Courtesy car available to take cruisers to restaurants in Washington, NC
Restaurant Recommendations:
Bill’s World Famous Hot Dogs (252-946-3343), The Blue Door Cafe (252-940-4555), Down on Main Street (252-940-1988), Meeting Place (lunch, 252-975-6370), Pia’s of Washington (252-940-0600)
Provisioning Possibilities:
Courtesy car provided to local Piggly Wiggly 6 miles away and Food Lion 8 miles away
LPG (Propane) Availability:
Available. Marina staff can provide transportation to nearby Mack Jones Seafood for LPG tank refill 2 miles away or gas company for LPG tank refill 6 miles away
Waste pump-out:
Available. free if you do your own pumpout, $30.00 if marina does pumpout
McCotter’s seems to be a laid-back, easy to just relax environment. Good price, reasonable cleanliness, reasonable repair on the docks. Only problem, which is a significant concern for the younger boaters, is the Wi-Fi notoriously goes down on the weekend just when we need it most.
I stayed at McCotters Marina 3-5 July 2014. The first problem I had was identifying which marina was McCotters. Then I noticed two subjects waving me in. These two individuals got me onto a finger pier where I tied in. I found out they were not McCotters employees, but a couple of guys that had boats in the marina. I made contact with the office and they were very friendly and helpful for the rest of my stay. McCotters has a small pickup truck as a courtesy vehicle that I was able to use to go to Little Washington. Again I want to stress that the employees were very friendly and helpful. Having said that, [spiders are a big issue at this marina]. They are everywhere. As I walked the docks looking at other boats, my initial impression was, “Don’t people come here and take care of their boats?” Most of the boats had 3-5 clearly visible spider webs on them. Some had more. I later found out that the problem is there are so many spiders that they build new webs almost as fast as you can destroy the old ones. I was back at my home port for 3-4 days before I got rid of the spiders that had taken up residence on my boat. As a final note: Hurricane Arthur (Cat 2) came through while I was at McCotters Marina. I put extra lines on the boat and road out the hurricane without any problems. To the best of my knowledge there was no damage anywhere in the marina. During the hurricane the water rose more than a foot. Afterwards, the water was blown out of the marina and several boats sat on the ground all morning. A couple boats pulled out into the open area of the creek and anchored during the hurricane. They were still there the next day. So I would rate this marina as a good hurricane hole.
My family kept our Post sport fishing boat at McCotters back in the 60’s and 70’s, many great memories as a kid around that dock in those days. I remember a character with a boat named “So Good Foamy”. Boat never left the dock as far as I can remember although he was there every weekend in the summer with the hatches up working on the engines, cold one in hand! That was his therapy, what’s yours?
As a circumnavigator I know boating embraces all manner of people and places. If you want the Hilton, McCotters Marina isn’t it. However, if you want a laid back, easy to work with marina with old fashioned values, this is it. Mark Henley was responsive and responsible, and took care of our trawler when we weren’t around. Most of all he was honest, that rarest of traits in a now-we-see-you-now-you’re-gone business world. The facilities are simple, the environment at the marina, serene. Overall it’s quiet and relaxing. Serenity and simplicity mixed with quality service when you need either one. Lee Gunter
McCotter’s Marina is a good facility for repairs. Bob is the chief facilitator, Mark Henley the owner, and Shirley Long the sail maker and canvas person. All are very easy to work with and accommodating. They have a rather complete ship’s store and if they don’t have it they will get it for you post haste. They do mechanical work and repairs of all sort and Shirley has a complete sail/canvas operation. Unfortunately, no fuel. For fuel one must go next door to the Washington Yacht and Country Club which sells fuel to the public, both diesel and gasoline, and is the only place easily accessible and the only place for diesel west of the Pungo River at Belhaven. Most of Cotter’s docks are new after the terrible fire of a few years ago and the docks are fully serviced. Bruce Billings “Coaster” Chocowinity, NC
February 2012 McCotters Marina is better than ever! Even though 2011 presented some challenges for this North Carolina landmark our full service marina and boat yard is bouncing back stronger than ever. As many of you may know a boat fire in January spread to the docks, destroying the North Boat House that had stood watch over Broad Creek for over a half century. Then hurricane “Irene” stormed through in August claiming the two remaining boat houses. These two events brought an end the “boat house era” at McCotters. Through it all the McCotters Crew has continued to serve the boating community providing dockage, on-land storage, boat repair, maintenance, custom canvas and sails, sail repair, rigging, boat brokerage and a ships store. Going forward McCotters will be in the unique position of offering the regions most experienced repair and maintenance crew combined with new docks. We are excited to report that three of the four docks are already open and construction of the fourth dock is well under way with completion within weeks. The McCotters crew wishes to thank its many loyal customers for their continued support over the last year and invites boating friends old and new to come be a part of the rebirth going on at McCotters. New slips available on a first come first served basis. Come see us! Mark Henley
Reviews from Cruisers (6)
McCotter’s seems to be a laid-back, easy to just relax environment. Good price, reasonable cleanliness, reasonable repair on the docks. Only problem, which is a significant concern for the younger boaters, is the Wi-Fi notoriously goes down on the weekend just when we need it most.
I stayed at McCotters Marina 3-5 July 2014. The first problem I had was identifying which marina was McCotters. Then I noticed two subjects waving me in. These two individuals got me onto a finger pier where I tied in. I found out they were not McCotters employees, but a couple of guys that had boats in the marina. I made contact with the office and they were very friendly and helpful for the rest of my stay. McCotters has a small pickup truck as a courtesy vehicle that I was able to use to go to Little Washington.
Again I want to stress that the employees were very friendly and helpful. Having said that, [spiders are a big issue at this marina]. They are everywhere. As I walked the docks looking at other boats, my initial impression was, “Don’t people come here and take care of their boats?” Most of the boats had 3-5 clearly visible spider webs on them. Some had more. I later found out that the problem is there are so many spiders that they build new webs almost as fast as you can destroy the old ones. I was back at my home port for 3-4 days before I got rid of the spiders that had taken up residence on my boat.
As a final note: Hurricane Arthur (Cat 2) came through while I was at McCotters Marina. I put extra lines on the boat and road out the hurricane without any problems. To the best of my knowledge there was no damage anywhere in the marina. During the hurricane the water rose more than a foot. Afterwards, the water was blown out of the marina and several boats sat on the ground all morning. A couple boats pulled out into the open area of the creek and anchored during the hurricane. They were still there the next day. So I would rate this marina as a good hurricane hole.
My family kept our Post sport fishing boat at McCotters back in the 60’s and 70’s, many great memories as a kid around that dock in those days. I remember a character with a boat named “So Good Foamy”. Boat never left the dock as far as I can remember although he was there every weekend in the summer with the hatches up working on the engines, cold one in hand! That was his therapy, what’s yours?
As a circumnavigator I know boating embraces all manner of people and places. If you want the Hilton, McCotters Marina isn’t it. However, if you want a laid back, easy to work with marina with old fashioned values, this is it. Mark Henley was responsive and responsible, and took care of our trawler when we weren’t around. Most of all he was honest, that rarest of traits in a now-we-see-you-now-you’re-gone business world. The facilities are simple, the environment at the marina, serene. Overall it’s quiet and relaxing. Serenity and simplicity mixed with quality service when you need either one.
Lee Gunter
McCotter’s Marina is a good facility for repairs. Bob is the chief facilitator, Mark Henley the owner, and Shirley Long the sail maker and canvas person. All are very easy to work with and accommodating. They have a rather complete ship’s store and if they don’t have it they will get it for you post haste. They do mechanical work and repairs of all sort and Shirley has a complete sail/canvas operation. Unfortunately, no fuel. For fuel one must go next door to the Washington Yacht and Country Club which sells fuel to the public, both diesel and gasoline, and is the only place easily accessible and the only place for diesel west of the Pungo River at Belhaven. Most of Cotter’s docks are new after the terrible fire of a few years ago and the docks are fully serviced.
Bruce Billings
“Coaster”
Chocowinity, NC
February 2012
McCotters Marina is better than ever! Even though 2011 presented some challenges for this North Carolina landmark our full service marina and boat yard is bouncing back stronger than ever.
As many of you may know a boat fire in January spread to the docks, destroying the North Boat House that had stood watch over Broad Creek for over a half century. Then hurricane “Irene” stormed through in August claiming the two remaining boat houses. These two events brought an end the “boat house era” at McCotters.
Through it all the McCotters Crew has continued to serve the boating community providing dockage, on-land storage, boat repair, maintenance, custom canvas and sails, sail repair, rigging, boat brokerage and a ships store.
Going forward McCotters will be in the unique position of offering the regions most experienced repair and maintenance crew combined with new docks. We are excited to report that three of the four docks are already open and construction of the fourth dock is well under way with completion within weeks.
The McCotters crew wishes to thank its many loyal customers for their continued support over the last year and invites boating friends old and new to come be a part of the rebirth going on at McCotters.
New slips available on a first come first served basis. Come see us!
Mark Henley