Need a good mechanic in Texas

[Chexi]

A coworker and friend of mine asked me today if I know of any good (but smaller) repair shops in Texas that are well versed in inboards. His brother went to California this past year for his residency and left his boat (a 92' Malibu direct drive) with a friend to store. He could not store it at his own house since his own house, which used to be in Galvaston, was literally blown away by the hurricane. His friend did store the boat for him, but with the plugs in. To make a long story short, there was quite a bit of rain here in Texas this past year and the boat must have been outside for some period of that because most of the motor appears to have been submerged for some time. The motor is now full of rust (probably a total loss) and they suspect the tranny is gone too. At this point, he does not know whether the boat is totalled or not and would like the honest assessment of a good mechanic. Of course if it is not totalled, he would also want this person to fix it, replace the motor and tranny, or whatever is needed.

I know this is a CC forum, but this is the forum I know best since I own a CC and have always found the members here to be very helpful and willing to share. So if you know of a good mechanic that works on multiple brands of inboards and that is little less expensive than the big dealers, I am sure my coworker's brother would appreciate it. I figure the guy has been through more than his share already, so hopefully we can help him out.

[bchesley]

RE: Need a good mechanic in Texas

The best one that is close to you that I know is Shannon at Ski N Sports in Tyler. They will work on anything not just CC. Matt the service writer there is good too but slow as molassas. Have you talked to the dealers in dallas. After the winterizing is done they get pretty dang slow with service work. You might get a good rate from someone trying to keep a guy busy over the winter.

[east tx skier]

I'll put in another plug for Ski N Sports in Tyler. Top notch all around.

[Chexi]

Thank you gentlemen.

[G-man]

He may want to call his insurance company when he gets the estimate. It might be covered.

[Chexi]

Indeed. Insurance does sometimes cover us for our own (or our friend's) negligence. The irony here is that he went out of his way to save his boat from the hurricane (where it would clearly have been covered by insurance) only to have it ruined by his friend leaving the boat plug in and storing it outside during an exceptionally rainy period.

[bobchris]

well I would inspect the condition of the oil and tranny fluid before I got to excited. Just because it got water in the boat doesn't mean it automaticly got inside of the engine, if the seals where in good shape and the water level didn't get above the vent for the tranny then they most likely are fine. if the oil doesn't look milky or the tranny fluid then crank it up and let in run for a bit then check it again and flush them both if the fluid is milky or not the same color it was before you started it. At worse all you really need to do is flush the fluids and replace with new fluid. And you don't need a repair shop to do that well for most people that is you do need a couple things to do the job.

[Chexi]

I will check with him, although I thought his brother said they could not crank it over. However, I did not get details on how it sounded when trying to turn it over. If there was sufficient water in the boat, there is a good chance the starter motor is ruined, which could be why it would not turn over. On my other boat (a 96 Tige), I had it moored to my dock and it rained over night. The auto bilge was not working and I had a small water leak (clamp not tight enough) on one of my exhaust hoses, resulting in a flooded engine compartment. 1 day of that was all it took to ruin the starter motor. Good thing was it was easy to replace with a better one, and she fires up real quick now.

Oddly enough though, within 15 minutes of replacing my starter my impeller went and went bad. I was lucky to turn the engine off in time and get a tow to my dock. Probably all the cranking attempts with the bad starter caused the impeller to shred.

[bobchris]

take the starter off clean the commutator test it then put it back on. but check the oil first

[Chexi]

Thank you Bob. I will advise him to do this.

[kentsmith12]

3rd rec on Shannon at Ski N Sports in Tyler. He's worked on my boat and I'll haul it a few hours just to get it to him.

[tadelfio]

I gotta plug Ski N Sports in Tyler as well. You're not gonna find anyone more honest and experienced.