Some marinas sell you a slip. Hamer Bay Marine, at the north end of Lake Joseph, sells you peace of mind — its mission statement is literally “No Aggravation Boating.” Founded by J.J. Hamer in the early 1930s, it was the second Evinrude dealership in all of Canada, and J.J. built the business on reliability and trust for fifty years: servicing boats and motors, building cottages, docks and boathouses, even running passengers to Gravenhurst in a 1938 Greavette.
That tradition carried on under Terry and Sandy Johnson from 1980, and since 2019 under Mike Johnson, who grew up with the marina and returned to take ownership. Today it is an authorized Suzuki Marine dealer for sales and service, an authorized Volvo and Evinrude service centre, and still one of the leading servicers of older Evinrude and Johnson motors — they even run an online Evinrude parts store. MerCruiser service, docking, winter storage and a rental fleet of fishing boats, pontoons and runabouts round out the offering, plus gas at the dock and treats at the Top Nosh Cafe.
The marina also sells Bayview welded aluminum boats, Canadian-made in Muskoka, from 16-foot tillers to 32-foot drop-nose models. Certified to the Diamond level of the Clean Marine program, with qualified technicians on duty seven days a week in season, Hamer Bay Marine is the heritage service shop of the Lake Joseph area — ninety years of keeping boaters on the water, aggravation-free.