as they have gone above and beyond to help me. read more

No execution. No follow up! Paid deposit on 2/2/21 and promised dinghy and davit would be installed within 45 days. Did not happen. Over the course of the next 5 months, I initiated calls for status because the salesman (Ed) may not know how to use a phone, or email nor want to. Dealt with owner (Ken) who made promises followed by excuses. Last broken promise of 2 weeks ago was delivery before July 4th. Texted him 6/28, no response, drove there 6/30, dinghy obviously would not be ready for a bit, he could not say. Asked for refund of deposit, he obliged. Stay away from this place. I was told by fellow boaters this place is chaotic and a mess but I did not heed their warning. I get to relive this with fellow dock mates now. Word will get around. read more

They are awesome in all regards. Have bought several boats from them. Reliable, delivery, service all awesome. And they are all professional

We purchased a Highfield CL 310 RIB from Trade Winds. Everyone at Trade Winds including the owner are really the best! We are having the boat customized and they really understand the options and what will work for our family. It has been a long time since we have worked with a company that is so friendly, accommodating, and customer oriented. read more

They went above and beyond to help me. It was a small sale for them, but they treated me as if I was spending 20 times as much.

I ordered parts through ken months ago. He continued to say the parts were on back order because of coronavirus. After four months I waited for ken to get me parts for a Honda motor. called a competing Honda dealer ordered the parts and they were here four days later. Quit lying to customers ken if you are too lazy to sell parts be straight up and say so. Yes you make more money selling new motors. How many other customers have given up and left their stuff at your shop? For the looks of things it's been many hundreds of people. read more

Frankly there's not a lot of people that can do new engine installations. I searched. Everybody wanted me to book an appointment for a month wait. Once you get in after that month it probably takes two or three weeks. Ken Got me in Immediately. Five days later I had a brand new engine and all the extras installed in my Boston whaler. If you need work on your boat or you need a new engine don't do any research just go to ken. Trust him. Just tell him this is what I have what do I need to do? He will do the rest. !!!!!! I thought I needed a 70 he recommended a 60. Yamaha four stroke. . Don't do any research just give it to him and let him do the rest. He knows more than you and me combined. Amen read more

Recently visited the shop for a trim sensor and I was I surprised. I received great service and advice from Ken. I will definitely be back, I highly recommend this shop. read more

Ken and trade winds are very professional and helpful! They have always delivered quality service whenever needed.

Tradewinds is the best outboard/ boat shop I have ever dealt with. I just went there today and met a guy named John in the service dept. He was so helpful. He showed me how to change oil and water pump in my outboard. He even walked me over to outboard they had on a boat there and showed me exactly step by step how do it. Most shops I have been to try to up sale me on stuff I didn't need. I will be a lifelong customer at tradewinds as long as there are people like John to help me out. Thank you John! read more

If you want a quick, clean, lifetime repair this is the place to go to, and John is the person to speak with... I brought in my old Avon Searider after doing some work on the transom. I had a hard time properly installing the tubes back on the transom. Being a student i wanted to save some money and do it my self, but after doing the research and getting a quote from John he made me feel that its much worth it to pay that extra 100$ and have it done professionally... After i saw the results i was shocked. I was not expecting my old tubes to look anywhere near what they looked after they worked on it. Not only that they did an amazing job, they cleaned my tubes and made them look much much cleaner. I am very lucky to find this place and to work with the Service Manager John specifically, he really knew what he was talking about! I highly recommend this place and its totally worth it. read more

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Terrible sales / customer service. Multiple phone calls with multiple broken promises several times. We finally have given up. We believe the products are good, and bought our inflatable there but when the sales guys are too busy or lazy to deliver on items we are ready to buy, it wore us out. Moving on. read more

Where's the stick ya stir this place with? The whole place is a mess. A ridiculous, junky mess. No parking. Friendly but indifferent & lazy and they know it. Not a great selection of console dingys. This probably because of the clutter and flotsam and jetsam, dead stock and junk trade-ins stuffed and parked everywhere. Prices very expensive and full MSRP and then some. Console dingys are way, way over-priced to begin with and the mess this place is in didn't help with our opinion of them. Shopping around we beat their prices by over $7.000 on the inflatable we bought elsewhere. The junky appearance, lazy attitudes, very high prices and Tradewinds bad service dept's reputation around the Yacht clubs and beach bars was enough for us to walk. We were lucky to find a side door open and us escaping was more like it. Can't imagine doing business here. We left, ain't going back. read more

This company is one of the best at inflatables' and outboards in orange county. They don't need my review for business, because they are stacked to the rafters with product and customers out the door. They do a terrific job read more

WHAT A MESS! A clear case of the right hand does not know what the left is doing... Purchased a new inflatable here, and serviced it with these guys for over 5 years including repairs. After missed (forgotten) appointments, and numerous broken promises for delivery, (leading to Catalina trips without a tender), it just couldn't get much worse, enough was enough. In most cases we would have to drive down in person since nothing could be resolved over the phone... These guys are clearly unorganized and on the brink of disaster. Not sure how I came up with 2 stars on this rating... I guess I feel they want to do well, but over 5 years of the same old thing, really? Ugh! read more

Unfortunately my husband has left 1 voicemail message & 2 other messages with employees. He wanted to have davits glued to our new Achilles inflatable so we could stow it on the aft end of our 30ft Rinker. We never heard from them in this period of 6 weeks. We would understand if they were busy but at least a return call would of been nice. He was even referred by our neighbor for someone named Ken there at that business. Our boat is at our home on our dock so it's difficult for him to measure (Disabled Service Connected Vet/legs). Oh well.......We'll just tow it behind the boat:( read more

After 4 months of in n out to get my boat fixed I finally threw in the towel, Ken was awsome, but Jim in the service dept I will bite my tongue on the comments, Thanks again Ken for trying to make all matters work. read more

I had heard good things about tradewinds and that Ken and John were the goto guys for honda problems. I had a problem with an older honda 4 stroke and John ran a lot of tests on it to help narrow down the problems without trying to nickle and dime me for every little thing, he also was very good about returning calls with updates. John was very fair on the labor charges and ordered the parts that I needed to get back up running. I do a lot of the basic maintenance by myself but I will definitely take my boat in for the major work and would definitely recommend them to my buddies. read more

I drove up from Carlsbad, looking for a tender. I thought I might go used, because I wanted a center console, power trim, and electric start. Ken got me into a new 11' rib with center console and a 30hp motor....for less than I thought was possible. Im also having them make a custom cover for the tender that matches my boats canopy. Great customer service, great selection, and pricing. read more

Jim and his crew did an excellent job repairing my dinghy. I heard nothing but great reviews and decided to truck the dinghy down from Norcal in order to get it repaired! Not only did Jim give me a fair quote but he was actually able to repair the dinghy for a cheaper price than his original and fair quote. That shows honesty and integrity which is so important in a business that wants to be around for many years! They were able to show me the repairs, what would take place and how they fixed it which was fantastic! I highly recommend even driving 300 miles to get your repair done at Tradewind Inflatables... Thanks again, Tom read more

We highly recommend Tradewind Inflatables for both sales and service. They have been taking care of our Boston Whaler 13 foot Dauntless for the past two years servicing our Yamaha motor and maintaining the electronics. We have been very pleased with the outstanding customer service they provide. We enjoy the way they do business. We call them and schedule a pickup time and drop off that's convenient for us. Jim makes it easy and fast. In the world of boating it's often hard to find someone who is reliable and does what they say they're going to do. Tradewind meets this standard for us. read more

These guys are amazing I needed a trailer for my boat and they are currently 10 weeks out. These guys went above & beyond and got me taken care of. Thanks again for the follow up and great service. read more

I had a leak in my Achilles inflatable floor. I live in Palos Verdes so the local place for us is Avalon raft (Whom I've used in the past, and are considered quite good) however, on this repair Avalon raft had a 2 week lead time and this is the middle of the summer. I had to drive the 1hr 15min to get to Tradewind. I was told I would have to come back in a week,,,, I knew that before making the trip. I told AJ I was going to have lunch in Seal Beach with a friend and said it would be great if the floor could be fixed quickly. While I was sitting at the sushi bar I got a call from AJ (really nice guy) that my floor was ready to pick up. I was thrilled, and the cost was less than anticipated; so now I only had to drive the 15-20 min back to Tradewinds instead of the 1+hr haul from PV - I'm happy! Thank you AJ!! read more

Nothing but great experiences here. Don't bother going anywhere else, talk to Big John in service, he'll take care of you. So happy with my Yamaha outboard. Thanks! read more

I will state before hand that this was the Friday before Labor day weekend. Saying that, I called mid day Friday and asked about an outboard motor and the gal that answered the phone said they were in stock but that the sales manager would give me a better price. She said he would give me a call after lunch. I waited till 2:30 pm and called back. The gal said they were very busy because of the holiday and he would get back to me. At 4 pm a man called me, asked me what I was looking for, said he would check his stock and call me me. I have not received a call back, not even today (Tuesday after Labor day). This was a guaranteed sale of $3000 or more. I would have come and bought it right away if I just received a call. I guess they don't need people's business. Let's just say this company is not a company you go to if you need something right away. read more

I have been relied on Ken and the TWI team for over 15 years in many capacities. My current boat is a 1986 Boston Whaler with original motor (Evinrude 150HP 2 stroke) that finally needed to go away. Ken found me a fantastic trade-in motor from another customer and reconditioned it and installed on my boat for a very fair price. They turned it around in 1 DAY! Truly amazing, multiple phone calls to me to follow up and pick up and drop off service on their trailer. The amount of time, money and aggravation that Ken and his team have saved me is worth its weight in gold. If you are anywhere between MDR and SD, these are your guys! read more

Very Dissatisfied. My friend told me about a 21' aluminum boat that was parked in their lot out front. I went by after work around 8pm and was in the area to look at the boat. I did not get near any boats or within reach of any of them, I just stood on the grass out front to get a size refrence to see if it would be something I was interested in. Sadly, within 5 minutes a strange man parked across the street and harrased me for standing on private property, so I stepped off the grass onto the street to view the boat. He continues to harass me by yelling and shining his headlights on me and even threatening to call police!?!? When I calmy and politely told him we were just checking out the boats and mean no harm, (now standing on public property,) he still was being very unprofessional. He claims to "watch over the place" but in reality ruined my night and made them lose a potential client. In my opinion, to earn someones business there must be respect for the customer, most unfortunately, in this case there was not. read more

Best customer service ever. John took care of me like I was an old friend and it was my first time there. Got my carbs cleaned out on my outboard, only took a few hours. Great prices and to top it off he calls me 2 hours after I picked it up and asked me how it's running. Who does that anymore? What a GREAT experience!!!! Trade winds by far the best boat / outboard shop around. You have earned my business for life read more

If I could have put minus stars, I would have! I started with a phone call to Tradewind Inflatables, so sorry I did, I had never called a place of business where I was willing to spend $$$, and be treated so poorly, well needless to say I didn't give them my business, don't waste your time go somewhere else, unless you want to be treated like crap! The sales manager Ed is a piece of work which we had been told about. The only thing the owner could do was make excuses for his very unpleasant Sales Manager, Ed. Unbelievable, horrible sales outfit. All Ed could do was yell at me and tell me how great he is, he needs to retire now! read more