Mobile Outboard Mechanic — We Come to Your Boat
Every job we do is mobile: you don't trailer the boat anywhere, you don't wait out a marina queue, and the mechanic works on your motor where it already sits.
Call 503-867-6471 · Request service
Licensed & insured · Call and we'll tell you honestly when we can be there
How fast can you get here?
Stranded, overheating or dead in the water? Call 503-867-6471 first. We'll tell you honestly whether we can reach you today rather than booking you and hoping.
We won't guess at a day on a web page. How fast we can reach you depends on where the boat is, what's wrong with it and what's already booked that week — so we tell you on the phone, with the diary in front of us, and we tell you the real answer. Booking someone in and not turning up is worse than saying no.
Urgent work gets moved ahead of scheduled work. A boat that's unusable, overheating or stranded at a ramp comes before an annual service that can wait a week. If yours is the one that can wait, we'll say so and book it properly.
Hours are Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm. Boats break on Saturdays, so if you're calling outside those hours, leave a message with the boat, the location and what it's doing, and it gets picked up.
Boat trouble is more urgent than car trouble, and the reason is simple: a car stops. A boat keeps moving. Depending where you are that's inconvenient — or it isn't. Above the falls at Oregon City, a boat that loses power is drifting toward something there's no coming back from.
In summer, something going wrong is close to routine. In a busy shop season our technician would see roughly three genuine emergency calls a week, and reckoned the odds of something going wrong on any given summer outing at better than even. Most of it is small. Some of it isn't.
If you're adrift, call a tow first. We're a mechanic, not a towing service — if the boat is drifting or somewhere hazardous, call whoever you're covered by (BoatUS and Sea Tow are the usual two on this water) and get it to a dock or ramp. Then call us and we'll meet it there. Anyone telling you they'll come get you off the water is selling something they can't deliver.
Once it's at a dock or a ramp, we'll come out. We've fixed an impeller mid-lake and had a family home inside half an hour — that kind of call is exactly what a mobile service is for.
Why we water-test, and what it once found
A routine test run after a service, out on the river. The boat started taking on water underway.
"Luckily I know what to do in that type of situation — you just gun it for the trailer."
It made it. But the point is that nothing at the dock showed it. A boat can sit at a mooring all day looking perfectly normal and only reveal a problem under load, at speed, with the hull working. That's the whole reason a water test is part of the job rather than an extra we upsell.
If you're buying a used boat, this is the single most important thing to insist on. A boat that starts and idles at the dock has told you almost nothing.
How mobile service actually works
1. Describe it on the phone. What the motor is doing, what it is, and where the boat sits. A useful amount gets narrowed down before anyone drives anywhere — and occasionally we'll tell you it's something you can fix in ten minutes yourself.
2. We come to the boat. Slip, lift, driveway, storage lot, marina or ramp.
3. Diagnose first, quote second. You get the finding and a price before work starts, and nothing beyond it happens without a phone call. How a job gets priced.
4. Most work finishes on the spot. The van carries plugs, filters, impeller kits, gear and engine oil, anodes, fuel-system parts and common consumables.
What can be done at the boat — and what can't
Most shops won't tell you this, so here it is plainly.
Done on site, nearly always:
Diagnostics and compression testing · tune-ups and annual service · water pump and impeller replacement · gear oil and engine oil · anodes · carburettor cleaning and rebuilds · fuel system and tank problems · batteries, charging and wiring · trim and tilt · controls and cables · props · no-start diagnosis · winterising and spring commissioning.
Removed here, rebuilt at the bench, reinstalled here:
Lower units needing internal work · powerheads needing teardown · cowlings needing plastic welding · skegs needing welding. You keep the boat; the part travels instead of the hull.
Genuinely needs the boat out of the water:
Anything requiring hull access — through-hulls, shaft seals, cutless bearings, running gear. Some sterndrive work is far safer on a trailer or lift than in the slip, and we'll say so rather than risk it.
If a job falls in the second or third category, you'll hear that before we start — not once the cowling is off.
Where we'll meet the boat
In a slip or at a moorage. The most common. We're licensed and carry the liability cover Columbia County moorages require before letting anyone work on the dock. If your marina needs paperwork on file, send us the contact and we'll handle it.
On a lift or hoist. Ideal for anything involving the drive or lower unit.
In your driveway or storage lot. Fine, on the trailer. If the motor needs to run, it needs water — tell us what's available at the address when you book and we'll plan around it.
At the ramp. For a boat that just failed on the water and got recovered.
→ Full service area and radius
What to have ready
Not required, but it makes the visit faster and cheaper:
- Access to the motor. Covers off, gear out of the engine bay.
- The key, and the kill lanyard. More visits stall on a missing lanyard than on anything mechanical.
- A charged battery, or tell us it's flat so we arrive expecting it.
- Any service history you have — even a receipt showing when the impeller was last done saves diagnostic time.
- Marina gate codes or dock access, if we need them to reach the boat.
What it costs to come out
No call-out charge inside Columbia County. St. Helens, Scappoose, Rainier, Clatskanie, Warren, Deer Island and the rest of the county — coming to you doesn't cost extra.
Beyond the county: travel is quoted before we book, never added afterwards — see the service area.
Ask on the phone and we'll tell you what a visit costs before you book — here's what goes into the number.
Why owners use a mobile mechanic
The boat doesn't move. No trailering, no launching to reposition, no losing a weekend to logistics.
No queue. In season, yards run weeks behind. Your boat isn't sitting in a line — it's sitting where you keep it.
You meet the person doing the work. There are two of us — Zach and Javier — and the person who diagnoses it is the person who does it.
Nothing disappears for three weeks. You see the work happen.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a mobile outboard mechanic near me in Columbia County?
That's us — we cover the metro on both sides of the river and service boats wherever they're kept. Check the service area.
Do you do mobile boat motor repair on inboards too, or just outboards?
All of it — outboard, inboard and sterndrive, jet and marine diesel. "Mobile outboard mechanic" is just what people search for.
Can you fix my boat while it's in the water?
Most jobs, yes. Work needing hull access or drive removal is safer on a lift or trailer, and we'll tell you which before booking.
How much is the call-out fee?
Nothing inside Columbia County. Beyond it, travel is quoted before we book — how a job gets priced.
Can you come out today?
Often, especially for something that's left a boat unusable. Call 503-867-6471 and you'll get a straight answer rather than a maybe.
Do you work weekends?
Listed hours are Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm. Boats break on Saturdays, so leave a message with the boat, the location and the symptom and it gets picked up.
What if you can't fix it on site?
Then we tell you before starting, and usually the part travels instead of the boat — a lower unit or powerhead comes off, gets rebuilt at the bench and goes back on. The hull stays where it is.
Do you carry parts, or is it always two visits?
The van carries common service parts and consumables. Model-specific components sometimes need ordering, and we'll tell you the lead time upfront.
Book a visit
Call 503-867-6471 · Request service