Last month we wrote up the questions people called about in July. This month we can do something we have not been able to do before: put the questions next to the work.
August brought 114 calls to the shop. It also produced 72 completed jobs for 64 different boat owners between August 3 and August 31. Some of those calls turned into some of those jobs, and a lot of them did not, which is normal. But laying the two side by side is a useful picture of what a South Shore boating season actually looks like in late summer.
"It cranks but it won't run right"
Same as July, this was the biggest group of calls by a wide margin. No start, hard start, stalling at idle, running rough, dropping cylinders, dying under load.
And the work backs it up. A good share of August's bench time went to fuel systems and electrical: filters, carburetor work, batteries, wiring, connections. Those two areas are where most running problems actually live, and they are not glamorous jobs. They are the ones that get boats running again.
One call is worth passing along because it is such a common trap. An owner had already replaced the distributor, the plugs, the carburetor and the coil, and the engine still would not run. That is four parts and a lot of weekends spent guessing. Parts swapping feels like progress because you are doing something, but it only works if the part you replaced was the broken one. Diagnosis first is almost always cheaper than diagnosis last.
Parts questions were their own steady theme too, and they skewed old this month: a vintage Mercury piece, a float chamber for a late-1990s Evinrude. On older motors the real question is usually not "can I buy it" but "can it be rebuilt or sourced used," and that is worth asking before you write off a motor.
Safety first: if you smell fuel, find fuel in the bilge, see no water from the telltale, or get an overheat alarm, shut it down and do not run the boat anywhere. Those are the symptoms that turn a repair into a replacement.
Repower questions, and three motors that actually went on
Repower and new-motor quotes were the second most common reason people called. Rebuild estimates, replacement quotes, one owner asking about a twin Yamaha setup.
That one showed up in the completed work too. Three new Tohatsu outboards were installed and closed out in August. A new motor is a bigger conversation than a price, because it pulls in shaft length, controls, cables, gauges, wiring and the condition of the transom it is bolting to. When we quote one, that is the whole thing we are pricing, not just the engine.
The quiet majority: drives, props and routine service
Nobody calls a shop to say "everything is fine, I would like an oil change," so this part never shows up in the call log. It shows up in the invoices.
Two categories tied for the biggest share of August's completed work. About a dozen jobs were outdrive, prop and gear service. Another dozen or so were routine maintenance: oil changes, 100-hour services, the scheduled stuff. Add in fiberglass repair, haul-outs and buff and wax detailing, and that is a real slice of the month.
Worth saying plainly: the boats that come in for the 100-hour service are not the boats calling in July because they will not start. Those two lists barely overlap.
Winterization started on August 21
Here is the thing we did not expect to be writing about in an August recap.
The first winterization and outside storage jobs of the season went on invoices starting August 21. Not quotes, actual completed work. And the calls matched almost exactly, with winterization, storage and shrink wrap questions clustering through the last ten days of the month.
That is a few weeks earlier than most owners think about it, and the people who moved early were right. The fall calendar gets written in late summer. Booking now does not mean the boat comes out of the water now, it means you have a spot when the weather actually turns. The owners calling after the first hard frost are asking for a slot that was claimed in August.
If you are still running the boat into October, book anyway and give us a rough drop-off date. Moving a date is easy. Finding one in November is not.
New-to-me boats had a rough month
A pattern showed up in August that is worth a warning. Several of the problems we saw came from boats that had just changed hands. A second-hand aluminum boat taking on water on an early outing. A newly bought boat whose electronics needed sorting out, including a radar and transducer issue that the previous owner presumably knew about.
Electronics were a live theme generally: fish finder installs, instrument upgrades, display questions.
Pro tip: get a used boat looked over before you buy it, or right after if the deal is already done. An hour of somebody knowledgeable checking the hull, the transom, the wiring and the drive is the cheapest hour you will spend on that boat. The first outing is a bad time to find out what you bought.
Two small things from the month
One of our techs noticed a bent hinge on an engine hatch while working on something unrelated, and offered to sort it out over the winter before it became a real problem. That is the kind of thing that costs almost nothing in January and turns into a rusted, jammed, expensive job if it gets ignored for two seasons.
We also ran a dockside visit for a boat that could not be trailered in. Not everything has to come to us. If getting the boat here is the obstacle, say so when you call and we will tell you whether it is something we can handle where it sits.
One review, and the timeline it covers
We got one new Google review in August. Five stars, from a longtime customer, about a repower we did two years ago that has run without trouble since. Ryan, our head mechanic, got named in it, and so did Ron, who has been doing this for fifty years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it too early to book winterization in August or September?
No, and late summer is the right time. Fall haul-out and winterization slots fill on a schedule that gets written weeks before the weather turns, so booking early is how you get a spot that works for you rather than whatever is left.
My engine will not run and I have already replaced several parts. What now?
Stop replacing parts and get it diagnosed. Swapping components without knowing which one failed can add up quickly and often leaves the original problem untouched. Tell us the symptom and exactly when it happens, cold or hot, at idle or under load, and that narrows things fast.
Should I have a used boat inspected before I buy it?
Yes. A pre-purchase look at the hull, transom, wiring, drive and engine costs very little compared to what surfaces on the first outing. If you already bought it, have it checked before you put real hours on it.
Do you work on boats that cannot be trailered to the shop?
Sometimes. We did dockside work in August for a boat that could not come to us. Tell us where the boat is when you call and we will let you know honestly whether it is something we can do on site.
Have a question about your boat?
If any of this sounded like your August, call the shop and tell us what the boat is doing. And if winterizing is anywhere on your list this year, that call is worth making now rather than after the first cold night.
