Effective January 1, 2004, Tony and Judi Simoni bought out their partner and are the current sole owners/operators of
Cimmarina Boats.
Cimmarina originally was located at the Marina in Sioux City for 20 years until the City opted out of its lease agreement
and purchased the land and buildings in 1992. Cimmarina moved their business to their current location at 1909 Broadway in
Dakota City, Nebraska in April of 1992. Relocating business operations to Dakota City turned out to be a good business
move warranting an expansion which nearly tripled the sales and service area for the business. In 1996, Cimmarina purchased
the land across the street and built a new 6,200 sq. ft. space for boat storage. Cimmarina winterizes and stores well over
200 boats each season.
Today, the Cimmarina is flourishing. They keep approximately 40 used and 50 new boats in stock – about $2 million in
inventory. They sell brand name boats such as Bayliner, Lund, Maxum, SeaArk, Premier Pontoons, Caravelles, Shorelandr’
Trailers and Mercury motors. Bayliner and Lund are the number one pleasure and fishing boat lines in the world. Tony and
Judi manage day-to-day operations which include sales, service, parts and boat storage. Future plans at the Cimmarina
include adding on to the boat storage building across the street, renovating the parking lot, streamlining the parts
department and adding more employees. Operations basically remain the same as they have for the past 37 years.
One reason the Cimmarina is successful is the lack of employee turnover. Many of the employees have been with the company
for many years. We have over 75 years of experience in our service department with Lloyd Beauchene and Eugene Lahn who are
certified master mechanics, and Mick Gammet and Mitch Lowe mechanics. Year after year, Cimmarina has received the US Marine
President’s Award for customer service. We offer our customers the best possible service and that enables us to get repeat
business. We sell down through the generations: Grandparents, parents and their children. We have sold as many as five to
six boats to one individual.
“We are very excited about the future of boating” Tony and Judi said. “Because of Siouxlands location near the Missouri
River, the brand new Mlr Tym Marina, more people getting into boating and younger people getting interested, the economic
outlook is good. We don’t just sell boats, we sell fun” says Tony. “I love coming to work every day”.
