Just three days before the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, Captain Seth Laws’ 2020 Scarborough sportfishing boat, T-Zero, broke down. With the boat already chartered for the tournament, Laws needed a timely and complete resolution.
“We came up to Morehead City, North Carolina, from Florida on Tuesday after finishing a tournament in the Bahamas,” said Laws. “We were set to pre-fish on Wednesday when I noticed coolant leaking from the exhaust. I called Western Branch Diesel and they said they’d have someone out in 30 minutes.”
Western Branch Diesel, an Indel Power Group company, sent a technician to the site, and after he consulted with Daren Garner, Western Branch Diesel Marine Service Manager, they determined the issue — a metal allergic reaction due to a leak, which caused the metal to corrode because of coolant in the exhaust.
Daren Garner, in the business for more than 24 years, had the part available in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he works. To make the repair, he and a technician began driving to North Carolina Wednesday afternoon and on into the night to resolve Laws’ issue. On Thursday, they disassembled, cleaned, made the repair, and reassembled the job — all in one day — readying T-Zero for a sea trial at 8 a.m. on Friday.
“A repair job like this will normally take two guys three to four days,” said Laws. “I called Daren; he had the part on-hand and brought it down. They started at 6 a.m. on Thursday and stayed until it was done around 8 p.m. that night.”
Laws has captained many types of vessels, from yachts to sportfishing, and knows it usually takes more time to get repairs done for smaller boats. However, in North Carolina, he feels he got better service with reasonable labor charges and will be using Western Branch Diesel in the future.
“It was one of those jobs where everything went right and the customer was able to fish the next day,” said Garner. “We’ve been able to help Laws out again by sending parts from our shop to him in Nantucket when none were available there.”
Ultimately, Laws was able to complete the charter, providing a great experience for his guests because of the invaluable support from Western Branch Diesel. “In all my years, I’ve never seen service like that, it was just awesome. No question,” said Laws.
T-Zero
- Length: 70 feet
- Beam: 19 feet, 6 inches
- Draft: 5 feet, 8 inches
- Engines: Two, mtu 12V 2000 M96 1925 HP
- Type: Sportfishing
