I read a thread on spark plugs and it reminded me how important my mechanic is and how much money he actually saves me? I know we all look at getting work done on our boats as an expense but let me tell you a true story of the value and savings of a good technician.

I have an old Trophy bass boat made by Bayliner. It's a 1984 model. 17 feet with an 85 horse Force engine. Yes it's an old, cheaply made boat but I like it, it works great for me and I got it so cheap, I couldn't pass it up. It's actually what got me into bass fishing. I bought it because I knew what a good deal I was getting. I planned to sell it and make a few bucks but I wanted to take it out once. Caught a small bass on a spinner. Never got around to selling the boat. lol.

The engine is very old technology. Simple, basic but it does the job.

A few months after I got this boat, it started running badly. I couldn't hardly start it, it would hardly get on plane, smoked a lot and it was for some reason running very rich. So rich it was flooding out the bottom cylinder. It's a vertical inline 3 cylinder.

I took it to a local mechanic. He worked on it for 3 hours and couldn't figure it out. He didn't charge me because he couldn't fix it.

I took it to another mechanic locally. He spent 7 hours on it and all he ended up doing was cranking up the idle, advancing the timing so it ran "faster" but it still wasn't running correctly. I was standing there watching him. I'm a fairly good backyard mechanic and I understood everything he was doing. When he said it was done and wanted to charge me, I pointed out that it still isn't running right and to prove it, I pulled the plug wire off the #1 cylinder while it was running and it ran the same. He finally agreed but still charged me a "reduced rate" of $90.00. I'll never take anything to them again. I don't think I should be charged if a mechanic can't even find the fault.

I took it to a 3rd mechanic. A respected mechanic in the next town. He couldn't figure it out and didn't charge me a dime. Honest guy.

The timing was checked, new plugs, the ignition packs were checked, the carbs had been rebuilt, the compression was checked (150, 145, 150). Nobody could find a thing wrong.

I was very frustrated. I just wanted to make a reverse drain hole in the boat and be done with it at that point.

There is a boat yard in Eugene Oregon, about 60 miles away, that I have taken stuff to years ago and they always treated me right but since it's so far away, I don't usually go there. Well, one day I happened to be in Eugene and I stopped by just to get some oil and ask a few questions about my old boat. They have always been very patient with me as I stand at the counter or on the phone and answer all my questions. I walked in this day, bought some oil and asked them how much they would charge to look at my boat. I told him that I didn't have the money right now but I'd bring it in when I did. The owner didn't answer that question, his first question was what the engine was doing??? I told him and without saying a word, he walked away and when he came back he handed me a small piece of rubber. Some sort of gasket. He told me to take 5 screws off the side of the engine, take the old gasket out and put this one in. If that doesn't fix the problem, THEN come talk to him. Cost of the gasket???? $1.69.

I went home, installed the gasket, went to the lake and it fired right up and ran perfectly. The gasket was actually the fuel pump diaphram. The old diaphram had a crack in it and was blowing fuel into the lowest cylinder. The #1 cylinder. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that guy. The knowledge and experience of a guy that is not just a mechanic, but a guy that knows what's really going on is invaluable. Since then, I have called to ask him lots of questions. One question in particular about my trolling motor. A question I posted on this forum twice and both times nobody had an answer to. He had the answer for that as well. I have called him several times thinking that I would have to take the boat into him and so far, every time, he walked me through it and solved the problem at the counter or over the phone. He hasn't hardly made a dime on me as of yet except for oil. I figure he has made less than 20 bucks on me yet has saved me hundreds and hundreds of dollars because of his knowledge, patience and kindness. If I ever do need a mechanic for even a little thing, I'm driving the 60 miles to this guy. He'll make some money on me someday and even if he doesn't, I'll be sending everyone I come in contact with to this guy.

If you ever need a boat mechanic near the Eugene area and beyond, go to Mels Marine on Hwy 99 in Eugene Oregon.

So that's my story.

Anyone else have mechanic stories???? Good???? Bad?????

You hit a gold mine, they don't come around too often  

I have a good story.

A few years ago I was in Canada for a two week vacation. On Thursday of the first week my outboard started to run like crap.  Water was leaking all over the place. I thought the second week was going to be awfully dull without a boat on a fishing vacation.  I drove to the closest boat place, Sharbot Lake Marina, and told my tale of woe. The owner, Brian, told to get my boat and bring it in and he would look at it. I did just that. He called me on Friday told me what was wrong, The block had come loose from the leg,  and he would need to overnight the gaskets if I where to have in on Sunday. Mercury screwed up the order and they did not get there until Monday. But on Monday night he stayed late to finish so I could have my boat the rest of the second. All in a good experience. The total cost for the labor, parts and overnight shipping to the middle of nowhere Canada was $500.00CDN. I even got some of the sales tax back on the way home at the border.

Part II

When I went to pick up the boat my Blazer would not start in the parking lot come back to the lake. I thought great now what. I went back in an again told a tale of woe. Brian said I'll make a call. In 15 minutes a huge tow truck, one for towing 18 wheelers, shows up. The driver gets out we talk he tries to start my car. He has me try and start it while he is out back. He get into his truck comes back with a 5' piece of schedule 80 pipe. bangs the gas tank and says try it again the blazer starts right up.  The Driver said bad fuel pump. I thought great did not want to get stuck on the way home to the states. The tow truck driver said his shop was right around the corner. I took the boat back to the lake. Drove the blazer back to the garage they drove me back to the house I was staying in. They replaced the fuel pump the next day and delivered it back to me. talk about service.

to give you an idea the house I was staying in was 15 miles away from the marina and the auto repair shop. About half of that is on one lane dirt roads. The auto repair place did me a great service taking me back there and delivering my car back to me and the repairs all for $300CDN. I would highly recommend both places to anyone staying near sharbot lake if they need their car or boat repaired.

As a side note it looked funny seeing this huge tow truck towing my s10 blazer when they brought it back to me. They could have carried it with it.

I am new to boats and motors.  I bought my used jon boat last year.  The guy started in his yard and it ran.  It just didn't run on the water.  I bought a manual and started replacing parts.  

I rebuilt water pump.  I rebuilt carb.  The motor would run but when I would put it on the water it wouldn't push the boat.  I had a guy come by for $50.00 and he thought the motor was shot.  Compression tests varied.

After I paid my money, to the roving mechanic I found out that the motor wasn't "peeing"(I wonder why he didn't notice this?).  I replaced thermosat, some other valve, head gasket, and other gaskets.  At this time I replaced most of the fuel line under the hood.  I went to Autozone to buy fuel line(I even took the old line with me) and they sold me vacuum line.  I returned it the next the day.

I replaced my fuel lines with fuel lines I had left over from my motorcycle.  And still the motor wouldn't push the boat.  I didn't think the fuel pump was good and I questioned the primer knob, but I didn't want to keep throwing money at it, so I used a small minakota TM to fish with.

This February I took the boat and motor to a real boat dealer.  They would charge me $75.00 to look at motor.

The mechanic called me up and told my that the motor was good and it would cost so much to fix it.  Then he called back to say, well really I need two other parts.  Total was $380.  I didn't get carb clean.  Main jet was still plugged up.  The fuel pump was the wrong one and not pumping enough gas, and the primer knob was leaking.  He also sold me a OMC fuel line from tank to motor and a lock for motor.

I like working on motor, but I like the motor running even better.  If a tradesman knows how to fix something I am more than happy to pay good money for the knowledge.  

I have taken the boat out twice now and it flat out flies across the water.  If I ever need to get motor worked on again, I will go right back.  In fact, if I ever want buy a new boat, that is where I will go.