They were Texaco geologists in a past life. Today, Phil and Diane Daniel run The Great Outdoors Marine, one of the most successful boat dealerships in North America.
By Carter Taylor Seaton
HQ 108 | WINTER 2020
Almost 35 years ago, a young couple bolted from their big-city jobs in New Orleans and relocated to Lavalette, West Virginia, to live and work at a slower pace. Little did Phil and Diane Daniel know just how busy their new adventure would become. Today, their boating company, The Great Outdoors Marine, is one of the largest and most successful in North America.
Chicago native Diane, a former petroleum geophysicist for Texaco, said she realized they’d really bought into the rural life when she saw a chicken on the stoop of her bank shortly after they arrived. Phil, who grew up in the Westmoreland area of Huntington, knew that leaving his job as a Texaco petroleum geologist to return home would give them the desired opportunity to spend more time outdoors.
“We love living in West Virginia and meeting the needs of people who love the outdoors like we do,” said Phil, who earned his bachelor’s degree in geology from Marshall and master’s from the University of South Carolina. “It’s gratifying to see people spending more quality time with their family and friends.”
In the 1980s, Phil, a graduate of Vinson High School, heard about a business opportunity from a friend: the marina at Beech Fork Lake was for sale. He came back in 1986 to investigate. Within a couple of months, the Daniels had purchased the marina and relocated. It didn’t take much convincing for Diane. If there’s one thing she’s learned from their 34-year marriage, she said, it’s that she and Phil thrive when they’re working as a team.
“We have a shared vision of life and a synergy that is greater than what each of us could do individually,” she said. “And, we have a lot of fun together.”
Since buying the marina, the pair has expanded and improved it. Now they offer 225 docking spots and rent a large fleet of pontoon boats, fishing boats, bass boats, kayaks and canoes. They’ve also enlarged the marina’s store to offer marine supplies, gas, bait, tackle, ice, food and soft drinks. It’s nearly a fisherman’s one-stop shop, since you can get your fishing/hunting license there as well.
The work comes naturally for the couple. Diane, whose degree is also in geology, said customers are often surprised to learn that the couple’s education and background are in a completely different field.
In 1991, the local boat dealer in Lavalette retired, and the Daniels jumped at the chance to acquire the operation, which they named The Great Outdoors Marine. At first they were in a small, rented building on West Virginia Rt. 152 — but it didn’t take long for them to outgrow it. In 1997, they built their current space closer to Huntington, which includes a 20,000-square-foot showroom, plus service and rigging areas.
The company has grown steadily since then. They started with just a few boat lines, but added more over the years. Now they sell Bennington and Sun Tracker, the No. 1 and No. 2 pontoon boat brands in the country; Tracker and Nitro, the No. 1 aluminum fishing boats and fiberglass bass boats; and Tahoe, one of the top sports boats. They sell, service and store all types of motorboats as well. For the past 11 years, Tracker has recognized The Great Outdoors Marine as among its top 10 dealers in the country.
Their biggest sellers are the pontoon boats, Phil said, primarily because they are so versatile.
“It’s a boat you can do anything on,” he explained. “It’s roomy. You can fish off of it. It’s a great family boat. We got started because of Beech Fork Lake. Pontoons are all anybody had there, so we decided to sell a few. Before you knew it, we were selling them to everybody.”
For over 18 years, their company has been the largest boat dealer in West Virginia and for 2019 was Tracker’s top-selling single-store dealer. While their core customer base is within a 150-mile radius of Lavalette, they also deliver boats as far away as Wisconsin, Florida and California.
“We offer the best-selling and most popular brands in the country,” Diane said. “With the internet, people can see something they like and we’ll ship it to them.”
The Great Outdoors Marine has been awarded the honor of being one of the Top 100 Boat Dealers in the U.S. for eight straight years and is the only West Virginia boat dealer to receive Marine 5-Star Certification.
“We never really had an ambitious plan to grow the business like this,” Phil said. “But the need was there and we just grew.”
One of the most exciting additions to The Great Outdoors Marine line of products is Tracker’s line of off-road vehicles, which the business began offering last summer.
“West Virginia is a great state for off-road vehicles. Per capita it’s the No. 1 place in the country for ATVs,” Phil said. “The plans are to get the Hatfield and McCoy Trail to end or start at Beech Fork, which is right in our backyard. That would be perfect. Then, if the state builds a lodge at Beech Fork, that would be even better. The sky’s the limit for us.”
With a staff of 26 hardworking employees, there’s hardly an aspect of boating or off-roading they don’t cover. Inside the showroom on Rt. 152, they sell parts and provide full maintenance service, and in a secondary building they sell used boats.
For those who want to test the boating waters but don’t want to buy quite yet, they rent boats, too. They also deliver stored and new boats to area marinas. Their motto is to do whatever is necessary to make boating happen for their customers, and their No. 1 goal is to provide superior customer service, said Diane. And all their employees subscribe to that concept as heartily.
“Many of our employees are like family,” she said. “Some have been with us since the beginning, so we almost feel like they are our kids.”
It’s likely because of this philosophy that The Great Outdoors Marine has emerged as a nationally recognized dealership. As Phil said, “The sky’s the limit.”
The Great Outdoors Marine can be found on the web at www.thegreatoutdoorsmarine.com.
