Tampa, Fla. – Ben Sheaffer, Jr. is president and owner of Sheaffer Marine, Inc. and its two subsidiaries, Sheaffer Boats, Inc., and The Boat Doctor®, all headquartered in Tampa, Fla.  He is the designer and builder of the Sheaffer 239 Center Console Sportfish.

The Boat Doctor®, founded in 1967 as Johnson Boat Repair, became widely known for quality boat repairs.  It drew the attention of a national magazine, which dubbed the operation “the Boat Doctor®”,  and the name stuck.  Ben Sheaffer started working there while still in high school, learning fiberglass repairs skills and painting techniques.  He made up his mind that some day he would own the shop.

When he was younger, he had worked weekends at marinas and boat yards, learning boat handling and the ways of the water.  When he wasn’t working, he was fishing.  Fishing remains his passion.  During summers off from school, Sheaffer worked the tug boats in the Gulf,  receiving his seaman’s papers at the age of 15.  In his early 20's, he owned a drafting and design company in St. Petersburg and picked up boat design skills along the way.  Drawn to the sea, Sheaffer joined the merchant marine and sailed aboard super tankers, transporting oil from the farthest points of the globe.  But he never forgot about the Boat Doctor®.  In 1989, he returned to Tampa and bought the business. The following year, his father, Ben, Sr., a retired Coast Guard captain, marine consultant and engineer, joined him, bringing a wealth of experience and skills to help his son grow the business.  Ben, Sr. had spent a second career in ship engineering, construction and repair, consultant with Exxon during the Valdez salvage operation.  They talked about building the boat that eventually would become the Sheaffer

We wanted to build a boat with high-tech materials and high-quality construction techniques that would last and be easy to maintain.  His father didn’t live to see it, but he would approve of the boat we’re building.  The “Sr.”, top of the line model designator, is in honor of his father.

Since buying The Boat Doctor®, Sheaffer has made a point of upgrading equipment, introducing new molding techniques, and maintaining the high-quality standards that the company was built on. Most of the same employees have stated with the Boat Doctor® over the years, continuing the tradition of quality workmanship.  More services have been added along the way.  The shop handles structural and cosmetic fiberglass repairs, boat manufacturer warranty claims and insurance claims, plus installation of accessories, electronics and steering and fuel systems.  A broad range of marine supplies and boat parts are also sold.

Quality remains the biggest selling point at Sheaffer Marine, Inc. – both in boat repair and in building the new Sheaffer 239-V.