Safe Harbor New England Boatworks

New England Safe Harbor was awesome. Great crew, super helpful and nice, good marine store on site and great restaurant and facilities.

The marina is tight for maneuvering, but their storage facilities are world class. If all you need is to dock your boat or haul it out of the water for winter storage, this is your place. But my experience with servicing the boat at NEB is disastrous. I start the story in 2016 when I had the boat docked there. I noticed that my diesel engine was fuming a bit of white smoke. The opinion of knowledgeable friends (I am not a good mechanic) was that some adjustment needed to be done to the fuel injectors. They all agreed that shouldn’t be a major work. I asked NEB to fix it. Next thing I know is they send me an invoice for around $4,000. I thought that this was completely outrageous as they never gave me a warning or an indication of the possible extent of their work. But most incredibly, the engine was NO LONGER WORKING. So they wanted me to pay $4,000 for the privilege of breaking it and making things worse. I repeat: Please note that the engine was working just fine before they started fiddling (besides the slight white smoke). They finally returned it basically to the same situation as it was before and tried to charge me another $3,000.- I of course refused to pay making them note that a new engine is around $15,000 and it would have been absurd for me to be interested in a $7,000 repair job. They finally relented and waived the second invoice (but I had to pay the initial $4,000). Time went by and I relented on my commitment to never use them again. This time around I had an issue with the barrier coat and the paint was not adhering too well to it. So I asked for a quote to have the bottom thoroughly sanded and re painted. They quoted $3,680 or 32 hours of work at $115. I thought that it was very expensive, but at least I thought that I was going to get a quality job. They completed the job and I paid what they asked which ended up being 31 hours of labor. I was coming and going from the boat frequently these days so I could see how many hours they actually worked and I can certify that was less than half of what they claimed. But, to avoid conflict, I paid under the impression that at least they had done what we had agreed upon: address the issue with the paint not adhering to the barrier coat. This story happened in late August ‘22. At the end of the season (late October) I hauled the boat out of the water and after a few weeks, the paint started to peel exactly in the same way that it had before. I asked them to address the issue and they refused (at least by the time being) claiming that this was an issue with the barrier coat!!! (exactly the issue that I had asked them to fix) As an additional illustration of their practices: While they were doing the paint job, we needed to change the prop shaft seal. I asked a quote from them and was told that they would require 12 hours of work to do that job. I ended up doing it with a different person that took a total of 45’. Would I have gone along, they would have charged me 11 hours and 15’ in excess… I was lucky that time but if you are like me, not knowledgeable enough about mechanics and technical issues, and you assume that you are going to receive good and honest advice from people that claim to be a serious company, be aware: Safe Harbor NEB is not.

Great marina! All employees were extremely friendly and always offering to help out. Nice to have a pool and several bathrooms with showers as well as laundry. Great place for getting parts shipped with the storeroom as well as an Amazon locker right in the parking lot. Nice to have a restaurant on site and grills, tables/chairs and fire pits for grilling out.

Great Staff, great facilities and amenities! Bar and restaurant were great as well.

Spent an enjoyable weekend. Dock staff was very helpful in the wind conditions. Solid restaurant on site.

Friendly staff, very protected harbor, good amenities

This is a fantastic marina, full service in every respect. Pool and bathroom facilities are excellent and the entire property is very neat, clean, and well maintained. The marina is 100% protected from all directions. This is the perfect place to pull in for protection from weather or to recharge for a few days. The only negative, which is no fault of the marina, is it’s location. There is no town and no other points of interest within walking distance. There entire area is very industrial, with abandoned tank farms and very large, working boat yards. All in all, great marina, not much to do off the boat.

Great staff, very clean and well maintained. The grounds make it feel like a five-star resort! Highly recommended and we can’t wait to go back.

First class marina with very accommodating amenities including firepits, tented eating areas beside grills, a new pool and patio. Easy access to fuel, pump out and water. Make a reservation at the on-property restaurant for lunch and dinner. Take out too.

Super marina. Clean, professional, great amenities.

Great service. Many dock staff to assist in your arrival. Professional communication on entry to the marina. Great facilities, restaurant, pool, showers, rest rooms. Excellent repair service. Highly recommend the marina.

Very protected Great staff Great swimming pool

Nice Marina. Had a great time.

Dock hands and fuel/pump-out dock hands were great ! Nice clean rest rooms and showers. WiFi weak on docks.

Great team. Let me come in early for some Maintence.

Always super friendly staff, great service, very clean/updated facility. I got a short haul (for a survey) during the busy time of the season (beginning of the boat season). They did everything they could to ensure I was able to get hauled on the date of my survey (I'm selling my boat), and were also able to accommodate my boat at the marina during the inspection. Thanks so much! -Dave, MV SummerCamp

Great staff, very helpful dockhands, great location to major and very knowledgeable experts, such as Cay Electronics, Ocean Options, and S&S Fabric.

I came in with boat maintenance issues and Jeff Cook and team jumped on this and helped me get the repairs done in a short amount of time. Time is the issue these days because most yards are weeks out on projects. Samantha in the front office is awesome and will get in and set up perfectly. I know there has been some criticism of this yard by others but that was not my experience at all. In fact, just the opposite. S/V My Grace.

Very clean and friendly staff.

Nice facility, very clean. Well protected basin.

Floating docks and well run and very protected marina 8 miles north of Newport ($20 uber ride) with very good lunch and dinner restaurant on premises and ok bathroom/showers/laundry and small worn pool. Safe Harbor just took over and is in the process of upgrading this location. Full service staff on hand where they build and extensively repair boats so this is the place to go if you want a consultation and a quote on some work. Very tight maneuvering in the marina. There are lots of people on their boats although the place is very quiet at night. There is nothing in the surrounding area of Portsmouth.

We stayed at New England Boatworks for three nights. We all enjoyed the marina the pool the ship store and the restaurant is on site. We hope to return soon. It’s also a very sheltered and protected Harbor. Very good power and water available.