Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 24/99) - Boat motors are scattered about, tools adorn the walls, and shelves are stacked high with boat props and other marine-related odds and ends.

To the casual observer it looks like a collector went mad, but to TLC Marine owner's Dennis Lowing and Forrest Krause, everything is in its place -- waiting to be serviced.

"Our business started as a retirement activity about four-and-a-half years ago. Since we got going, it's been pretty steady -- certainly busier than I expected it to be," Lowing said.

The shop, which is operated out of Lowing's garage, is open from May until the end of October. He said the most common problems they see have to do with "motors that just don't put out the power they're supposed to."

"You need three things to make an engine go -- compression, a fuel supply and ignition at the right time. We just check things in order and hopefully find the problem then," Lowing said.

"At this time of year the waters get low so we also get a lot of propellers and gear casings hitting rock. The minimum damage from that is a bent propeller, the worst is a completely broken gear casing."

Lowing spent 34 years in a government job before retiring. Krause was in the government for 25. It's one of the reasons the two men have been able to work shoulder-to-shoulder for so many summers.

"We're veterans of the work place so you develop things like tolerance -- and besides, we don't have any deadlines to meet so we don't develop any of those pressures," Krause said.

After working on hundreds of boat motors, Krause's tip for keeping an engine running smoothly is simple.

"Keep the fuel clean. Probably the majority of problems we see are fuel related," he said.

TLC Marine is in the process of winterizing several outboards. The first thing they do is change the gear oil to ensure all the moisture is out. They also add fuel stabilizer and run a special oil through to coat the moving engine parts.

Inboard boat motors must be winterized because of the cooling systems they have.

"Some are cooled with lake water and that water has to come out," Lowing said.

"Every year we see one or two boats with cracked blocks. It means replacing the engine so it's a very expensive oversight."