Aluminum Fishing & Jon Boat Motor Repair

Aluminum fishing boats take a specific kind of abuse — beached on gravel, run in shallow water, stored uncovered through a wet Oregon winter — and the motor shows all three.

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What this kind of use does to a motor

Beaching and shallow running. Gravel and sand go through the water intakes; the skeg and lower unit take strikes that a boat kept in deep water never sees. Silt in the cooling system is common and often mistaken for a failed impeller.

Open storage. These boats live on trailers, behind sheds, under tarps or under nothing. A motor that spends eight months of Oregon rain uncovered ends up with water in places it shouldn't be — under the cowling, in the electrics, in the fuel.

Strike damage. Gravel bars, submerged timber and rocky launches. Skegs, props and lower units on these boats take impacts that a lake boat never sees — and a strike hard enough to damage a skeg is often hard enough to open a gearcase seal. More on that.

Tiller and transom-mount setups. Steering friction, throttle linkage, tilt mechanisms and the mounting clamps themselves — all things that seize on a motor left outside.

(Fuel and carburettor problems from seasonal standing are covered on small outboard repair — same motors, same cause.)

Trolling hours. Long slow running fouls plugs and loads up a motor that never gets a chance to clear itself.

What we service

Tiller and remote-control outboards from 2hp up · transom-mount kickers · main and auxiliary motor combinations · outboard jets on shallow-water rigs · electrics, charging and starting.

Whatever size it is. A 9.9 on a jon boat is a real job and gets treated as one — no minimum job size.

Where we come to

Your driveway, on the trailer. The most common by far — these boats live on trailers and don't need to be anywhere else.

Your garage or a stand, if the motor is already off the boat.

A storage lot, if that's where it lives.

The ramp, if it failed on the water and you got it back.

Service area · how on-site service works

Worth checking yourself before the season

• Fuel — if it's last year's, replace it before anything else
• Intake screens — clear gravel, weed and silt
• The telltale — a weak stream on a river boat is often a blocked passage, not a dead impeller
• Gear oil — milky means water, and beaching strikes are a common cause
• The skeg — if it's bent, the strike may have done more than the fin
• Battery and connections — corroded terminals are the top electrical fault on trailered boats

FAQ

Do you work on small aluminum boat motors?
Yes, from 2hp up. Jon boats, tinnies and aluminium fishing rigs are regular work.

My motor sat all winter under a tarp and won't start. Fixable?
Nearly always. It's a fuel problem in the overwhelming majority of cases. More here.

Can you come to my driveway?
Yes — that's where most of this work happens. The boat stays on the trailer.

I beached it hard and now it steers oddly. What's that?
Probably skeg damage. Check the gear oil too — the same impact can open a seal.

Why is my telltale weak after fishing shallow water?
Often silt or gravel in the intake screens or passages rather than the impeller. Worth checking before replacing parts.

Do you service kickers as well as the main motor?
Yes, and doing both together is cheaper than two visits.

Should I be storing it differently?
Covered, with fresh stabilised fuel, the carburettor run dry and the battery off the boat. It prevents most of what we get called out for.

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