Last month they purchased Dry Dock Boat Services and plan to move that operation from West Chester Twp. to Fairfield as well.
Friday, the duo conducted a grand opening after spending a month and $250,000 renovating the 36,000 square-foot showroom and moving inventory to the Ohio 4 site.
“It’s kind of crazy to look back,’’ Whitehead said.
“It’s been overwhelming, but we’re finally getting settled,’’ Quatkemeyer added. “We see this as a business growth opportunity. Why not this much, this quick?”
Between 2011 when Whitehead was hired — Quatkemeyer joined the staff eight months later — the duo went from employees of No Wake Marine on E. Kemper Road to its owners when they bought it in 2021.
“It’s been fun but it’s been a lot of work getting everything up and running and getting the renovations done all while still operating our business,’’ Whitehead said.
Moving to Fairfield, quadrupled the space they had from the 9,000 square foot operation in Sycamore Twp. They also doubled the number of employees to 29.
No Wake Marine went from four service bays in their old facility to 12 in Fairfield. There full-service certified repair and maintenance for inboard and outboard boats, surf systems and season care is available.
They also have onsite and three additional buildings where clients can rent indoor or outdoor space for boat storage.
The old showroom had space for seven to 10 boats. The Fairfield site has 19 boats in the showroom and another three dozen outside along Ohio 4.
“No matter what kind of boat you want, you can come to us,’’ Whitehead said.
With the move came the addition of new lines of boats and merchandise in a larger pro shop. Boats range in length from 19 feet to 32 feet.
The pro shop contains water sport and boating accessories, apparel, wake gear and other related merchandise.
Sales growth has been steady and quick. It went from $5 million in 2011 to $17 million in 2017 to the low $20 millions between 2018 and 2021, Quatkemeyer said.
They project sales will double again in the near future.
“By the end of 2027, we’ll be in the $40 million to $45 million range in sales,” Quatkemeyer said.
Both owners said the move couldn’t have been made without the support of family and a tightly-knit group of employees.
“We pride ourselves on being a family-owned business. We’re around each other (employees and owners) so much that we’ve become family,” Whitehead said.
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