Open Throttle Marine Opens

A Family Affair

By Carol L. Allen
Photo by Open Throttle Marine

It is definitely a family affair, and all of them extend an OPEN invitation to the grand OPENING celebration of OPEN Throttle Marine on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 and 26. There will be food, raffle prizes, kids’ activities, beautiful boats, and more.

Come see the owners at the Arizona Boat Show, Feb. 1-5 in Space A-2 and at the Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days and Boat Show March 24, 25 and 26 at Lake Pleasant.

Open Throttle Marine is a welcome addition to the Arizona boating scene. They will be selling Genesis Boats (manufactured in Riverside, Calif.) and Lightning Custom Boats (manufactured in San Fernando, Calif.); both are custom-fabricated performance boats.

Open Throttle’s customers will have the choice of either buying off the showroom floor or custom ordering their boats — choosing color, graphics, engine, and many other options. These boats are hand laminated with full gelcoat, upholstery made in-house to match the color and graphics.

Every boat is truly one of a kind. The new store will also be offering a Mercury Authorized Service Center and a fully stocked accessory store with everything needed to hit the water.

Families Operate Open Throttle

Open Throttle Marine is truly a family run business. The owners are Steve Adkins and Joel Gonzalez, and Steve’s wife Anna is operations manager.

Their son Mike Bashaw, who has a Bachelors Degree in Finance from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif., is the finance manager, and their daughter Kristen Bashaw, who holds a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif., is marketing manager.

Helping out will be son Matthew Adkins, 16.

Continuing the family focus are the Gonzalezes. Owner Joel Gonzalez is joined by his wife Dionne, customer service representative. Although too young to be involved in the business at the present, Open Throttle Marine will have more potential partners as the years go by: The Gonzalezes have five young children — Joel, Jr., 13; Joseph, 10; Jordan, 8; Justine, 5, and Jonathan, 3.

Personnel Are Experienced

According to Steve Adkins, "Joel, my wife Anna, my daughter Kristen and I all worked for the same construction company in Southern California. Joel was the field superintendent in charge of all field crews, installations and equipment. My wife Anna was vice president of administration and oversaw the human resource, sales, and accounting departments.

"My daughter Kristen was the payroll specialist, and I was the vice president of operations and responsible for the drafting, engineering, manufacturing, and erecting. Among the four of us we had over 45 years with the same company."

Dionne Gonzales worked for SBC for 11 years as a customer service representative. Mike Adkins has worked for The Walt Disney Company in Burbank, Calif., as a senior financial analyst for the past year and was previously employed by Accenture in Los Angeles, as a financial analyst.

Boating Is Not Only Business To Them

According to Steve Adkins, "Joel and I, with our families, have been boating enthusiasts for almost 20 years. In the spring and summer you can find us on the Colorado River anywhere from Lake Mead to the Parker Strip. Joel moved to Arizona two years ago and kept telling us of the tremendous growth and that we should come take a look for ourselves.

"About the same time, the opportunity for us to become a dealer for Genesis Boats came about. It has long been a dream of ours to have and run a successful first-rate boat dealership. After a lot of research and discussions, Open Throttle Marine was born and we could not be more proud and excited.

"Joel and I both have a strong sense of family, and that is how we are running our shop: family run with hard work, honesty, and integrity. We choose the City of Peoria for our business because it is centrally located and easily accessible to the entire Phoenix Metro area.

Genesis Boats and Lightning Custom Boats are both young companies. Genesis Boats is a family run business headed by Joel Casillas, one of the industry’s best-known gelcoat experts. The Casillas family was mentioned in Hot Boat Magazine as the "First Family of the Custom Boat Building Industry."

Lightning Custom Boats is also a family owned business, with over 35 years of custom boat-building experience between the owners, brothers Jerry and Jason VanBeek.

 For more information, contact Open Throttle Marine, 9440 N. 75th Avenue, Suite 100 Peoria, AZ  85345, phone: (623) 487-4041, fax: (623) 487-3491, or visit www.openthrottlemarine.com.