Catch This Wake! Outboard Exchange is Powering Forward

By Jayne Keedle

If you have an old or broken outboard motor and you want to have it remanufactured, good as new, there are only a handful of companies in the whole country that can do it—and one of them is in Waterford.

For about 20 years now, Tim Hogan's company, Outboard Exchange, (located at 364 Rope Ferry Road by Mago Point), has been remanufacturing outboard motors. The company and its eight marine mechanics service every type of motor, including Yamaha, Mercury, and Johnson/Evinrude, as well as Inboard/Outboards and stern drives. 

"There are 32 specific models that we work on," Hogan says. "A lot of places put in used parts and they're not re-machining and they don't last. We give you a complete breakdown of all the parts that go into it. We take them apart, we know what causes them to fail, and we warranty them."

If you need repairs, the company's O.B.E. Mobile Marine Service division will make house (or harbor) calls. Need a part? The company's headquarters has shelves piled high with every part imaginable, which it refinishes and ships to every state in the country and to customers in countries as far flung as Australia and Afghanistan who contact Outboard Exchange through its website.
 
Motor Failures Led To Hogan's Success

Hogan says the most common reasons for an outboard motor to fail are "fuel contamination, lack of maintenance, and mechanics that don't know what they're doing." 

If it's properly maintained, however, Hogan says an outboard motor will last for decades. Hogan says he had one in stock that was made in 1922 and it still runs. "Outboards never wear out," he says. 

After two decades in the business, Hogan, 48, knows what he's talking about. But he got into the business quite by chance. After graduating from Eastern Connecticut State University with a degree in business administration, he says, "I couldn't get a job."

To make ends meet, he started buying and selling stuff out of the garage at his parents house on Niantic River Road in Waterford. He'd always been what you'd call handy—for his project in shop class at Waterford High School he built a wood-chipper! So if he got something that needed fixing, he'd repair it and sell it. 

One day, Hogan got his hands on an outboard motor, which he repaired and sold. Word spread fast and before he knew it, he says, he'd turned around about 50 of them. Hogan soon outgrew the family garage and moved into a small building close to the marina at Mago Point on the Niantic River. That building is now dwarfed by his current facility, which is right next door.

"When I started the company, everybody I knew said you'll have a hard time finding them [used outboard motors]. That's why I started the outboard 'exchange'—to get old ones. It turns out they were easy to find," says Hogan.

What his customers had found hard to find until he came along, however, was a place that could refinish and remanufacture used outboard motors. It's easy to see why there would be a demand for his services. To buy a new 200 horsepower outboard motor will set you back about $18,000. 

"We'll manufacture yours for $5,200," Hogan says. 

Growing Strong

Hogan estimates his business has been growing at a rate of about 10 percent a year in recent years. The economic downturn has been a help rather a hindrance, as people are more inclined to repair what they have than they are to buy new. 

"We always have too much work," Hogan says. "There were summers when I just stopped picking up the phone." 

For a while, Hogan says, he actually turned away repair work because his focus was solely remanufacturing. Since establishing O.B.E. Mobile Marine Services, however, Hogan has committed to offering on site and mobile repair services in addition to the remanufacturing. 

And if you'd just like to get better fuel economy, Outboard Exchange can run a fuel injector through a cleaning machine that can improve gas mileage by up to 20 percent.

Recently, Outboard Exchange branched out again. 

"We just set up a remote dealer on the Cape—North Atlantic Marine Services in Wareham, Mass—to sell and service our remanufactured motors," says Hogan.  

Hogan may not have set out with the intention of working on motors but his degree in business administration certainly isn't going to waste. These days, Hogan says he derives the most satisfaction from knowing he has satisfied customers.

"You're almost always making somebody happy," Hogan says. "You've saved them money and got them back in the water."

You can find out more information about Outboard Exchange at info@outboardexchange.com, or call (860) 437-0060. This is not a retail store, so the best way to order a part is online or by appointment.