Hurricane Marina Eyes Family and WFHb Customer Expansion
What started as a small boat and fishing dock in 1947, Hurricane Marina is now attracting families and WFHb (Work from Houseboat) customers. This means a need to adapt their size, amenities, and offerings. “People are working more and more and more. They need to have family time together,” says Ken Robinson, General Manager of Hurricane Marina. He believes they are in the perfect position to provide that opportunity.
Hurricane Marina, owned and managed by Suntex Marinas since 2018, is working on several strategies to attract and retain families and WFHb customers. They offer not only secure boat slips but also a boat club and boat rentals.
Providing a better experience for boaters who are always wired or working from their houseboat is crucial. To achieve this, they are continuously improving internet service. Houseboat owners can also work directly with the local phone company to hard wire phone lines to their slip if they choose.
The addition of the boat club this year is to get the younger generations attracted to boating, eventually becoming lifetime boaters. “That whole circle of boating…at some point they’ll go from being in boat club to where they may want to purchase a boat. Then they’ll need a boat slip, and they’ll become one of our full-time customers in a boat slip,” explains Robinson.
Currently at more than 90% occupancy, the challenge according to Robinson is “where to expand and what defines expansion?”. With a waiting list of about 60 people seeking 30-foot or below slips, Robinson is examining how to add 100 slips. “Parking will always be an issue for us as we expand. So, we have to look at different venues over the next several years that increase our revenue base and attract more boaters, more people including the younger generation.”
Although Suntex handles many projects internally, Robinson says they are limited in some resources so when working with a marina vendor, he appreciates one that looks at the project as a partnership. As for MariCorp specifically, Robinson says, “They take a hard look at what our needs are, and they offer suggestions as to whether the thoughts and ideas we have on paper make sense for our business or not. If they don’t make sense, they’re not afraid to tell us ‘You may want to go down this route rather than that route, because it will be more advantageous to you in the future.’”
About Hurricane Marina
Hurricane Marina is located only three miles off Interstate 40 on Center Hill Lake located in the Cumberland River Basin. The lake covers parts of four Tennessee counties. Hurricane Marina is in one of Center Hill Lake’s few natural harbors and is its oldest marina, which is now a state-of-the-art facility. Marina amenities include fully stocked ship store, boat rentals, restaurant, launch ramp, 24-hour full-service fuel, Wi-Fi, pump out and golf cart valet service, as well as free events. The marina has added an extra-wide main pier that won’t buckle or warp over time, increased lighting in the parking area and along all docks and installed a security gate and cameras throughout the marina and parking lot.
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About MariCorp
Maricorp is one of the largest floating boat dock manufacturing and construction companies in the United States, specializing in galvanized steel floating docks and boat lift systems. With projects spanning coast-to-coast, Maricorp provides marina consultation and design, marine construction, marina repair and renovation, and boat dock disaster response and demolition.
