Atlantic Boats won the Suzuki Motor Industries National Top Performers Club Award on Thursday, Dec. 8. for being the 16th best marine Suzuki dealer in the nation and the top dealer for the district for the year of 2022. 

Atlantic Boats owner John Cornish traveled to Thailand and Dubai to receive the award.

“I’m very proud of my team, it's a big accomplishment especially [being] from little old Wareham,” Cornish said. 

In Dubai, Cornish visited the Autodrome racetrack. In Thailand, he visited Buddhist temples and the Suzuki factory.

Cornish attributes his success to being driven and working long hours.  

Atlantic Boats company sells boats, parts, accessories and offers year-round maintenance service, from preparing a boat to launch to winterization. 

“What we specialize in with Suzuki is repowering old boats,” he said. “We sell engines and put them on the boats so people can fix them up and enjoy them.”

Cornish got his start in the boating business in 1979, when he was 16. 10 years later, he opened Atlantic Boats. Although the original 2820 Cranberry Highway location is not seaside, the off-highway location remains convenient for customers. 

“There were so many people with boats on trailers, I thought why wouldn’t you put a big business in-land where people could get serviced,” Cornish said.

According to Cornish, Atlantic Boats repowered 250 boats and sold over 300 engines in 2022.

Since 1989, the business has expanded from a marine store to multiple facilities including The Stonebridge Marina in Onset. 

Cornish believes that placing emphasis on customer relationships has helped his business grow.  

“We have customers that we sold their grandparents boats and motors,” he said. “So we are working on the third generation here.”