diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/netty/NettyDockerCmdExecFactory.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/netty/NettyDockerCmdExecFactory.java
index cead92e92..c91d4af21 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/netty/NettyDockerCmdExecFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/netty/NettyDockerCmdExecFactory.java
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@
 import com.github.dockerjava.netty.exec.RenameContainerCmdExec;
 
 import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
+import io.netty.channel.Channel;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelConfig;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelFactory;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
 import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollDomainSocketChannel;
@@ -178,6 +181,8 @@ public DuplexChannel getChannel() {
         }
     };
 
+    private Integer connectTimeout = null;
+
     @Override
     public void init(DockerClientConfig dockerClientConfig) {
         checkNotNull(dockerClientConfig, "config was not specified");
@@ -218,7 +223,15 @@ private class UnixDomainSocketInitializer implements NettyInitializer {
         @Override
         public EventLoopGroup init(Bootstrap bootstrap, DockerClientConfig dockerClientConfig) {
             EventLoopGroup epollEventLoopGroup = new EpollEventLoopGroup(0, new DefaultThreadFactory(threadPrefix));
-            bootstrap.group(epollEventLoopGroup).channel(EpollDomainSocketChannel.class)
+
+            ChannelFactory<EpollDomainSocketChannel> factory = new ChannelFactory<EpollDomainSocketChannel>() {
+                @Override
+                public EpollDomainSocketChannel newChannel() {
+                    return configure(new EpollDomainSocketChannel());
+                }
+            };
+
+            bootstrap.group(epollEventLoopGroup).channelFactory(factory)
                     .handler(new ChannelInitializer<UnixChannel>() {
                         @Override
                         protected void initChannel(final UnixChannel channel) throws Exception {
@@ -245,7 +258,14 @@ public EventLoopGroup init(Bootstrap bootstrap, final DockerClientConfig dockerC
 
             Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());
 
-            bootstrap.group(nioEventLoopGroup).channel(NioSocketChannel.class)
+            ChannelFactory<NioSocketChannel> factory = new ChannelFactory<NioSocketChannel>() {
+                @Override
+                public NioSocketChannel newChannel() {
+                    return configure(new NioSocketChannel());
+                }
+            };
+
+            bootstrap.group(nioEventLoopGroup).channelFactory(factory)
                     .handler(new ChannelInitializer<SocketChannel>() {
                         @Override
                         protected void initChannel(final SocketChannel channel) throws Exception {
@@ -580,6 +600,24 @@ public void close() throws IOException {
         eventLoopGroup.shutdownGracefully();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Configure connection timeout in milliseconds
+     */
+    public NettyDockerCmdExecFactory withConnectTimeout(Integer connectTimeout) {
+        this.connectTimeout = connectTimeout;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    private <T extends Channel> T configure(T channel) {
+        ChannelConfig channelConfig = channel.config();
+
+        if (connectTimeout != null) {
+            channelConfig.setConnectTimeoutMillis(connectTimeout);
+        }
+
+        return channel;
+    }
+
     private WebTarget getBaseResource() {
         return new WebTarget(channelProvider);
     }