Hartzel Marine is a one-stop shop for any and all of your marine needs. Located at 96 Ormond Street South in Thorold, Ontario, the top-quality boat dealership doubles as an automobile repair shop. Founded by Dave DeGrave, Hartzel Marine is the current incarnation of his first business, Hartzel Auto. It was named after the St. Catharines, Ontario-based Hartzel Road on which the old shop was located.
Today, Hartzel Marine is an all-in-one boat service provider, Legend Boat Brand authorized dealer and auto repair shop. It proudly serves the Niagara, Norfolk and Haldimand areas. Earlier this week, we caught up with Hartzel Marine’s Business and Customer Service Manager, David McCulloch. David (not to be confused with Dave) offered greater insight into both the history and future of Hartzel Marine.
Hartzel Marine is passionate about community.
David communicated that Dave is a founding member of the South Niagara Chambers of Commerce. As such, he is very active in sponsoring youth sporting and getting involved with outreach programs such as Start Me Up Niagara. “They have a truck that goes out into the community to make deliveries right to the vulnerable in the community,” David informs us, “We service their vehicles.”
The inception of Hartzel Marine is also part of a love story, says David. Around the same time that Dave transitioned his auto repair shop into a boat dealership, he met his wife, Brenda who works as a nurse at Hamilton Health Sciences. As a result, Hartzel Marine is considered a family dealership. With 2024 now here, the company is going through a renovation process to further reflect the brand’s love for family.
Hartzel Marine’s rebranding is underway.
David is adamant about breathing new life into the brand. “We want to make it more of a family business,” he informs us, “We’re really stressing the connection with the community as we modernize things. We’re taking ourselves from a staff of 5 to 12.”
Hartzel Marine services boat owners who utilize the waters of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River. David reveals that the latter runs all year long, attracting fishing enthusiasts from all over the world. He notes that many boat service providers shut down during the winter time. Hartzel Marine, on the other hand, remains available to all, including those from south of the border.
Hartzel Marine offers expeditious service.
“The average repair cycle of boating is 14-18 days,” David tells us, “We’re shrinking that down to 3-7 days. We’re going to accomplish that with a mobile team that we’re bringing out this spring…We’ll diagnose one of the 50 most popular parts on our van. If we can fix it on the spot, we can do that. Or if it needs a special order part that is not on our van, we’ll order it. Clients can drop off their boats and get it back within three days.”
Melo Technology is very pleased to have Hartzel Marine as a client.
Making use of our cloud-hosted Commercial Phone Services, the company is assured of crystal clear phone calls and a myriad of special features that help the business to easily communicate with its many clients. As well, Hartzel Marine enjoys the incomparable customer service that Melo Technology prides itself on. “We had to replace a phone about a month or two ago,” David recalls, “Melo was really fast, shipping out a new phone right away.”
You can get in touch with Hartzel Marine by calling 905-684-0050 or filling out a form on their Contact Us page!
