Services
Boat Repair & Maintenance in Anacortes & La Conner
Two full-service yards on the Salish Sea, and a 100-ton travel lift
Essential Shipyard offers the full range of boat maintenance, repair, refit and manufacturing at two Salish Sea yards — ESI North on Skyline Way in Anacortes and ESI South on McGlinn Island in La Conner, where we run a 100-ton travel lift. Each service below has its own page.
Because both yards are full-service, your boat comes out of the water once. It does not go to a paint shop, then an engine shop, then somebody’s garage for the electrical.
In the water and out of it
Hull, coatings & structure
Haul-Out & Travel Lift
To 100 tons at La Conner. Survey hauls, blocking, pressure wash and 24/7 emergency haul-out at either yard.
Hempel Silic One
Copper-free, biocide-free silicone foul-release. We have coated more individual boats than any yard in the country.
Bottom Paint & Antifouling
Certified Hempel and Sea Hawk applicator. Media stripping, barrier coats and antifouling matched to how you use the boat.
Topside & Deck Refinishing
Awlgrip and Awlcraft sprayed in our own 70ft indoor booth. Nonskid, Awlwood brightwork and certified GlideCoat Pro.
Fiberglass & Composites
Blisters, delamination, wet core, grounding damage and full structural rebuilds by a six-level trained composites crew. Rudder repair to new towers, transom extensions and hardtops. We own the original Bayliner hardtop molds.
Power, systems & steel
Propulsion, electrical & fabrication
Yanmar Engine Repowers
Gold-Level Certified Yanmar Dealer. Full repowers, sail drive and shaft alignment, factory diagnostics and genuine parts.
Bow Thrusters & Stabilizers
The area’s only certified ABT-TRAC and WESMAR yard. Fin and gyro stabilizers, Seakeeper and Seakeeper Ride.
Marine Electrical & Lithium
Victron Energy dealer, LiFePO4 conversions done as a system rather than a battery swap.
EPOCH Marine Batteries
Washington’s largest EPOCH dealer, with stock on the shelf so you are not waiting mid-season.
Fabrication & Cabinetry
Custom metal fabrication and marine joinery in-house. When the part does not exist any more, we make it.
Marine Supply Stores
A chandlery inside each yard — paint, parts, EPOCH lithium and Victron, fifty feet from the technicians using them.
Yard capabilities
What the yards can actually take
- 100-ton travel lift at ESI South, La Conner
- 70ft spray booth inside a 120 × 90 ft building
- Composites shop with resin infusion and our own molds
- Metal fabrication and cabinet shops on site
- 24/7 emergency haul-out, every day of the year
- 30+ tradespeople across both yards
Pleasure and commercial vessels, sail and power, from the San Juans to Puget Sound.
Where we work
Puget Sound, the San Juans and the whole of the Salish Sea
ESI North in Anacortes and ESI South on the Swinomish Channel at La Conner sit in the middle of the cruising ground rather than at the end of it. Boats come to us from the length of Puget Sound, down from British Columbia and out of the San Juan Islands — and they sit in the same water our coatings are tested in, with the same currents, the same fouling pressure and the same season our customers run in.
The length of Puget Sound
Everett is a short run and Seattle an easy one, and boats come down from British Columbia as well. Where a vessel should not make the passage on its own bottom, we move it overland — two hydraulic trailers, 60‑ton and 200‑ton, and crews who run them.
The San Juan Islands
We still service the islands, and they are our own back yard. An island boat is hauled, worked and back in the water without a long delivery at either end of the job.
Tribal fisheries
ESI South leases from the Swinomish Nation at McGlinn Island. We haul and maintain tribal fishing vessels alongside the cruising fleet, on the same standard and the same schedule discipline.
Free for every customer
A complimentary 18-point inspection
An expert technician tests the boat’s systems and writes up every point as Excellent, Good, Monitor, Attention or Critical — a written report telling you what is sound, what to keep an eye on, and what has to be dealt with before she goes back in the water. Free with every job.
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MONITOR
ATTENTION
CRITICAL
Essential Shipyard 