About Us
Since 1946
HISTORY
It all started back in 1946 with our founder John W. Fobear Sr., he began by building small wooden boats of his own, which eventually turned into building Chris Craft kit boats. John worked many late nights and weekends as the business expanded and then he left his job at the shop in order to focus on the marine business. After a few years he added Chris Craft outboards to go along with the boats. He also sold Martin outboards during this time until 1956 when we received the Johnson outboard line up. In the early years we would service all makes and models, later focusing on just the products we sold in order to provide outstanding service. John and his wife Florence operated the business with their three sons. In the late 50’s, we sold manufactured fiberglass boats by the name of MFG and Aero Craft aluminum boats. In the 60’s, we added Meyers aluminum boats and Rinker fiberglass boats. During this time era John’s three sons Ron, Fred and Jack became more involved in the business. They expanded into larger Rinker boats, Baja performance boats, Crest pontoon boats, and also adding Sylvan aluminum boats in the mid-late 70’s. In 1977, John semi retired, and his sons took over leadership. During the 80’s & 90’s they focused on their core market of Sylvan fishing boats. Then in 2000, we expanded our outboard line up to include Mercury outboards.

TODAY
Now, under 2nd and 3rd generation leadership our main focus is on fishing boats and pontoons. We specialize in big water aluminum boats and tri-toon performance pontoons, although we carry a wide variety of boats to meet any budget.

Stop in and visit our INDOOR SHOWROOM loaded with Starcraft and Smoker Craft aluminum fishing boats of all sizes. We are Mid-Michigan’s largest stocking dealer for tri-toons, carrying Manitou VP & SHP V-toons, made here in Michigan. We offer Sunchaser pontoons which are a fully featured value pontoon. Utility Boats from Starcraft and Meyers complete our line up as well as the heavy duty Sportspal Canoes.

Our Ships Store has all the leading brands and the areas best selection of boating accessories at discount prices. If we do not have an item in stock, we can normally get it within a few days and in most cases can even ship to your door.

We have the area’s largest inventory of Evinrude/Johnson & Mercury/Mercruiser replacement parts including many hard to find vintage parts. Call and speak with one of our parts representatives for assistance.

For your convenience, our Factory-Trained Certified technicians are always willing to perform repairs on your Evinrude, Johnson or Mercury outboard as well as Mercruiser I/O’s. We are the area’s only “Platinum Certified” Evinrude dealer. We are very proud of our service department’s performance and knowledge of the products we carry. We strive to be the most knowledgeable dealer of all the new technology outboards including Evinrude E-TEC’s, Mercury OptiMax and Mercury Verado’s. We have over 115 years combined experience!

We are open year round to serve your boating needs.

Bay Outboard Marine
5230 Bay Road Saginaw MI 48604
Phone: 989.792.7744 Fax: 989.792.4438