Steinhatchee Marina at Deadman Bay — Attraction in Perry

The marina was OK, but what makes this place a 1 star is the 'full service' part when I hired their mechanic to do some work. He is the only one in town as far as I can tell, and he knows it. This review is based on my experience as detailed below, and is my personal opinion based of the facts as I see them.

Their shop foreman Sevin is a con man and dangerous liar and I would not recommend anyone get any work done here. I personally believe he is dangerous to their customers and may get someone killed by claiming work was done when it wasn't, possibly leaving someone in a bad situation at sea or in a ship channel.

This details my personal experience with the shop manager at Steinhatchee Marina named Sevin and his manager named Chris. Happening from December 11th to December 25th 2023. In the end, the marina manager Chris seems to only ask is the engine running when that is not the point of the work. It has always run perfectly when the fuel is clean . The point is to make it reliable so we are safe when running under motor power in a channel with enormous ships around us which would suck us under and chew us up in their propeller if we lost engine power.

The last text with the manager Chris he accuses me of just being a squeaky wheel and trying to get a discount to which I replied then why would I have left them even $120 tip for a $1,700 bill if I was so cheap. And of course my wife Deb is a witness to all of this as well as another person who overheard him saying he was going to pump the fuel out of the tank. In my opinion they did very little work and they are endangering people's lives and they don't seem to care at all either Sevin or the manager Chris.

Upon checking his work I found:

A. Did not take out injectors off for cleaning as claimed. When I told him there was still deep rust in the bolt grooves so he could not have removed the nuts holding the injectors to the engine, he replied they just took the fuel return line off the top and pull them out for cleaning. Totally a lie, nothing there but a hole for fuel, injectors are at opposite end of injector body which must be taken off the engine and turned upside down in a vice with a large nut to be loosened which holds the injector assembly together. Chris just said I was looking at a glow plug, this engine does not have glow plugs and that would not make sense anyway. I have pictures.

B. Left a broken hose on the tank vent fitting which could let water into the tank. I have pictures.

C. All three air bleed points were still partially loose after he told me he found them and tighten them and confirm that with me two more times when I asked him to be sure. I have pictures.

D. At this point I suspected the fuel tank was not cleaned at all so I ran a small hose into the tank with an electric pump and immediately pulled out about a gallon of water and a lot of debris and and some diesel out into a clear jug. Upon showing this to Sevin he claimed it was 'Green Diesel' and when I shook the jug it stayed separated so he claimed Green Diesel doesn't mix with Red Diesel! So I drained some of the water out of the bottom of the jug and hit it with a propane torch for 20 seconds, of course it was water. At this point he walked off and never came back. I have pictures.

E. I found one Racor still blocked. Probably why he switched boost pump to other filter. Also the way he changed the plumbing would cause the Boost pump to put back pressure on the unused Racor since it did not have any valves to close it off.

F. I cleaned the Racors and rebuilt them. I found them to be extremely dirty to the point that one of them was not functional because of the gunk under the diffuser ball valve was holding the ball valve closed. Obviously they did not even take them apart or attempt to clean them. Another lie. I...

Disappointing Boat Rental Experience June 14-15, 2025.

I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel it’s important to share my experience to help others make informed decisions. I recently rented a 22’ Dek Kat Element boat, and unfortunately, it was far from smooth sailing. For reference, we rented the boat for 2 days.

First, we noticed water was coming on board—not a small splash or spray, but enough to cover the tops of our feet when sitting in the rear of the boat. Even more frustrating, the motor kept overheating and cutting out, which made the boat unreliable and frankly unsafe. On day 1 we were out for approximately 4-5 hours and we experienced the motor cutting off over 20 times and overheating at least 5. We had to cut our trip short out of concern for our safety and the possibility of getting stranded. Once back at the marina, I shared my concerns with staff and was immediately met with ‘those things are all normal.’ I requested the boat be pulled and checked prior to us taking it out the next day.

Day 2: I met with different staff and was told everything checked out perfectly and there was no need for concern. I asked if there was supposed to be plugs for the 2 holes in the back of the boat and was told “no, this is how water drains out of the boat.” We took the boat out with reassurance the boat was in safe operating conditions. Unfortunately, we experienced the same on day 2. We were out less than 4 hours and just to get down the channel the motor once again overheated FIVE times just to get from channel marker 7 to the marina. At this point I felt it was important to take videos and pictures of our concerns.

Once we were back to the dock, I shared our concerns again and told them I had videos. Once I showed the videos to him I was met with complete shock that the boat was taking on so much water and that the motor sounded the way it did. He asked that I forwarded the videos to him and I did.

I will note a staff member made a comment to me that management doesn’t care how the boats are running, they just want boats in the water to turn a profit. This did not sit well with me as a customer who paid over $700 in boat rental fees for 2 days and experienced nothing but issues. We traveled 6 hours one way to enjoy the hatch. We have been coming off/on for 9 years. This process, boating, being on the water is not new to our family. Unfortunately, we were not met with any resolutions, only thank you for sharing your concerns.

While the scenery was beautiful and we were hoping for a relaxing day on the water, the poor condition of the boat completely ruined the experience. I hope the company takes better care of their equipment (and customers) in the future. Until then, I would not recommend...

We have been fishing in Steinhatchee for over 20 years. Multiple trips a year, these Georgia boys know the area!

We visited Steinhatchee Marina at Deadman Bay for the first time this trip and oh my goodness were we excited. THIS IS A GAME CHANGER for Steinhatchee.

We were greeted with "welcomes" and "how you doing" something we haven't been used to in many years because the other marinas just have taken for granted that they were the only players in the game.

We walked out back and a gentleman greeted us warmly again. Wasn't "too busy" to talk and truly made us feel welcomed! Turns out, it was one of the owners, Jody. He invited us to dinner that evening for the marina and when we showed up, everyone just seemed so excited to see us.

The store is amazingly organized, priced extremely competitive (cheaper than anything in town) and I overheard Jody tell one of the charter boat Captains, "if there is something you need that I don't have, I will get it for you, no questions asked."

When we arrived on day two, we didn't even get out of the truck and there was a gentlemen there with a cart ready to assist us to getting to the boat for our day of fishing. Helped us unloaded, asked the boys if they needed to use the restroom and even walked them around to the ridiculously clean facilities!

Fish cleaning stations are amazing as well!

I have been a business owner for almost 20 years, I teach nationally and I always say, "whatever business you are in, you won't be in it long without relationships and customer service!"

Jody and his team have it figured out and we can't wait to book our next trip and our newest and last marina we will ever do business with in Steinhatchee! Thanks for the...