Austin, TX Mechanic
 

Does anyone know of a good mechanic in or near Austin? I have a Wellcraft Nova Spyder with a Mercruiser 350 and Alpha One. Thanks.

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

Get up with clay washington, he has someone he really likes.

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

Talk to Bob Loyd
http://www.fullthrottlemarine.com/

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

I've heard nothing but good things about this person.....spoke to him and he seems very knowledgeable

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

Bruce Lowry; Custom Boats,263 5443 at hwy 520 in Lakeway by Lake Travis.

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

I don't trust anyone in this town to work on my anything. When somethings out of my reach I have a couple close friends with shops and that's who I go to, very rare though. Might be a bit harsh, but after hearing so many stories about people getting burned, screwed, or simply not getting their stuff fixed correctly I'm very thankful that I don't have to rely on anyone to work on my stuff.

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

JohnJan, Sorry to hear you've had bad experiences with Austin mechanics. Your quite right. There are a lot of rip off folks and people that don't know what they're doing out there. I strive to not fall into that category. I am pretty knowledgeable and work on a lot of high performance stuff. If there's ever anything I can do to help you out I'd be glad to, or just stop by the shop and chat one day.

Bob Lloyd

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

I agree with the above comments. I dont trust anyone in this town to do anything for me ESPECIALLY the machine shops. Pflugerville machine came highly recommended to me so I had my short block built there. 2 Hours into break in it threw a rod bearing. Now I am at square one again. Get a good set of tools, buy a book, ask for help where you need it, and save some cash by doing it right yourself!

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

So you guys have used every Mech in Austin and they all are worthless? If you haven't then you really shouldn't bash all the Mech in Austin.

But it is allways good to learn to do things yourself!

I've used Fullthrottlemarine (Bob L) and I have nothing but good things to say.

Re: Austin, TX Mechanic
 

Ditto -

There's not a lot of performance boating experts in Austin that I would trust. I've heard good things about Bob at Full Throttle. Talked to him a couple of weeks ago and also met a guy who had Bob set up his engines in an '84 Formula 272. He was very happy with his work and his boat runs very well now.

Bruce Lowry at Custom Boats also has a good rep. I know of a couple of people who were happy with him. He is, however, usually very busy. I think he gets a lot of business and I think he's probably a little on the high side as far as price goes.

I have been using SAM (South Austin Marine) just because they're the local Formula dealership. They're not cheap. Hourly rate is about the same as Bruce Lowry's I think. But, at SAM I know I can trust that they did what they say they did. So, I don't have to worry if they actually changed my drive fluid, oil or just said that they did it and charged me for it. They're not really high performance experts though. They can get it done. But, going to SAM is sort of like taking your car into the dealership for repair. They may charge more but they know what they're doing and you can trust in the service and most importantly if you have a problem you know you can bring it back and they'll take care of you. Bryan is who you want to talk to at SAM.

The next time I need something more than basic service work I'm going to go see Bob at Full Throttle. I've seen some of his work and like it. I've met him a couple of times and he's a nice guy. Bob is into the high performance stuff. SAM doesn't want to have anything to do with my blown 454s and old TRS drives if they don't have to while Bob is all about performance.

I hadn't seen Clay chime in and there are a few more people on Lake Travis. I'd be interested to see what they had to say.

BTW - Who's going to be at Travis this weekend? I'm planning on being there (as long as nothing unexpected happens) in my old bird (below). If you see us come by and say hi.

Brent