The West Palm Beach yards are not built for your outboard
West Palm Beach has serious marine infrastructure, and almost none of it is aimed at a 28-foot center console. The refit yards on the north waterfront exist to service 100-plus-foot yachts; their labor rates, lift schedules and minimums are built around that vessel. Palm Harbor Marina downtown holds 250-plus wet slips of large cruising boats.
Between those and the trailer boats sits the actual outboard fleet: owner-operated 22–36 ft boats in rented slips, behind Flagler Drive homes, and on lifts in El Cid and the South of Southern neighborhoods in 33401 and 33405. That fleet is the exact band the county is full of — 28,904 of Palm Beach County's 37,905 registered vessels are 12–40 ft — and it is the band a superyacht yard has no interest in.
A mobile unit fills that gap without a haul-out. BoatUS on-water data shows 54% of assistance calls are mechanical breakdown and 9% are a dead battery — work that gets resolved in the slip. See how it works.
Lake Worth Lagoon: silt, growth and a long idle to the inlet
West Palm Beach boats sit in the Lake Worth Lagoon and reach the ocean through Lake Worth Inlet, several miles north at Riviera Beach. Downtown boats therefore accumulate idle hours on every trip, through manatee zones and bridge waits. Sustained low-RPM running fouls plugs, carbons up four-stroke valves and lets a marginal thermostat hide until the first hard run.
The lagoon itself is shallow and silty once you leave the marked channel, with dredged flats and spoil edges on both sides. Boats that cut a corner off the ICW here find soft bottom, and soft bottom is worse for cooling systems than hard bottom is for skegs — a lower unit that stirs silt pulls fine sediment through the pickup and into the water pump. Our impeller service at $250–$450 includes OEM housing for that reason.
Warm, slow lagoon water also grows things on gearcases fast. Slip-kept boats here foul faster than lift-kept boats up the coast.
Where we work in West Palm Beach
| Location | Detail | Typical work |
|---|---|---|
| Palm Harbor Marina | 250+ wet slips, downtown waterfront | Outboard tenders and cruisers, scheduled service, electrical |
| Flagler Drive private docks and lifts | El Cid, SoSo, 33401 and 33405 | Impellers, seal kits, charging systems |
| Downtown condo dockage | Slip-side diagnostics and 100-hour work | |
| Riviera Beach Marina Village | 170 wet slips, just north | Boats kept north but owned in West Palm Beach |
| Currie Park ramp | Public ramp on North Flagler Drive | Trailer boats, ramp-day breakdowns |
We work on boats kept at these facilities. AquaRepair claims no vendor approval, preferred-vendor status or gate access anywhere. You arrange the gate pass or notify the dockmaster; we carry the insurance documentation marinas require and send a certificate of insurance to the dockmaster on request.
What it costs in West Palm Beach
| Service | Detail | Price | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dockside diagnostic | Fault codes, live data, compression, written cause | $149 per engine | Waived |
| 25-hour service | 225–300 HP | $499 per engine | $449 |
| 100-hour service | 150–200 HP | $799 per engine | $719 |
| 100-hour service + cooling | 225–300 HP, includes water pump | $1,389 per engine | $1,250 |
| Marine electrical diagnostics | Voltage drop, grounds, NMEA faults | $175–$250 first hour | 10% off |
| Battery & charging service | Load test, charger and stator output | $150–$300 labor | 10% off |
| Pre-purchase inspection | ECU hours, compression, sea trial | from $275, vessels to 40 ft | 10% off |
Second engine is 15% off. Parts extra unless stated; Florida taxes parts and labor both, roughly 7% in Palm Beach County. Written estimate before work and a call before any overrun beyond 10%.
Electrical is disproportionately common on slip-kept West Palm Beach boats. A boat plugged into shore power in warm brackish water, month after month, develops grounding and voltage-drop faults that a trailer boat never sees. The full rate card lists everything else.
Response window, documentation, membership
West Palm Beach is Tier 2: a next-day response window, backed by the written commitment that a technician is at the boat within 24 hours or the trip fee is waived. Hours are Monday–Saturday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, with emergency weekend coverage by text to 561-312-7308.
Every job ends with a photo-documented digital service record — ECU engine hours, part numbers, torque specs, before-and-after photos — emailed and texted before we leave the dock. One technician,, does the work. Pre-owned boats are roughly 78–80% of US boat transactions, and a broker listing a slip-kept West Palm Beach boat with a complete documented history is selling something different from one with a shoebox of receipts.
Membership runs Logbook $39/month or $399/year, Standard $79/month or $899/year, Premium $129/month or $1,499/year, additional engine +$39/month. Standard includes the 100-hour service, a mid-year inspection, the diagnostic waived and 10% off parts and labor. Memberships transfer to the next owner at sale.
Questions West Palm Beach owners ask
How fast can you get to West Palm Beach? West Palm Beach is a Tier 2 city with a next-day response window, inside the written guarantee that a technician is at the boat within 24 hours or the trip fee is waived. Call or text 561-312-7308, Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Weekend emergency coverage is by text to the same number.
Do you charge more to come to West Palm Beach? No. The rate card is published and flat and does not change by city, marina or neighborhood. Marine electrical diagnostics are $175–$250 for the first hour at Palm Harbor Marina, at an El Cid dock, and in Jupiter. Nothing on the invoice is a travel or mileage charge.
Do you work on boats at Palm Harbor Marina? Yes, we work on boats kept at Palm Harbor Marina and its 250-plus wet slips. We do not claim to be an approved or preferred vendor there. Arrange a gate pass or tell the dockmaster we are coming; we carry the marine liability insurance documentation marinas ask for and will send a certificate of insurance directly to the dock office.
My boat is in a slip downtown and the batteries keep dying. Is that the battery? Sometimes. Often it is charging or grounding. A slip-kept boat on shore power in warm brackish water develops voltage drop, corroded grounds and failing charger output, and a new battery in that system dies too. Battery and charging service is $150–$300 in labor with the battery extra; if the fault is deeper, electrical diagnostics start at $175 for the first hour.
Can you do a pre-purchase inspection on a boat I am buying in West Palm Beach? Yes — from $275 for vessels to 40 ft, covering ECU hours, compression and a sea trial. The ECU hour reading is the important part, because dash gauges and broker descriptions disagree with the engine computer more often than sellers expect. You get the same photo-documented written record we produce on a repair.
Do you work on the big yachts downtown? No. We are an outboard-focused mobile operator working on Mercury, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda outboards and boat trailers, on boats in the 12–40 ft band. Inboard yachts belong with the refit yards on the north waterfront. If your boat is outside our range we will tell you on the phone rather than after the truck arrives.
Book a West Palm Beach visit. Call or text 561-312-7308 or email contact@aquarepairmarine.com. Nearby: Riviera Beach and Lake Worth Beach.