Gordon Performance Opens Full Powerboat Service and Restoration Operation

Owned and named for longtime Shogren Performance Marine Service Manager Alan Gordon, Gordon Performance has opened and will offer everything from basic engine maintenance service to complete powerboat interior and exterior restoration. Joining Gordon in the new venture are the staff members he worked with under the Shogren Performance Marine umbrella. The stand-alone, independently owned service center is located at Shogren’s recently remodeled new building in McHenry, Ill.

While Gordon Performance will start with Shogren Performance Marine as its biggest customer—the new company reportedly is loaded with work through January 2016—its owner is thinking bigger than that.

“Obviously, Shogren will be our biggest client, but we do want to focus on offering service and other specialties to the general boating public,” said Gordon. “We love rebuilding, re-rigging and restoring and, at the end of the day, that’s what we’d like to do in addition to service work and detailing. It takes a special team and crew to go through and restore a boat, whether it’s an original restoration or a full customization. We have that crew.”

“The new service business has evolved with the changes going on at the company,” he continued. “It’s been years in the making. I have always treated and run the service department like it’s my own business. Now, it’s time to make it my own business.”

According to Scott Sjogren, the founder and owner of Shogren Performance Marine, the change couldn’t come at a better time for his company, which has shifted its focus during the past year to exclusively representing Mystic Powerboats. To create the proper, “upscale automotive-style” showroom environment, Sjogren purchased the McHenry facility and completely built it out.

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For a closer look at Gordon Performance, check out the slideshow above.

“We’re moving forward in a great direction,” he said. “I’ve never been more excited to be in this industry.”

Although the Shogren Performance Marine and Gordon Performance are separate businesses, Sjogren and Gordon have a much closer tie that history and shared location. Sjogren said he encouraged Gordon to strike out on his own and is looking forward to watching his business grow—and is committed to helping him.

“As an entrepreneur myself, I not only respect the entrepreneurial spirit, but encourage it,” said Sjogren. “Alan and his team have been with me for a combined 20 years, and yet all of them are 30 years old or younger. I think that’s good for our industry—so few young people are getting into it.

“They have proven to me that they have the ability to go into business for themselves,” he added. “And I am helping them get started. Seeing guys you brought up in the business being able to do that is pretty cool. They have the ability to rig, weld, handle all manner of service, restore pre-owned boats, do minor paint work and more. They have all the resource they need in terms of expertise, tools and equipment, and when we finish the build out they’ll have the perfect space to do it all.”

Related story: Shogren Performance Marine Opens Its Own New Facility