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Updated: 6 hours ago

Smooth sailing: A York-based team aims to take the stress out of boat docking

Docked owners Josh Cecot and Steven Gendron lifting the Docked product into the lake. Photo / Courtesy of Docked Docked owners Josh Cecot, left, and Steven Gendron lifting the Docked product into the lake.
By Alexis Wells

A two-person York business is selling a pontoon boat docking guide to help boaters navigate the stressful and occasionally embarrassing process of getting into a marina berth. 

Steven Gendron and Josh Cecot, co-founders of Docked, developed a boat docking system to help boaters safely and efficiently dock pontoon boats. Equipment like bumpers, fenders and guide rails are installed on docks to help prevent damage and make docking easier.

Gendron told Mainebiz the co-founders left their full-time jobs late last year to launch the business. 

Earlier this month, Docked received an International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference award for innovation in dock equipment.

Photo / Courtesy Docked
Docked is a pontoon boat docking guide that attaches to an existing dock and provides a target to point your boat toward, then captures the pontoons as soon as they hit the entry bar.

Armed with a basic design, they worked to make a product that would be easy in all aspects — transport, assembly, installation, boarding, launching, docking, deboarding, removal, disassembly and storage.

Their first product, also called Docked, is a pontoon boat docking guide that attaches to an existing dock and provides a target to point your boat toward, then captures the pontoons as soon as they touch the entry bar. After that, the boat operator simply glides into place at the dock, steps off the boat and ties off — stress free.

The guide helps those operating a pontoon boat in challenging conditions like high wind or rough waters. 

In Maine, the Docked product is sold at Richardson's in Patten, SR1 Docks in Turner and through the Hamilton Marine locations. It's also available online. 

What's next

Gendron said he is working with the Maine Technology Institute to get a matching grant for their custom-fitting project. 

He is also in the process of looking into opening a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Waterboro, but he will need to secure funding first, so that may be a year or so away.

"We expect the new space to be a year or more down the road, once we have sales at a level that would sustain a full-time operation," said Gendron. "This would then include investing money and time into the additional innovative products we are planning. As such, we don't have a set number yet, but we expect it could be between $200,000 and $500,000, which is a large range because we are just now starting to think about this."

As of right now, Gendron says their main focus is on sales of their primary product, Docked, but they are working on developing and producing accessories for that product, as well as testing a new boat lift guide. 

"It is similar to Docked, but will work for guiding boaters into their lift — we are trying to develop this so it works for all boat types, including pontoons, 'tritoons,' V-hull and personal watercraft.

"After that, we will likely adapt that to guiding boaters onto their trailer," he continued. "Our goal is to simply look at the major pain points of boating, which is something that is supposed to be fun and relaxing, and eliminate them entirely so all that is left is the good part of boating."

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