Terrible experience. The old guy was surly and unhelpful the whole time, and barely provided any education at all when we rented jet skis. We almost got a ticket because he didn't tell us how to obey buoys. What really soured the whole experience, though, was when he was verbally abusive to my wife when we dropped off the jet skis, and he tried to overcharge us for equipment we didn't rent. He has no business working in the service industry. The young guy was great, it should be noted, but he didn't have enough sway to make the experience better. read more

Rented a 12 seater Pontoon from this place sort of last minute for July 5th. Can't miss the place coming off the road and ample parking. My boyfriend went inside, less than 10 minutes he was back out telling me to get my things out of the truck. Needless to say, check in was efficient and painless. Should mention, we didn't get charged until we got there, but have your card ready when you call, because you do need to give the information. $300 for 9am-6pm is not bad at all by the way! We got there around 10:15, pulled back in around 5:15pm. 3 guys came out and assisted us with putting the boat back where it needed to be. They gave the boat the once over, made sure we didn't break anything, and refueled. Cost us $27.50 or so in gas. We didn't do a lot of tubing or towing of people or items. Mostly found a spot to drop anchor and float, so I imagine if you're pulling someone in a flotation device or water skis it might cost ya more. I was pleased. The guys also mentioned to us that we were on a new boat that they got last year. It was super clean when we got in it and had a TON of storage under the seats to keep important things dry. It also had a decently sized canopy that covered the entire back half. Definitely a plus when you're going to be in sun all day. We took 6 people and had more than enough space. Paying for the gas was also, easy peezy. All in all, had a wonderful time, boat was everything we needed. Service was fine and no deposit is even nicer. Be nice and kind to the boat, and it'll be nice to you. Definitely already planning my next trip to the lake and of course, another boat. Thanks! read more

Rented a boat from them while I was at the lake. It was a great rental, no problems, clean boat. Friendly staff, great dock guys!

Hopefully my words can do justice to the experience we encountered. If you do not like the locals from the movie "Deliverance," then this isn't the place for you. Our experience didn't start on a great note, and no I'm not talking about the banjos playing... The man at the counter asked for a 200 dollar deposit in cash. No credit cards. He claims he told me on the phone, but never happened. Other reviews state his reasoning for cash only was due to customers not wanting to wait for their deposit. I soon found out the real reason is he doesn't want customers to do a charge back when they try to steal your deposit. My friend and I went to grab cash up the street as we wanted to get on with our day and fun on the jet ski. Let's just say my smile faded when I saw the fossil they call a jet ski. A Sea Doo from 10 plus years ago, not to mention the deep gashes of ware and tear from thousands of customers prior to us. We kept positive because the motor at least revved up and we just wanted to make our kids happy to get to go on rides. The old man that helped us seemed polite or at least we thought... We had no issues riding it, but noticed as we were riding over the waves the back bumper screw came off. We were like, what a piece of junk as we were not rough with it by any means. After we brought it back, they inspected the jet ski and the same man that we thought was nice enough turned Dr. Jekyll Hyde on us. He told us straight away in a very accusatory tone that we broke the bumper off from hitting something. We didn't hit a thing, but it was like talking to a brick wall as he made his mind up it was our fault. I kid you not that he said he replaced the bumper several times and there is no way the screw could have bent from impact or not being secured tightly enough from his hack job craftsmanship. When I told him the jet skis were old, he went completely ape shit on us. He also brought in one of his redneck buddies to further try to bully their customers. When I said the customer is always right, he said that they don't care about their customers. We couldn't believe it and wish we caught it on recording. He also called me ignorant for insulting his jet ski. We were shocked they'd treat customers this way. So the lesson here is they especially like to rip off people. They kept 125 of our deposit. The business motto is you save money upfront getting a cheap crappy jet ski, but they will make sure to find a way to accuse you of breaking it. We also saw that the owner was packing heat and thought best we be on our way with the guns on display. He yelled to get out of the store when I called them out for who they really are... crooks from the back woods that have no concept of running a business or let alone a lemonade stand. I know hindsight is 20/20... my two cents is that I wouldn't rent from them again if they offered free vehicles. They are so dirty I want nothing to do with them. I hope people will realize this and make them broke on their asses. They clearly don't like us tourists that keep them in business. read more

We were super happy and excited to rent wave runners, the owner was extremely rude. He expected a deposit in cash but did not tell us that before we got there and denied it. We would have remembered being told to bring $200 cash. He wouldn't take it on credit card because "customers don't understand that refunding it back to you takes a couple days and I don't want any obnoxious phone calls", that's fine, but why the attitude we were nothing but polite. The sarcastic signs posted around the store perfectly foreshadow their rude customer service. It was a disheartening experience and we did our best not to let it ruin our vacation and are glad we didn't partake in their rentals. read more

Easy check in process. Went through safety measures and prop cautions. We inspected the prop together and we were off. The owner is old school and straight forward but decent guy. The deck hands were young folks and very knowledgeable. Even offered to get us out in a better spot to avoid hitting anything. The boat was old but worked just fine. You get what you pay for. They were cheaper by 500 -600 bucks for the week. We were all over the place and it towed the tube fine. We would rent from the again. The folks complaining about the additional fees are upset over the prop which they went over in the beginning. Don't run up on the islands or land and you'll be fine. read more

NEVER AGAIN! I will never rent from Captains Quarters again. The owner is rude and very nonchalant. Rented a boat earlier today and upon inspection the boat had not been cleaned. Well I just let it slide! Upon leaving the dock we then found out the radio didn't work! Neither did the speedometer and there was no gauge for depth insight! Upon returning the boat I spoke with the older gentleman who I believe is the owner. Told him about the speedometer and radio he stated "you're on the lake, who cares about that anyway". I'm sorry would have been nice to enjoy the boat with music. A whole day of silence!! 0stars.. Not Recommended.. read more

The guys who run this place can be a little, shall we say, brusque. Very businesslike, and really not interested in chatting unless you're a regular there. They really don't come across as very helpful, but if you ask they will help you with about anything. Just don't be intimidated. They get you checked in and out quickly. I think they gouge a bit on the fuel prices. read more

The pontoon boat we rented was In great condition. Tyler and colleagues could not have been nicer. read more

Was looking to rent a pontoon next week and ran across this business, can't believe I haven't left a review after renting from this place at least 3 time. Needless to say, I am not renting from this place again. They have this one guy, "Mike" I believe who gets off on yelling at their patrons. Every time I have return the boat the guy flips out. To this day my kids like to yell "PUT IT IN NEUTRAL" at the top of their lungs. I get getting up set if your boat gets scuffed on the pier, BUT IT'S A FREAKIN RENTAL, calm down buddy. But literally 3/3 times this guy is yelling and cursing in front of my young children. And no one apologizes for his outbursts. On the plus side, they are usually the cheapest, they have the easiest area to access the boats in my opinion and don't have you watch a video or anything, just sign the release form for your temporary boat license and your on your way. Just be aware when you get back your grumpy drunk grandpa will be waiting there to yell at you and make everyone feel awkward. Not worth it. read more

The guy that rents the Jet Ski's mentioned to me five times that the Jet Ski would go into "Limp Home" mode if I pulled any twigs or debris into the engine and then I'd have to idle it back to the dock to have him put it on the lift and clear the trash. "It could cost thousands to fix". Seemed a little strange to me that a vehicle built for the water would be so delicate, but I took his advice nonetheless. A half a mile from the dock, it went into "Limp Home" mode while driving down the middle of the lake. Turned it off, turned it back on and it ran for another minute of so before it went into Limp Home mode again. Happened several more times before I called them and said it wasn't going to work out. Luckily the guy said he'd refund my money, but when i finally got back into the dock, got the vibe that he was knew exactly what was going on and was hoping that I'd just deal with his crappy, broken Jet Ski and pay him the $300+. This is an absolute "last resort" rental place for Jet Ski's. There are three different guys running the tackle shop, the boat rentals and the jet ski rentals. Just because the boat rental is great, doesn't mean the jet ski's are worth the trouble. Reserve well ahead with ANYONE else or you very well could be without a boat for your vacation. read more

We rented a deck boat and soon realized there was no radio, so sadly we went the entire day without music. When we asked the people that worked they about it they said "sorry the radio has been taken out of it." Was a bummer because we were not told in advance. The employees were rigid and not very helpful. Sadly will not be using their business again. read more

DO NOT RENT A BOAT from Captains Quarters. This weekend my family rented a deck boat and it was a JOKE. Their level of professionalism and care for making the customer happy is NON-existent. I should have known when I walked in a saw a slogan hanging on the wall that stated something like this "do not ask for discounts or refunds on a boat rental... it's like asking an owner to work for 1/2". Ummm.... there are definitely times when a discount should be given. Which is where I'm going with this post. On Fathers Day we rented a deck boat and there were (4) major things wrong w/ this boat & experience we encountered. 1) the motor on this 21 ft boat was completely the wrong motor to use on this boat. It is a 17ft motor. Because of this- we could not tube at all. I called in my complaint and the guy said- "well I know the shaft isn't long enough for this boat but all I can say is to make wide turns". SERIOUSLY???? that is your answer to me and how you want to resolve this problem? How about you are peddling awful boats and professing they work great on tubing and the like? DISHONEST and SHADDY handling there. 2) The stereo did not work at all. We had no way of playing music. Odd, because the guy said the boats were pretty new??? 3) The entire boat was filthy.... every single cushion had some kind of stain on it. And when you flipped it out to store your items- Dear Lord... there was everything from French fry's, hair, dirt, leaves and someone else's rain coat in the compartments. DISGUSTING. 4) The guy supposedly checked our used fuel level and suggested we owed $52.50. I didn't see him do the fueling and I just took it for what it's worth. But I have a feeling he totally falsified this amount. Plus, he's peddling $3.00 a gallon, when the current gas price is $1.74 a gallon. Seems like another GOUGE by these shifty owners. Oh, and one final thing- supposedly this place has a marina owner, a deck boat owner and a pontoon owner. How exactly does that work? A SHIT SHOW for sure. Long story short, when I politely mentioned all of these issues to the "OWNERS" they just looked at me and said "sorry - I told you could bring the boat back for a refund". SO, I know they like to position themselves a bit cheaper than Bridgewater right across the street. BUT I highly suggest you DO NOT ever rent a boat from these people. You will be SORRY. read more

Well... this is one of those times I wish I had of believed the reviews... always read the one stars. My experience began bright and early at about 10am. I was greeted by a blank expression in response to "good morning". Hmmm, whatever, maybe he's having a bad day. My friend and I rented a boat, filled out the paperwork and were brought to the saddest, POS deck boat I've seen in a long time. Even by rental boat standards... this boat looked like it'd seen some stuff... like maybe it was used during d-day or something. The boat was dirty, the radio didn't work, the speedometer didn't work, all the compartments on the boat were filled with dirty water. The worker walked us through the operation of the boat, at least what of it worked, and then warned us "don't get the floors dirty, cause they're white and all" ....hmmmm more like brown. But we got a good deal so I was okay putting up with some stupidity. He proceeded to raise the prop out of the water so my friend who self admittedly knows absolutely nothing about boats could "inspect it". I was carrying things from the car and was unaware that this happened until later. We loaded up and headed out. I've been coming to SML since I was in middle school. I've driven big boats, small boats, nice boats, and some not so nice. But I've never driven such a terrible watercraft in my entire life. The steering was about equivalent to arm wrestling a grizzly bear and one hand had to be held on the throttle at all times or it would vibrate itself out of gear. But whatever, because after all, we weren't really there to cruise around all day, we just wanted to find a nice cove and hang out. And that's what we did. The majority of the day was spent sitting in coves, eating chips and salsa and listening to Celine Díon. And it was lit. As a matter of fact we had a splendid day, that is right up until the end. When we brought the boat back we were greeted by about 4-5 workers. All of which were pretty aggressive. Dear lord as soon as the boat came into the slip it was like I was Captain Philips and they were Somalian pirates after my loot. The only problem my loot was 2 peanut butter jelly sandwiches and some warm salsa. So I'm still confused as to why everyone was so aggressive. But one of the first things they did was pull the prop up and inspect it for damage. Well to all of our genuine surprise, the prop looked like it'd been in a fight with a brick wall and lost. It was bent and scratched on all 3 blades. We were all flabbergasted. We genuinely had no idea when we could've hit something hard enough to do that. The majority of our time was spent sitting still. But there was no arguing the prop was bent. It wasn't the fact that we had to pay to replace it. It was how the old man there handled it. He immediately started accusing us of running aground and as soon as he did, all the other employees jumped on board accusing of us of hitting shoals, islands, rocks... basically everything but a small child. We weren't even arguing. We were simply stating we had no idea when it could've happened. I've been coming to SML for a long time and never bent a prop, and I'm not an expert but I know that lake pretty dang well and know for a FACT I never hit any stationary object. The only thing I can think of is maybe a piece of driftwood... but even still... I don't know. Regardless of how it happened, I think the situation was handled extremely poorly and not to mention they charged us $150 for a propellor I looked up by serial number and cost $97. My advice for anyone renting from these folks is to note with pictures ANY damage to the boat and know that mechanically as is evident in other reviews, anything can go wrong (and there is a good chance it will given their poorly maintained garbage barges) and they will hold you financially responsible for their poor maintenance. Please read other reviews and head the warnings. These folks are a classic tourist trap. read more

What you'll get - Quick & easy check-in & check-out. Good prices. Good boats. What you won't get - Smiley Chickfila employees praying for you as you go out the door. Summary - Business at Captain's Quarters is black & white: you pay money, you get a boat. Some of the employees are plenty friendly, but the guy who runs the place is not a customer service guru, but I tell you what there was something that impressed me, and will lead me to continue coming back. This is my second time renting from Captain Quarters, and this most recent time as soon as we left I noticed the gas tank was half full. Now they tell you, that the gas tank is full when you leave and when you come back they'll fill it back up and you'll pay for the gas to fill it back up, simple. But seeing as the tank was half full, I was concerned that we'd be charged for gas that we never used. I considered turning around to talk to them about it, but having a boat full of people eager to get out on the water, I took a picture of the gas gauge and carried on our way. We ended up filling the boat up at Parkway Marina once the boat had gotten down to a quarter of a tank of gas (around 11:30AM), and by the time we had gotten back to Captian's Quarters at 6PM the tank was back down to a hair over half full (very close to where we started the day). When I explained the situation to the guys working the docks he directed me to go talk to the guy in the store who runs the place. I thought to myself, "Oh boy here we go". As soon as we went in we explained it to the guy, and after about 6 words he cut me off, and said, "What was the rental name under?" Once we answered him, he immediately knew what was going on. Apparently, it was a half-day rental that got returned the day before and they had missed it. I offered to show him the picture, and he said he believed me. I feel like any other place could have held me to pay to fill up the tank again, but this guy knew what was going on in his shop and trusted me. Captain's Quarters isn't the nicest place in the world, but it's run by fair honest people trying their best to make a living, and that's why they'll continue to get my business. read more

I wish I could rate this a 0 star. The counter staff was good and was pleasant to deal with however the older gentlemen (I believe the owner) was rude and nasty. From the moment we rented a wave runner, his attitude was awful. He came out of nowhere and started belittling us and saying "you better not scratch my jet ski or you'll pay for it". He wanted us to tell him that we did not see any scratch on the jet ski before we left. When we said the sticker numbers were starting to peel, he started to get defensive and angry. It's a rental and we never had any issue at any other places before so we let it go. When returning the wave runner, he "found a scratch" on the side of the wave runner. That too the smallest, some what impossible unless you were to scratch at it, to find and charged us $100. Now id be the first to admit if I'm wrong and always take responsibility for my mistakes but his rude attitude and the way he spoke was uncalled for. Never will we ever step foot in that business ever again. Our in-laws live in Bedford and we always rent boat and jet skis at smith mountain but we will never rent from Captains Quarter. I hope they learn to treat customers with a little dignity and not be rude when speaking with them. read more

We had great service from this company. First, I messed up the reservation and they called to make sure we were ok and still coming. Thank YOU!!! We would have missed our whole jet skiing time otherwise. We finally got there and immediately they jumped up to get everything ready. After filling out the paperwork, we got a lesson on the jet skis (we've never been before). I even had reservations about falling off and he showed me how sturdy it was and I wasn't going to just topple over like I thought:) They even extended our time because we were late - totally our fault, none theirs and they still did it. I'm sorry for those who had a bad experience but they were great with us and we had a blast!!!! I would go back to them! read more

We rented a speed boat, skiis, and tube and set off for a 4 hours of fun. Our boat lost power on our way back to the shop. My husband is a mechanic and owned a boat for many years and diagnosed it as a broken pin, something we could not fix so we called. Someone answered the phone after several attempts and agreed that it was a broken pin and that he was not going to come get us and to just go slow. It took us 1.75 hours in 95 degree heat to limp back where we were greeted with a hostile attitude, no concern for us or regret that the boat broke down. In fact, when my husband asked for 1/2 off for the rental the owner was very belligerent and actually threatened to take us to court and said that we were lucky he didn't charge us for the hour and a half extra that it took to get back. When I asked why they left us out there he said it was because they didn't have a boat available to come get us and a tow boat would have cost $200. We checked out, paid for the entire 4 hours for the boat rental, they discounted the skiis and tube gas after we decided it wasn't worth the effort to fight in court... (probably an empty threat). later that day he tried to engage us again by calling saying that the ski ropes were missing. I don't think so, they were attached to the tube and the boat had been repaired and checked before we left. Captain's Quarters doesn't deserve your business. If I could have given them a zero I would have read more