CLEVELAND — Noah Donegan is a student at Ohio Technical College. He's studying to be a mechanic, but that training extends well beyond cars and trucks.
What You Need To Know
- There is a demand for more boat mechanics, since more people are using boats since the pandemic.
- Winter is when many boats get fixed and tuned up.
- Ohio Technical College teaches students how to work on engines, so they are more employable when they graduate
Donegan said his training is teaching him how to fix boats, motorcycles, ATVs and pretty much anything with an engine, since the makeup of the engine is similar.
There are differences of course. Donegan pointed out that you drain the oil in a car, but you have to pump it out of a personal watercraft or a boat.
“When it comes to watercraft, in order to pump the oil out to do an oil change, you gotta go through the dipstick," Donegan said. "Otherwise you're gonna have to pull the whole motor out to drain through the drain plug."
He said the steps are similar when installing a battery, though.
“When installing it you always want to do your positive first.," Donegan said. "That shows that it’s transferable to everything.”
Ohio Technical College teaches students how to work on engines instead of just individual machines. They learn how to fix small engines or even a large one that’s meant for a ship.
Mike Ambrose, the school's director of enrollment and campus director, said there’s been higher demand for boat mechanics this winter, which is when maintenance is usually done.
“We have a student that’s coming to school," Ambrose said. "His uncle owns a big marina in Michigan. He’s sending his nephew to school here to learn diesel because he’s gonna have a position for him when he gets done.”
Donegan said learning the ins and outs make him more employable and he said he will likely work on multiple types of vehicles when he graduates.
“It doesn’t just limit me to bikes, or it doesn't just limit me to ATVs. It translates so I can do bikes, ATVs side by side," Donegan said. "Motorcycles, dirt bikes. It all correlates in some fashion.”