A Sheaffer center console running in Tampa Bay

Tampa, Florida · Since 1967

For Those Who Know
The Difference

Sheaffer Boats are designed, built and finished by hand right here in Tampa — and backed by the same yard that has been known as The Boat Doctor^® for more than half a century.

Explore Our Boats Schedule Service

1967

Established

5.0★

106 Google Reviews

15 yr

Ltd. Hull Warranty

The Sheaffer Difference

Seven principles we
refuse to compromise.

Every Sheaffer Boat is built to a standard, not a price point. These are the seven things we get right before a hull ever leaves the shop floor.

A completed Sheaffer center console on the water

01 — Design

Design

Drawn by the people who fish these waters. Every line on the boat earns its place — nothing is styling for its own sake.

Marine-grade stainless deck hardware on a Sheaffer boat

02 — Materials

Quality Materials

Marine-grade throughout — hardware, resins, wiring, fasteners. We don't save money in places the salt will find later.

Hand-finished cabinetry inside a Sheaffer console

03 — Craftsmanship

Engineering & Attention to Detail

Engineered, then finished by hand. The parts you never see are built to the same standard as the parts you do.

Molded T-top on a Sheaffer center console

04 — Function

Function and Features

Layouts built around how the boat actually gets used — fishing, family, and everything in between, without the compromise.

Sheaffer boat rigged with a three-quarter tower

05 — Performance

Performance

A hull that runs dry, turns flat and handles a Tampa Bay chop the way an owner expects it to — loaded and running hard.

Accessible, labeled electrical system in a Sheaffer boat

06 — Serviceability

Ease of Maintenance & Repair

We repair boats for a living, so we build them to be worked on. Systems are accessible, labeled and laid out to be fixed — not fought with.

Electronics and navigation system installed at the Sheaffer Marine shop

07 — Customer Service

Customer Service

You buy the boat once. You deal with the people behind it for as long as you own it. The same crew that laid up your hull is the one that answers the phone when you call — which is exactly why so many Sheaffer owners are on their second and third boat.

Talk to us

Our Boats

The Sheaffer S240

Twenty-four feet of hand-laid center console built for the flats, the bay and the run offshore — and backed by a 15-year limited hull warranty.

Overhead deck layout plan of the Sheaffer S240 — Deck Layout

Specifications

S240 at a glance

LOA: 24' 0"
Beam: 8' 6"
Draft: 13"
Deadrise: 14°
Weight: ~3,200 lbs
Max HP: 300
Fuel: 100 gal
Water: 15 gal

15-year limited hull warranty

Talk to us about a build

Detail & Features

Built into every hull

Integrated swim platform — Swim Platforms

Bow-mounted trolling motor — Trolling Motor

Helm navigation electronics — Navigation

Molded T-top on the S240 — Molded T-Tops

Dual soft top on an S240 — Dual Soft Tops

Courtesy and cockpit lighting — Lighting

Upholstery stitching detail — Upholstery

Our Story

Standing the
Test of Time

The shop opened in 1967 as Johnson Boat Repair. Over the years the work spoke loudly enough that Tampa boaters stopped using the original name altogether — around here it simply became The Boat Doctor^®.

Ben Sheaffer III bought the business in 1989. A year later his father, Ben Sheaffer Jr., joined him — and together the two of them set out to build the boat they had spent decades repairing other people’s versions of.

That boat became the Sheaffer Boat. Every design decision in it came from years of seeing exactly how and where other builders’ boats fail.

1967

Shop founded

1989

Ben III buys in

1990

Ben Jr. joins

A Sheaffer S240 rigged with dual soft tops

The Boat Doctor^®

What Tampa has called this shop for over 50 years.

Testimonials

What owners say

5.0

106 Google reviews

Needed a fuel tank replaced and Matt Cormier quoted the job accurately — no surprises when the bill came. The repair was done right and exactly as described.
Google Review

A longtime customer here — everything from rigging to routine servicing. There's really such a thing as the Sheaffer Experience, and once you've had it you don't go anywhere else.
Google Review