May 31

May 31 Teague Custom Marine: The Legendary Performance Boat Shop

To call Teague Custom Marine a performance boat shop would be an understatement. Headed by Bob Teague and his incredible team, Teague Custom Marine is known for custom engines with serious power and almost any performance marine component you can think of. But, the shop is more than that, with a massive parts business, including OE parts for major boat manufacturers, service shop, and custom fabrication for any application. There probably isn’t a shop anywhere with the range of expertise that Teague has. If it floats and goes fast, Bob has probably driven it or tested it. Here’s a look behind the scenes.

Bob and Cherilyn were super generous with their time and showed me around the shop while telling me about the business. I was blown away by the sheer number of parts but also the number of cool boats laying around. Bob’s own DCB M31 was there, as you would guess, running TCM 1400s, after being completely rigged by Teague from a bare hull. One thing I really appreciate about Bob and one of my takeaways was that he’s a no BS kind of guy, and only makes or sells the best. He runs all of his stuff, people all over the world race and run Teague parts, so everything is battle tested.

Some great boats around the shop. This looks like a 36 Skater. I saw everything from offshore V hulls, to V drives and everything in between.

There were a couple big projects in the shop at the time, including a new build wood deck Rayson craft V-drive getting fully rigged. A few other repowers, and lots of engines ready to go. Another was a 21’ Schiada. Bob himself has a special 21’ Schiada with big power. He bought it back after selling it a long time ago, and I think it’s a special boat for him; although I asked him if it’s his favorite boat to run and he said “not really.” I think he likes his 44 Skater the best, although I didn’t ask him.

This “new build” Rayson Craft had a wood deck and a cutom engine built by Teague Custom Marine. I believe this was built with parts Bob had on hand.

Even though I get the sense outboards aren’t Bob’s favorite choice of power, they are a Mercury Racing dealer and service everything. Teague also carries a large inventory of parts, and probably the largest Mercury and Mercury Racing propeller inventory I’ve seen. You can order anything from Teague, with global shipping from the Valencia California shop. And they are drive experts, with Mercury Racing, Imco and TCM outdrive repair and replacement. I saw plenty of drives getting serviced to be sent out from all over.

TCM engines start from Merlin blocks. The TCM 1400 EFI is based upon a tall deck World Merlin 3 Billet Splayed Main caps block, with a Sonny Bryant Billet crankshaft, Carrillo connecting rods, proprietary AFR CNC 24 Degree Heads. That’s on pump gas 91 octane. Can be run with race fuel after programming.

When you read or have read Teague on Tech articles from now and all the way back to the Powerboat Magazine days, you realize you are in good hands, Bob and the team are extremely knowledgeable about any upgrade or issue you are having.

I love the different boats you see in California, as lake boating is big here, you do see so many types of boats of all sizes. Teague Custom Marine is a staple and I was really grateful for Bob and Cherilyn’s time, they are really influential in the industry. Bob has put a significant amount of the performance boat scene on the map for over 50 years with his effort in testing, publishing, racing and the shop itself.