Learn to repair your boat by yourself
A mechanic by trade, Fabien Combes is also passionate about boats. The young man, who lives aboard his Dufour 31 in Concarneau, worked for several years as an employee in marine mechanics, while sailing at the same time. By dint of helping boaters in difficulty, encountered on the pontoons, he imagined a training program designed to make them more autonomous: "I've met quite a few people while traveling on my boat. And I've often found that they can get stuck with small, simple to fix breakdowns. Some of them told me that they came back home paddling with a broom, because they couldn't fix the engine! By dint of helping them like that, I thought I might offer some training."
The young man therefore launched in December 2022, creating his company, simply called Mechanics on board.
Training on your own boat
But Fabien does not want a purely theoretical training. In order to be operational as soon as possible, the training takes place directly on the customer's boat, as he explains: "The customer specifies his engine in advance, which allows me to prepare the training. Then I bring the documentation and we put it into practice on board his boat. If it's necessary and I see that some things need to be clarified, I write a report of the session."
Customized training and services
Fabien proposes 3 types of services: the taking in hand, the assistance and the specialized formations.
In the framework of the training, it covers all the equipment on board and the basic maneuvers. It is intended for people discovering navigation and their boats.
For assistance customers, after a visit of the boat and an evaluation of the yachtsman's knowledge, Fabien offers technical assistance by phone and repair at sea.
For more specialized training, Mécanique à bord offers to work on the propulsion system, but also on the rigging, the fittings or the submerged parts, i.e. the propellers, appendages and instruments. To guide his clients, Fabien has planned 3 levels of training, in each of the fields: initiation, intermediate and confirmed, but he remains open to more personalized offers. The hourly rate posted in May 2023 is 50euros. "Generally, people come in to learn how to do an oil change, and we end up doing more advanced training."
After a few months of activity all over Brittany, word of mouth launched his activity. To conclude, he adds: "I also speak at boating associations and for people planning a big trip."
