WELCOME
Welcome to Shackleford Outboards! We are the area's full-line Honda marine outboard dealer and service center, serving this area since 2021.
While we specialize in Honda outboards we also service and maintain Evinrude, Johnson, Yamaha, and Suzuki outboards.
Check out the rest of our website to learn more about us and what we have to offer the outboard-boating community.
Interested? Take a peak!
Get to Know Us
Shackleford Outboards began in early 2021. Portside Marina changed hands and the new owners didn’t want an in-house service department any longer. David had been the service manager there for years. So, when the previous Portside owners offered to sell the service side with the Honda and BRP accounts and its inventory to David and Mary, they felt like this was an opportunity to run with. Like most small business owners that are getting started, David and Mary kept their jobs at first. Within a year, David had to quit Autozone to work the business full time. Mary quit Piggly Wiggly about a year later to join David running the business full time.
David and Mary came together in 1995 and married in 1997. They have 3 grown children and their first grandchild is due Spring of 2024. They are owned by 2 dogs (a lab and a chihuahua), and 6 cats. Mary was born and raised in Beaufort, NC and has never lived outside Carteret County. David was from a military home so they moved around a lot, but his parents kept coming back to this area and were in Beaufort when David and Mary met.
David grew up in an automotive world, running around in his grandfather’s junkyard and building engines with his dad. As an adult he became a cop, working in Beaufort, Pine Knoll Shores, and the Sheriff’s dept. before retiring medically. While working as a cop in the early years he worked with an older marine service business owner and honed his marine engine skills. He got his outboard training and certifications while working for Portside Marina over the latter years. From there he used his Jack-of-all trades upbringing and tried different jobs to find his niche, but always circled back to the outboard service industry. David’s philosophy is if you don’t know how to do something, find out how, either by asking someone who does and learning from them or reading or otherwise educating yourself on the topic. Along the years, he acquired an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Barber’s license. When we started Shackleford Outboards he had just resigned his position of store manager for the Havelock Autozone and was still working at their Beaufort location as a shift manager. Why did he resign from store manager? He tired very quickly of corporate politics.
David is trained as a certified Master Technician through Honda America. David is Evinrude certified through BRP Marine Propulsions division. He is Suzuki certified through Suzuki motor corporation training classes. He is Yamaha trained and working on that certification as well.
Mary was a stay-at-home mom, doing odd jobs and working part time at Piggly Wiggly as the needs arose. Once the kids hit high school, she found full-time work with Coastal Chiropractic of Beaufort, leaving them in 2021 to help with the business. From there she worked at Piggly Wiggly 30+ hours a week until finally retiring to work the business full time in 2022. Mary grew up being her dad’s “lackey” so has also developed into a jill-of-all-trades, which comes in handy at Shackleford Outboards. On any given day, she might be scheduling customers in the office, or changing a water pump, or rebuilding carburetors, or editing the website. Mary says often, “old dogs can learn new tricks, it just may take them a little longer”. Mary is also a NC Public Notary
Together we work to "underpromise and over-deliver". We strive for excellence and continue to educate ourselves daily in all areas outboard, trailers, etc.
Sorry such a long post but if you want a honest and very reasonable boat mechanic please take time to read. I have to say publicly hands down this is one of the most honest, and over accommodating marina mechanic shop I've ever dealt with. I came on vacation from Boone NC with my boat on a vacation that was 3 years in the making. Upon getting there on the second day I started to have engine trouble with a 30 ish year old outboard Johnson. I called seeking help and they said no problem come by and we will help. They found I had bad battery cables. I asked did they know were I could get a set made which they replied we can right know. David and his assistant stopped what they were working on and in a matter of maybe 1 hour had both old cables pulled out of the boat and new ones put in ( very reasonable price by the way ). On may next day out the starter went bad so I called and Mrs. Mary and asked for help and she said I'm sure we can help , she asked David. They said cause it was late in the day I wouldnt get new starter until the day after next. Well the next morning Mrs. Mary called me at 8 am and said your starter showed up this morning so I ran over and picked it up with out a crazy mark up like almost any other shops would have charged. David said you might at some point need new solenoid, but I could get at auto shop. So I went and got one which they gave me wrong one and come to find out they couldn't get. So I called Mrs. Mary again and she said no problem David could find which they did and it was about 4 o'clock but Mrs. Mary offered that she had to run out on personal aaron but didn't mind running and picking up while she was out. She did get it for me and as I said earlier there wasn't any crazy mark up which should have been extra cause they were doing this on there personal time. Got boat back up and running and out me and my wife went. That next day the boat had no get up out of the water so I called them again which was late Friday and they were closed on weekends but David said bring over Saturday will be around the house and you can drop it off. Once getting there David was very honest and said I'm not real confident that at this point being the motor is so old if it's worth saving and putting more money in. So it was close to end of vacation so we left the boat with them. A couple days later in the following week David called and said I'm amazed but your motor is running smooth and thinks there's a lot of life left. This was after I had talked with David and prices for me what a new re power would cost. In all reality he could have said your motor is no good which then would have been a re power but cause their honest people David fixed my old motor. Did leak down test, compression test, changed few coil packs , automatic choke, ground on engine , fix couple other electrical problems , new plug wires , plugs, bad wire to ignition switch, adjusted timing, adjusted Idle , adjusted all four carbs as well few other things. Their pricing is by far bar none better and quality then any boat mechanic I've every found in my 52 years boating. Honset , fast , helpful and pricing more than fair. Please if you need work done YOU NEED TO CHECK THEM OUT!! They have my business for life. I'll drive from Boone NC anytime my boat needs work and that's the truth. May God continue to bless them and their business! Mike Register Boone NC.
Mike Register - Facebook
Professional and courteous I had the honor of meeting David and McCoy while doing a pre-buy motor and electrical inspection on my vessel. Prompt and friendly and very knowledgeable. Thank you David and McCoy looking forward to conducting more business with you!
A.D. - Google review
First time entrusting anyone with our boat and I was nervous after reading lots of reviews of many other local mechanics. David and Mary happily answered all my questions and excused my ignorance :) Very kind and honest people and did great work. So grateful to know we have people we know we can trust in the future! Very pleased!
M.T. - Google review
These guys are the best! Fast friendly service. They are really great at trouble shooting and figuring out the problem. Very fair pricing. David even fixed my trailer with new springs and bearings. Give them a try, you will be glad you did!!!!
A.J. - Google Review
