I started Southcentral Outboards in 2008. I'd been doing some light service work on outboards for folks locally. I was not a certified mechanic and was always careful to let my customers know that, but I was also very careful to only work within my knowledge base. I was primarily doing carburetor work, basic tune-ups, lower unit service, and so forth. This was side work for me and that’s all it was intended to be. I ended up with a few non-running outboards and started a parts business shortly thereafter. We are all parts now. Including myself, I have 7 people here and every one of us dedicate 100% of our effort to the sale of new and used outboard parts. We buy out businesses when folks retire. We clean up stacks of unwanted outboards at marine businesses. I probably put 80,000 plus miles on my Dodge every year hauling outboards and parts across the country.
We’ve sold primarily on Ebay since the beginning. We started this website in the hopes of providing better customer service and building a true brand that wasn’t dependent on another company.
As part of providing great customer service, our goal with this website and our business is to provide an alternative to high-priced parts and repairs. As a rule, I apply a common sense approach to repair work, with an emphasis on preventive maintenance and the idea that doing your due diligence in the first place can save a lot of expensive repairs later. I am, of course, aware that everyone who decides to work on their own engine comes with a different skill level, and like everything else, I encourage each person to apply common sense to what they do. If you’ve never changed your own spark plugs, we can help you get through that but that also probably means you aren't ready to take on rebuilding your own lower unit right out of the gate.
With that said, we have a good set of how-to instructional discussions on this website to help you keep the cost of service work down. We also have thousands upon thousands of new and used parts, from spark plugs to good, used powerheads. If we can keep your costs down, boating becomes more affordable because I think there’s a lot of better places to spend your hard-earned money than having someone else do something that you’re perfectly capable of doing. So, skip the 900 dollar lower unit rebuild, pick up a good used one here that’s been tested and guaranteed for 400 dollars, and spend your other 500 dollars on a new fish finder. Buying used parts can help you catch more fish!