2 Weeks at Freeport Diesel and Marine
I recently had the opportunity to work at Freeport Diesel and Marine for a couple weeks. I met with the owners Dominic Canonico and Tucker Johnston at the shop and they agreed to take me on temporarily while between jobs. During those two weeks I did some field work on a wooden 36 Lowell with an old Isuzu and disassembled, cleaned, primed, and painted a Cummins 6CTA. Unfortunately I left before the reassembly.
Day –1 was tool movement. Dom and Tucker made room for me, my bench/toolbox and my dog Jarvis. The shop was neat and organized. Despite the volume of work going on. Jarvis found himself a place by the wood stove and assumed the role as shop dog greeting people when they came.
Day 1. Upon arrival to work Jarvis and I was assigned to remove the exsaust manifold off an old Isuzu. I was shown to the boat and told what was to be removed. The job was presented clearly and briefly and I was left to it. The many rusted fasteners put up a fight but with a little back and forth action all were removed. I ended up removing the turbo as well. A quick text to Tucker and he came back to the boat to give me a hand getting tools and parts off the boat. After returning back to the shop Jarvis settled back by the woodstove while I gave an old 2-cylinder Westerbeke a “DieselJerry” inspection to size up its state and worth.
Day 2 through 14. The remainder of the time I was there I was tasked with the disassembly of a Cummins 6CTA 8.3. This was a rare treat for me. Being a boatyard tech, I rarely get more involved than a head gasket. Valve adjustments, injector replacements, heat exchanger service and many many raw water pumps are what I am used to. Freeport Diesel and Marine goes way further than that offering full rebuilds. Dom and Tucker have strict standards on how each engine is disassembled, cleaned, prepped, and painted. Each engine gets ran before it leaves and will be seatrailed with Dom or Tucker present.
Along with engine rebuild Freeport Diesel and Marine also offers a couple new engine lines. They are dealers for FPT and Nanni marine diesel engines.
On the last day Dom helped me load everything back in my trailer. He gave me a Freeport Diesel and Marine t-shirt, a paycheck, and a handshake. Thank you, Dom and Tucker, for the temporary employment and the wealth of knowledge. Freeport Diesel and Marine is the go-to place for any and all marine diesel needs. The only question I have hanging is what was Dom doing to that 5.9 Cummins and what is it going in?
