Handy Boat Service

Very professional and friendly operation. My only suggestion for improvement is to have better transportation available. Services, such as grocery store is just a bit too far to walk, particularly coming back. There are plenty of dock-hands available. Perhaps the could pick-up customers from nearby stores. Lyft or Uber is not available.

We tucked into Handy Boat last week due to heavy swells and higher winds than we are comfortable cruising in a 90 year old power cruiser. Very comfortable mooring. Not even the busy launches waked us. Marina and store staff incredibly friendly and helpful. Facilities are clean, and laundry doesn’t cost the usual arm and leg. The Dockside Grill inside or patio dining overlooks a HUGE mooring field and Casco Bay Islands. Highly recommend the food and service! We also needed help trouble-shooting a pinhole oil leak on our vintage 6-71 diesel engine. The service team was immediately responsive snd helpful. As we make our way between Marion, MA and Southwest Harbor in the future, we’ll make a point of picking up a mooring at Handy Boat!

Handy Boat is always a great place to stay. Helpful and efficient staff, and clean up-to-date facilities. Not a bad way to access Portland if you don't mind a taxi, bus, or bike ride in. I've not had service done here, but have friends who have good things to say about that part of the operation as well.

Always a great time

Great spot to pick up a mooring. Nice boater facilities on shore. There is a launch as well as a good size dingy dock The Dockside Grill is excellent for lunch or dinner, make a resy. Portland is a moderate bike ride or and easy bus ride, #7.

Assigned mooring location was excellent. The mooring field is massive with probably hundreds of moorings so the dock staff came out with the launch to show us our assigned mooring. Nice touch and good service.

Wonderful staff and nice facilities

We enjoyed the excellent service from the launch drivers, dock hands and other staff as well the clean and modern facilities. The food at the restaurant on site, Dockside, was good but more expensive than other places for the quality. A small grocery store/deli is a reasonable walk away but is not adequate for provisioning. For more extensive food shopping, ground transportation is needed. There is a Trader Joe's in Portland, about 10-15 minute drive away. The showers and laundry facilities are excellent, and the only drawback is that there is no boaters' lounge.

The team at Handy is really professional and go out of their way to make your stay pleasant. Handy is also a full service yard, so they can do anything your boat needs.

This was our second time staying at Handy Boat. Mooring was very easy to get to. Launch service was included. Really enjoyed our stay.

We were a bit intimidated when we pulled around the bend and saw about 500 boats on moorings. We booked & called ahead. They initially gave us a mooring on the far edge of the mooring field, but when we told them we had to row in, they quickly found us a mooring close to the dock. We were very appreciative. The mooring was great, secure & quiet. All the folks we met were very helpful and super friendly. We really enjoyed our 2 night stay. Didn’t go to the Dockside restaurant, but walked into town (about 30 min walk each way) to the cinema & were able to catch a new movie. That was fun. Beautiful area.

Beautiful spot. Nice moorings. Friendly dock staff and launch pilots. Quality work if you can manage to get them to do it. Absolutely zero communication with the business office, and by extension the service department. One out of every four or five calls or emails gets a response. Think you're in line to have work done on your boat? Forget it. Today I went out to what I thought was my mooring for the season, but my boat wasn't there. Sunk? Stolen? Who knows? Turns out it was moved back to the mooring I had last year. Nobody bothered to pick up the phone. I had a leak and the sole was underwater by four inches. I call and leave a voicemail. Days pass. Nothing. How much of this is due to the pandemic hangover, I don't know.

Excellent service, friendly people, pretty good restaurant!

Handy Boat Service was all about “service”. The waterfront was well staffed with young people ready to offer their help with landing, loading up dock carts or you, or showing you to your mooring.

Beautiful mooring field, great people, all expected services. Highly recommended!

Great facility, nice people. Great restaurant. Good Diesel price

Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and went out of their way to help us. Excellent staff and great amenities.

Great. Courteous, professional and friendly staff!

Mooring great as usual; showers, less so. Only one shower available, and that lacked hot water.

A lovely spot on Casco Bay. Very prompt launch service to get you to and from your mooring. Great and convenient stop-over location.

Great service, accommodations and restaurant. Staff very helpful.

Top notch! Great double lead moorings with plenty of space, fantastic staff, from the dock manager to the service department, everyone went out of their way to help with anything we needed. Every one of the deckhands was fantastic- they even run down to the dinghy dock to help you land. Launch service was quick and all the drivers friendly. Clean restrooms and showers good laundry ($1.50 a load) and fantastic on site restaurant and bar. In fact, the only downside to this pace was cell service (1 bar Verizon) and we had to be at the restaurant before the free wireless worked. Definitely plan a stay here when traveling to the Portland area!

People on the dock and phone extremely nice. Dings are we had to ask twice for help trying to locate the mooring ball assigned in a big field and there is quite a bit of roll due to wide open exposure. With that said, a beautiful spot.

They can't control the weather, but unfortunately during our stay we arrived in 20+ knot winds and had a few days of rough weather. The mooring field is fairly exposed, so a bit rocky at times. On the days where the weather was mild, was fantastic. Really liked the location just north of Portland. Was an easy bike ride into town, with nice sized bike lanes into Portland or to the local grocery store. Launch service was outstanding. Very friendly personnel. Never waited more than 10 minutes for a pick up or drop off. The mooring balls luckily have two pendant lines With the heavy wind, one of the lines actually snapped. We called to let them know. They directed us to move to a nearby vacant mooring buoy. First time (and hopefully last) that has ever happened to us. Would definitely stay here again.

Super friendly staff. Very clean and felt safe with compliance to COVID-19 guidelines

We had a fabulous dinner at the Dockside. Both the restaurant and dock handled the COVID-19 situation beautifully.

Easy in, easy out. Handy Boat was preferred than stopping in Portland on our way up the coast. Everyone was very nice and the Dockside Grill served excellent food.

Thank you, Handy Boat. A very enjoyable stay. Dinner at the Dockside Grille was wonderful.

This is an open area that gets some chop in windy conditions (20+ knots) but doesn't seem to get rolly. We love that the moorings are spaced far enough apart to keep a good distance between all the boats and to allow for maneuvering while picking up the ball. The balls are rigged with two long pennants that easily reach to each side of the 13' high bow on our boat making pickup much easier for us. The launch service is excellent and runs from 8am to 9pm. The restaurant on site is very good and there's ample free parking if you have a car or visitors. There are good cycling paths on the roads into Portland. Kayaking and paddle boarding around the harbor is nice in calm conditions. The preserve on nearby Clapboard Island has a dinghy landing and walking trail. We stayed 5 nights and enjoyed it very much. We'll definitely return.

Super nice people, very accommodating with my date changes. Lovely spot on Casco Bay. We’ll be back.

Great stay on a mooring. Staff was extremely helpful helping us with a mechanical issue. Would highly recommend visiting Handy’s.

Felt very welcome. Are at Dockside Grill and it was fantastic.

I've used this boatyard for ages: They've serviced my mooring, launched my J24s and now I use them regularly in a professional context as a yacht broker. Their yards estimates are fair and their fuel dock attendants are very pleasant! The dock house sells cute gear, boozy provisions and ice... In the summer time, the Dockside restaurant has excellent fries, martinis and and rotating entrees. Sometimes you have to wait a bit for a table because it's usually packed but it's one of the best places in Falmouth. We take our older family members to the restaurant on a regular basis because it's very accessible.

The nearest transient moorings to Portland. Friendly, excellent service. The boat launch in facilities, including the clean bathrooms and laundry, our first rate. One of the better stops on the eastern seaboard. SV Wild Rumpus

Very nice, but they but the transits on the outside moorings when there were several moorings in Closer that were not private. The restaurant was great.

Friendly marina (especially dog-friendly). Good, clean restrooms and showers and a very reasonably-priced washing machine and dryer. Included launch service means the dinghy can stay stowed. Small service job was very efficiently performed. Numerous and helpful staff, especially helpful when docking.

Great marina - friendly staff, very responsive and always trying extra hard to be helpful. The Dockside restaurant is also very nice ($$$) and while we didn't utilize them this trip, the service department is very competent.

Everything was great. Staff helpful and friendly, launch service prompt and convenient. Restaurant was very good - be sure to make reservation as it is very popular with local residents in addition to marina guests. I did not have work done, but several friends did and were pleased with results.

Nice views and handy launch service! Dockside restaurant at the marina was also very good.

Staff was great! Restaurant is excellent. Great place to get a mooring. Easy Uber to Portland

The staff were great to deal with! They took extra care to insure the mooring was initially too crowded so they moved us to a much quieter mooring. The launch drivers were quick to respond and always careful on approach to the boat. We will be making this an annual Summer visit!

Diana and crew very helpful!