BoatingLocal’s Tom Richardson stopped in at North Atlantic Marine Services in Wareham, Massachusetts, to chat with co-owner Steve Lawrence about some of the things he and his team are teaching their students about marine systems.

Lawrence showed us a 1990 3.0-liter MerCruiser engine that had been pulled from an inboard vessel. To the average person, the engine might have looked pretty normal, yet it contained 5 serious fuel-system modifications that violated Coast Guard safety standards. These ranged from the use of automotive fuel hose to the installation of a non-marine fuel pump to a jury-rigged wiring job. Any one of them could have resulted in a serious accident.

In the accompanying video, Lawrence details the various violations and explains why it’s important for both marine technicians and do-it-yourself mechanics to use the correct marine-grade components and parts when performing engine repairs. Doing otherwise is simply inviting disaster.

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