Where is Harris Boat Works on Rice Lake?

We're at 5369 Harris Boat Works Rd in Gores Landing, on the north shore of Rice Lake in Northumberland County, Ontario. From the GTA, take Highway 401 east to the Port Hope exit, then head north about 15 minutes. We're a working marina, not a resort, set back on its own road off County Road 18. The water is right there: launch ramp, slips, fuel dock, and the service shop are all on the same property. If your GPS gets confused, that's normal. Call 905-342-2153 and we'll talk you in.

How long has Harris Boat Works been on Rice Lake?

Since 1947. Three generations of the Harris family have run this marina from the same spot in Gores Landing. Jay Harris is the current owner. His father and grandfather built the business on a simple idea: if you sell people boats and motors, you should also be the people who fix them, store them, and answer the phone in February when something is wrong. We're the oldest marina on Rice Lake and one of the oldest continuously operating Mercury dealers in Ontario.

Is Harris Boat Works a Mercury authorized service centre?

Yes. We're a Mercury Marine Premier dealer, which is Mercury's top tier for sales, service, training, and parts inventory. Premier status isn't given out for showing up; it's measured every year against parts stocking, technician certification, warranty turnaround, and customer satisfaction. On Rice Lake, we're the only Premier dealer. If your motor is under Mercury warranty, we can do the work in-house without sending it anywhere. Same for Mercury Product Protection extended warranty claims.

How far is Harris Boat Works from Toronto and the GTA?

About 90 minutes from downtown Toronto on a normal Saturday. Highway 401 east to Exit 461 (Port Hope), then north on Highway 28 / County Road 18 for roughly 15 minutes to Gores Landing. From Markham or Pickering you're closer to 75 minutes. From Mississauga add 20-30 minutes depending on the 401. We're the closest full-service Mercury marina east of the GTA. Customers regularly drive out for service appointments and storage drop-offs and are home the same afternoon.

Do you offer pontoon rentals on Rice Lake?

Yes. We rent pontoons and aluminum fishing boats out of our Gores Landing dock through the spring, summer, and early fall season. Pontoons are the popular choice for families and groups; fishing boats are sized for two to three anglers chasing walleye, bass, or muskie. Rentals include the boat, motor, fuel for the day, life jackets, and a quick orientation if you're new to the lake. Booking and current rates are at harrisboatworks.ca/rentals.

Do you store boats over winter on Rice Lake?

Yes, outdoor storage with shrinkwrap on our property in Gores Landing. We typically bundle winterization, storage, and spring commissioning so the boat goes away in October properly winterized and comes back in April ready to launch. We don't run indoor heated storage; for cabin cruisers or high-end performance boats that need indoor, we'll point you to other shops without making a thing of it. Full breakdown of what's included is in our outdoor storage and shrinkwrap guide.

What's included in HBW's full-service package?

One property, one phone number, every service a Mercury-powered boat needs across a full Ontario season. Launch ramp, 65 seasonal slips, fuel dock, Mercury sales as a Premier dealer, in-house warranty and diagnostic service on Mercury and Mercruiser, pontoon and fishing boat rentals, outdoor winter storage with shrinkwrap, winterization, spring commissioning, and a parts counter stocked to Premier-tier requirements. The point of full-service is that nothing gets handed off to a third shop. You drop the boat once and pick it up ready to run. Bookings and service requests at hbw.wiki/service.

Can I bring my boat from outside the Kawarthas for service?

Yes, and a lot of customers do. We service Mercury and Mercruiser boats brought in from across the GTA, Northumberland, Peterborough, and the broader Kawarthas. Drop-off is straightforward: book a service slot, trailer the boat to Gores Landing, leave it with us. For larger jobs (repowers, full diagnostic work, winter storage bundles) we plan the timeline so you only need to drive out once or twice. Submit a service request at hbw.wiki/service with your motor's serial number.

Rice Lake's Full-Service Marina Since 1947

Harris Boat Works full-service marina wheel - 8 services from a Mercury Premier dealer on Rice Lake ## Quick answer Harris Boat Works is the oldest marina on Rice Lake, established 1947 in Gores Landing. Mercury Marine Premier dealer (the only one on the lake), 65 slips,...

Mercury Premier Dealer·Family-owned since 1947·Mercury dealer since 1965·Gores Landing, ON·Quote builder available

Harris Boat Works full-service marina wheel - 8 services from a Mercury Premier dealer on Rice Lake

Quick answer

Harris Boat Works is the oldest marina on Rice Lake, established 1947 in Gores Landing. Mercury Marine Premier dealer (the only one on the lake), 65 slips, full-service centre, launch ramp, fishing boat and pontoon rentals, winter storage with shrinkwrap, and three generations of Rice Lake expertise. About 35-90 minutes from the GTA via Highway 401 and the Port Hope exit, depending on where you start. Quote, service, and storage requests at hbw.wiki/service.

What "best marina" actually means on Rice Lake

"Best" is a soft word. On a working lake like Rice, it has to mean something specific or it doesn't mean anything at all. Here's the honest list of what matters when you're picking a home base:

Launch access: public ramp or marina ramp, parking, and a dock to tie off while you sort out the trailer.
Slips and dockage: seasonal slip availability, electrical, water, and how protected the basin is when the wind comes up out of the west.
Fuel: on-water gas dock, not a 20-minute trailer to the nearest station.
Mercury service and parts: for most Rice Lake boats, the motor is a Mercury. Having an authorized shop on the lake matters when something is wrong in July.
Storage: somewhere to put the boat from October to April that isn't your driveway.
Rentals: for guests, family who don't own boats, or trying a pontoon before you buy one.
People who know the lake: where the rocks are off Black Island, when the walleye move in spring, which ramps get shallow in August.

A marina that does most of these well is a full-service marina. A marina that does one or two and outsources the rest is a slip operator or a resort with a dock. Both have a place. They're not the same thing.

Harris Boat Works services at a glance

Service	Who it's for	How to book
Launch ramp	Day-trippers and slip holders	Walk-in during operating hours
65 seasonal slips	Boaters wanting a home base on Rice Lake	Call 905-342-2153 in late winter for the season
Mercury sales (Premier dealer)	New motor, repower, or full boat package	mercuryrepower.ca
Mercury and Mercruiser service	Warranty, repower, diagnostics, repairs	hbw.wiki/service
Pontoon and fishing boat rentals	Visitors, families, day trips	harrisboatworks.ca/rentals
Winter storage + shrinkwrap	Outdoor storage, October-April	hbw.wiki/service
Fuel dock	Slip holders and visitors on the water	Pull up during operating hours
Mercury parts	DIY service and other shops in the area	Walk-in or phone

Three generations doing this off the same dock in Gores Landing. The full company history and team is at harrisboatworks.ca.

Why a full-service marina matters in an Ontario boating season

Ontario boating runs roughly mid-May to early October if you're being generous. That's about 20 weekends. Lose two of them to a fuel pump that nobody local can get to and you've cut your season by 10%.

A full-service marina on the lake means:

Mercury service in-house. Warranty work doesn't ship out. A bad coil pack on Friday afternoon doesn't kill your long weekend.
Parts on the shelf. Premier dealer status comes with a parts stocking requirement. Most common service items are in the building.
Storage on the same property. No trailering between a service shop and a storage yard in October.
Fuel where you're already tied up. Important on Rice Lake, where the closest 24-hour gas station is a drive.

It also matters because Rice Lake has its own conditions. Shallow in spots, weedy in summer, ethanol fuel sits in tanks all winter and goes off, and the spring/fall windows are short. A marina that's been on the same lake since 1947 has seen all of it.

What full-service Mercury support looks like on Rice Lake

Mercury Marine Premier status is the top tier of Mercury's dealer program. It is measured every year and it is not handed out for showing up. Here is what it actually looks like operationally at Harris Boat Works:

Factory-trained technicians. Our service techs hold current Mercury certifications across the FourStroke, Pro XS, Verado, and Mercruiser families. Training is renewed annually as Mercury updates platforms and diagnostic procedures.
Parts on hand, not on order. Premier dealers carry a deeper parts inventory than standard tiers. Common service items (impellers, anodes, water pump kits, plugs, filters, common gaskets) sit on the shelf. Less common parts ship in one to two business days through the Mercury parts network.
Warranty work in-house. If your Mercury is under factory warranty or covered by Mercury Product Protection, we open and close the claim ourselves. Nothing gets trucked to a third shop. Same for recall work.
Repower capacity. New motor, rigging, controls, gauges, and propeller all happen in one bay with one work order. The motor and the rigging kit come from the same parts counter.
Year-round service availability. April through November is when install and service work happens. The marina is closed December 1 to April 1; winter is booking, planning, and reserving spring slots. Boats booked in fall or over the winter get the earliest spring install slots.

A marina should make boating easier. If it creates more phone calls than lake time, something has gone sideways. The full-service Mercury model on Rice Lake exists so a Friday-afternoon problem does not eat a long weekend, and so the same shop that sold you the motor is still the shop fixing it in year seven.

You can build a live CAD quote for your repower online at Mercury Repower Centre.

Service intake and current scheduling are at hbw.wiki/service.

Choosing the right Rice Lake marina for your situation

::: decision-card eyebrow: Rice Lake marina decision heading: Which marina fits how you actually use the boat? subhead: Two honest paths. Pick the one that matches your situation. left-label: If you need Mercury service, repower, or seasonal support left-criteria:

Mercury or Mercruiser motor (new or older)
Want service, parts, and storage in one place
Plan to keep the boat 5+ years and want a service relationship
Drive in from the GTA or Northumberland for service days left-outcome: Harris Boat Works right-label: If you mostly need a slip and fuel near a cottage right-criteria:
Cottage on the south or west shore
Boat is small, simple, and rarely needs service
Walking distance from the cottage matters more than service depth
Comfortable trailering or shipping out for any work needed right-outcome: A nearby cottage-area marina when-in-doubt: If your motor is a Mercury and you want one phone number from May to April, the answer is the marina with the service shop attached. :::

Rice Lake marina dock at golden hour with mixed boat types in the slips

GTA access

For GTA boaters, Rice Lake is the closest serious freshwater lake east of the city, and Harris Boat Works is the closest full-service Mercury marina once you cross the 401.

From	Drive time to Gores Landing
Downtown Toronto	~90 minutes
Markham	~75 minutes
Pickering / Ajax	~60 minutes
Mississauga	~110 minutes
Vaughan	~95 minutes
Oshawa	~50 minutes

The drive is Highway 401 east to Exit 461 (Port Hope), then about 15 minutes north on County Road 28 / County Road 18 to Gores Landing. No backroads, no ferry, no lock systems. If your appointment is at 9 AM, leave the GTA at 7:30 and you'll have coffee in hand at the dock. More on the GTA-to-Rice-Lake routing is in our Rice Lake boat rentals from Toronto and the GTA guide.

Rice Lake context

A few things worth knowing if you're new to Rice Lake:

It's a warm, shallow, multi-species fishery, walleye, bass, muskie, perch, panfish.
It's part of the Trent-Severn Waterway system but you don't have to navigate locks to get on the water from Gores Landing. Drop in, run the lake.
It runs east-west, roughly 30 km long, with several islands and a long south shore lined with cottages.
It's east of Peterborough and north of Cobourg, family-friendly, and historically a summer destination for GTA families since the 1800s.
The lake freezes hard most winters. Ice fishing is a real season here.

Booking, contacting, getting started

For service, storage, or a quote, the fastest path is hbw.wiki/service with your motor's serial number and what you need. For rentals, harrisboatworks.ca/rentals. For everything else, including slip availability for next season, call 905-342-2153. The marina is closed during winter months, but we are available by phone, text, or email anytime; the season opens early April. Harris Boat Works is drop-off only: customers bring the boat to our Gores Landing marina, we do not offer pickup or delivery service.

Harris Boat Works 5369 Harris Boat Works Rd, Gores Landing, ON K0K 2E0 Mercury Marine Premier Dealer. Established 1947. Full marina home page: harrisboatworks.ca.

What we see at HBW

We have been on this stretch of the south shore since 1947. Three generations of the same family running it. The customers we see most often: GTA boaters who drove out for the day, Kawartha cottagers who keep their boat on a trailer, and Mercury repower customers from across south-central Ontario who came specifically for Premier-level certification.

What sets us apart is not fancy amenities. It is the depth on the service side: Mercury Marine Premier dealer, certified techs, and the parts-counter relationship that lets us source bizarre 1990s Mercruiser parts in a day or two when the customer needs them.

Ready to price it out? Build a live CAD quote for your repower online at the Mercury Repower Centre.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Harris Boat Works on Rice Lake?: We're at 5369 Harris Boat Works Rd in Gores Landing, on the north shore of Rice Lake in Northumberland County, Ontario. From the GTA, take Highway 401 east to the Port Hope exit, then head north about 15 minutes. We're a working marina, not a resort, set back on its own road off County Road 18. The water is right there: launch ramp, slips, fuel dock, and the service shop are all on the same property. If your GPS gets confused, that's normal. Call 905-342-2153 and we'll talk you in.
How long has Harris Boat Works been on Rice Lake?: Since 1947. Three generations of the Harris family have run this marina from the same spot in Gores Landing. Jay Harris is the current owner. His father and grandfather built the business on a simple idea: if you sell people boats and motors, you should also be the people who fix them, store them, and answer the phone in February when something is wrong. We're the oldest marina on Rice Lake and one of the oldest continuously operating Mercury dealers in Ontario.
Is Harris Boat Works a Mercury authorized service centre?: Yes. We're a Mercury Marine Premier dealer, which is Mercury's top tier for sales, service, training, and parts inventory. Premier status isn't given out for showing up; it's measured every year against parts stocking, technician certification, warranty turnaround, and customer satisfaction. On Rice Lake, we're the only Premier dealer. If your motor is under Mercury warranty, we can do the work in-house without sending it anywhere. Same for Mercury Product Protection extended warranty claims.
How far is Harris Boat Works from Toronto and the GTA?: About 90 minutes from downtown Toronto on a normal Saturday. Highway 401 east to Exit 461 (Port Hope), then north on Highway 28 / County Road 18 for roughly 15 minutes to Gores Landing. From Markham or Pickering you're closer to 75 minutes. From Mississauga add 20-30 minutes depending on the 401. We're the closest full-service Mercury marina east of the GTA. Customers regularly drive out for service appointments and storage drop-offs and are home the same afternoon.
Do you offer pontoon rentals on Rice Lake?: Yes. We rent pontoons and aluminum fishing boats out of our Gores Landing dock through the spring, summer, and early fall season. Pontoons are the popular choice for families and groups; fishing boats are sized for two to three anglers chasing walleye, bass, or muskie. Rentals include the boat, motor, fuel for the day, life jackets, and a quick orientation if you're new to the lake. Booking and current rates are at harrisboatworks.ca/rentals.
Do you store boats over winter on Rice Lake?: Yes, outdoor storage with shrinkwrap on our property in Gores Landing. We typically bundle winterization, storage, and spring commissioning so the boat goes away in October properly winterized and comes back in April ready to launch. We don't run indoor heated storage; for cabin cruisers or high-end performance boats that need indoor, we'll point you to other shops without making a thing of it. Full breakdown of what's included is in our outdoor storage and shrinkwrap guide.
What's included in HBW's full-service package?: One property, one phone number, every service a Mercury-powered boat needs across a full Ontario season. Launch ramp, 65 seasonal slips, fuel dock, Mercury sales as a Premier dealer, in-house warranty and diagnostic service on Mercury and Mercruiser, pontoon and fishing boat rentals, outdoor winter storage with shrinkwrap, winterization, spring commissioning, and a parts counter stocked to Premier-tier requirements. The point of full-service is that nothing gets handed off to a third shop. You drop the boat once and pick it up ready to run. Bookings and service requests at hbw.wiki/service.
Can I bring my boat from outside the Kawarthas for service?: Yes, and a lot of customers do. We service Mercury and Mercruiser boats brought in from across the GTA, Northumberland, Peterborough, and the broader Kawarthas. Drop-off is straightforward: book a service slot, trailer the boat to Gores Landing, leave it with us. For larger jobs (repowers, full diagnostic work, winter storage bundles) we plan the timeline so you only need to drive out once or twice. Submit a service request at hbw.wiki/service with your motor's serial number.

Harris Boat Works · 5369 Harris Boat Works Rd, Gores Landing, ON · (905) 342-2153

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