The people at LOCKEMAN'S have been selling and supporting Evinrude engines for literally a century--yes, more than 100-years. When BRP closed down Evinrude outboard engine production, LOCKEMAN's continued to support and service them. That's where I bought my E-TEC in 2009, and where it has always been serviced.
But since c.2021 I have been keeping my boat year-round in northern MIchigan, about 280-miles away from LOCKEMAN'S. This season the E-TEC really needed its water pump serviced, as the impeller was finally, after eight years, too stiff to produce proper water pressure output at low engine speeds like 500 to 700-RPM. This was a problem if I had to run the boat in long no-wake zones, as the engine temperature at those low idle speeds would climb relentlessly toward 200-degrees-F. I would have to speed up to more than 1,000-RPM to get a rush of cooling water, as occurs when the pressure release valve or PRV would open. And, let's face it, eight years on a water pump impeller is pushing it, particularly in my case where the boat sits idle all those years about 99-percent of the time. The impeller blades just take a set.
I checked with several local and former Evinrude dealers in the Traverse City area, but I did not have a great feeling about how much experience their techs would have with a 2010 E-TEC, and particularly an E-TEC with ICON electronic shift and throttle controls (ICON EST first generation).
I turned to Jerry, owner of JOHNSTON MARINE in Cheboygan, Michigan, who has been an Evinrude dealer since the 1950's, and whose chief mechanic-technician Bill was very acquainted with E-TEC legacy or G1 engines with ICON EST controls. It took a while to find a lull in their shop business where they could fit me in between their regular, local, long-term customers. But last week there was an opportunity to get my engine serviced there.
Now Cheboygan is not actually very local to me. My boat is sitting near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, and to get to Cheboygan, which is northeast of me, I first have to drive 35-miles south and east to get through Traverse City and a dozen or more busy intersections with traffic lights. Only then can I turn north for Cheboygan. The total highway distance to Cheboygan is about 135 miles. And when towing a boat on mostly two-lane roads at maybe 50 to 55-MPH top speed in the straight sections, the drive averages about 35-MPH. Add a few stops to keep a check on the trailer and the wheel bearing temperatures, and, after departing just past 8 a.m., I arrived at JOHNSTON MARINE about 11:45 a.m. last Thursday morning, or 3-hours 50-minutes in transit. At this point I had been planning on dropping off the boat and leaving it for several days for them to get to work on it
I had just pulled into the parking lot and parked the rig when owner Jerry came out to greet me. He explained that they were ready to do the service work on the engine right that moment, and the engine would be ready for me to tow home in about three hours. This was a surprise, but a nice one, as it meant I would not have to make a second 270-mile round trip to come back for the boat.
Jerry instructed me to back the boat up to the big garage door of the workshop. I got the "good" sign when I had pushed the boat into the garage opening just far enough to get the leg of the engine into the shop proper. Bill, the 30-year-veteran Evinrude mechanic, was all set to service the water pump.
A short lunch break at noon interrupted things, but by about 2:30 p.m. the engine was back together. It had even been water tested for proper water pressure output at the local launch ramp, very conveniently almost next door at The Forks launch site on the Cheboygan River.
- Fig. 1. Chief mechanic Bill buttoning-up the side panels on the engine at 2:19 p.m.
- JohnstonMarineMechanicBill.jpeg (57.18 KiB) Viewed 936 times
I was back on the road to home. This was just amazing service. I mean, who pulls up to a dealer, backs the boat into the shop, and gets the top mechanic to work on it immediately. Getting the boat done in a few hours really saved me that second trip.
Towing the boat the 135-miles to get there had burned off over $50 in 92-Octane gasoline (as I was getting only about 13 to 14-MPG towing). Even without towing the boat, a 135-mile-trip home was going to burn about $30 in fuel, so avoiding a second trip over and back probably saved me at least $80 in fuel and also 270-miles of wear and tear on the Jeep and the trailer, and a second whole 10-hour day of travel. I did pay a slight premium over the normal repair rate, but it was well worth it.
Due to a big traffic jam in Traverse City from road construction--very much a situation-normal condition in TC in the Summer--I decided to take a 15-mile detour to the south of TC and avoid sitting in stop-and-go traffic for at least 30-minutes or more. Also, in that sort of traffic I would be very concerned some distracted driver behind me might not noticing the outboard engine skeg tilted up and hanging off the trailer. The result was the trip home ran to about 150-miles of trailer-towing.
I want to publicly thank Jerry and Bill and JOHNSTON MARINE for getting me in for service in their busy schedule, and especially for the one-day no-waiting drive-in service. That was a big bonus for me due to the long distance trailer-towing drives involved.