About Us
In 1966 my grandfather started what we know today as Thayer’s Marine, Inc with $200 and hope. He worked nights as a welder at Electric Boat and spent his days scheming on how to make life better for his family. He started by fishing eels from the Thames with my dad (then just a child), and selling them abroad. My dad has some WILD stories about this time in his life. The pair also took odd jobs, sold bait, spent some time delivering heating oil, and eventually began with small engine repair. My grandfather quickly discovered that my dad was good, maybe even great, at fixing things.
Evinrude (back when it was OMC), took a chance on the pair and opened them as a dealer, followed by Boston Whaler, which transformed R.A. Thayer and Sons into a legit dealership. They were able to expand and eventually changed the name to Thayer’s Marine in the early 80’s. They moved from a small shack across the river to the building that currently houses our service department. My dad became known for his tech skills and Grandpa for his… eccentric… personality.
They grew, took on more lines, and diversified. I learned MANY things from Gramps over my 27 years with him, but one important thing is that you have to grow and change with what comes along. He tried a lot of things at Thayer's Marine, but we learned what we were good at, and eventually found ourselves in the bass boat niche.
Things really started to get interesting when we took on Javelin, which was then owned by OMC (circle back to Evinrude). Fresh water fishing was “it” for us. Javelin, then Champion, and finally Stratos, was the brand that allowed us to really start expanding. We purchased the brick building on the corner, gutted it, and built the store as you see it today. I remember being in high school and having to come to work everyday after school to move all of our parts – bin by bin – from the service building into the new store. It felt like years I was counting washers and sorting water pump kits.
After Richie graduated from college and started working at Thayer’s Marine full time, sales really took off. Dad concentrated on the service department, Gramps in the store micromanaging everyone, and Richie selling boats. Now here comes our infamous tagline, “Three generations of boating know-how make Thayer’s Marine your leader for everything boats”. We had a powerhouse with three generations growing this company that started with just $200.
Richie used to like saying that we were the biggest Stratos dealer “in the world”. I still pick on him for it, but he wasn’t making up this claim. For the last 5 years of Stratos’ existence, we were their largest dealer. Unfortunately, Gramps passed in 2015 just before RT4 was born, but he gave us the means, knowledge, and absolute tenacity to keep going. But we didn’t just keep going; we took off. We managed to get Triton, then Ranger and Nitro… and I think you know the rest.
With over 100 years of boating experience, we’ve learned what works, what doesn’t, and pioneered what will. Our sales department works to find you the boat of your dreams, our parts department helps get you back on the water and our service department fixes those problems you cannot, the first time. Oh, and CSI scores in the upper 95 percentile to back it all up.
We now have two showrooms housing something like 100+ boats inside. We have all the best brands in fresh water fishing, the parts to keep you going, and a constantly growing service department. There are a lot of people to thank for getting here: Gramps, for the big ideas and grit. The brands that took a chance on us when we really didn’t have anything to back it up, the dedicated team we have built along the way, and most of all, you – the people that come here time and time again to support us by coming back for parts, service, and your 5th, 6th… 7th! boat. As one of the highest-rated boat dealers in Connecticut, we pledge to offer you the highest quality boats, engines, marine products and services at prices you can afford. Our mission is to make your boating experiences magnificent and memorable. We’re glad you’re here, and we promise to do our best to serve you both on land and on the water!
So thanks for being here. We may not make everyone happy, but we try really, really hard to.
-Rachel