Straight answers

Inboards, outboards, sterndrives and jet drives. In practice that means ski and wake boats, classic jet boats, fishing boats, and personal watercraft — and both ends of the age range, from modern electronically controlled engines to carbureted V8s that are older than most of the people running them.

If you’re not sure whether yours fits, ask. If it’s not something we handle, you’ll get told that straight rather than strung along.

Inside Contra Costa County, we come to you. Mobile service is a $300 flat call-out — your driveway, your slip, wherever the boat is sitting.

Outside the county, the boat comes to the shop. Inquire, get on the schedule, and drop it off in Concord. That’s where the tools and the parts access are, so bigger jobs are faster and cheaper there anyway.

Either way, put your location in your request and you’ll get a straight answer about which one applies to you.

• $140/hour — shop labor
• $300 flat — mobile service call (Contra Costa County)
• $300 minimum — diagnostic at the shop
• $300 — Level 1 pre-purchase inspection
• $450 — Level 2 pre-purchase inspection, adds a fault code scan and a compression test
• Estimate per boat — repairs

Full breakdown on the pricing section of the home page.

Diagnosis comes first, then a number. You hear what’s actually wrong, what it takes to fix, and what it costs before repair work starts.

Boats surprise people — a job occasionally opens up into something bigger once it’s apart. When that happens you get a call before another dollar is spent. No surprise invoices.

Mobile service covers Contra Costa County. If you’re in the county, we come to the boat — Concord, Martinez, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Antioch, Oakley, Pittsburg, Walnut Creek, Clayton, Pleasant Hill and the rest of it. $300 flat for the call-out.

Outside the county, you can still get work done. Inquire and get on the schedule for shop service — Napa, Sonoma, Sacramento, up the Delta, wherever. Drop the boat at the shop in Concord and you get the same diagnosis and the same rates.

Not sure if you’re covered? Ask — it takes a minute.

Get it home and on the trailer, then send these over — a few details save real time and money:

• When did it last run properly?
• Does it crank, or is it completely dead?
• How long has the fuel been sitting?
• Any recent work done, even if it seems unrelated?

Old fuel and batteries are behind a surprising share of no-starts. Answering those four questions often narrows it down before anyone touches a wrench.

Want to talk it through first? Call (707) 933-6045.

It depends entirely on the job and on parts availability. A tune-up is a different animal from a head gasket or a phased restoration. Some marine parts sit on a shelf locally; others come from across the country.

You’ll get a realistic estimate up front and an update if it moves. If you have a hard deadline — a trip, a holiday weekend — say so in your request and it’ll be factored in.

Yes. Fogging, fuel stabilizer, antifreeze where applicable, battery care, gear lube, and a full pre-storage inspection so spring startup isn’t an event.

Book it before the rush. Everyone remembers winterizing on the same cold weekend, and spring de-winterizing works the same way in reverse.

Yes — pre-purchase inspections are worth every penny on a used boat. A compression check, a look at the drive, the wiring, the transom and the general story a boat tells about how it was treated can save you from a very expensive weekend.

Send the listing along with your request so the boat can be sized up beforehand.

Please do — it genuinely helps. Text them to (707) 933-6045.

A ten-second video of a noise or a video of the gauge reading is worth more than a paragraph describing it. If you can safely film it happening, film it.

Call or message for current availability — a one-person shop moves with the workload and the season.

(707) 933-6045 or fullthrottlemarine5@gmail.com.