News & Projects

To get to Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, you need a boat. The special thing about the island is that it offers a glimpse, for visitors and residents, of what sea islands were like before bridges, causeways and development.

“The engines are running awesome. With or without a load, we’re burning three gallons of fuel per hour, cruising at 16–17 mph,” says John Tibbels, owner and captain at Tibbels Fishing Charter Service, a family-owned company started by his grandfather and great uncle in 1921.

Every minute you are off the road puts important shipments, deliveries, and services at risk. At Western Branch Diesel, our goal is to diagnose your technical issue and make the necessary repairs quickly, to get you back up and running.

Currently, we do not plan to restrict our hours or services due to the Coronavirus, unless mandated by the government.

As summer approaches, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming fishing season. Maintaining your engines, marine gears, and generators should be on your annual de-winterization to-do list. A proper maintenance plan is key, to not only maximizing your fishing time and enjoyment this season, but to extend the life of your engines as well. Following your manufacturer’s recommended maintenance program will help to ensure your days on the water are worry-free.

Your engines are smoking. “Not exactly the words any boat captain wants to hear,” says Steve “Creature” Coulter, captain of Sea Creature, in Hatteras Village, NC. “I knew about the problem, and replaced the turbos, but the engines were still smoking. After realizing the injectors were bad and the engines needed to be rebuilt, I found out that I couldn’t get parts for my old engines. So, I began to look at new engines for the boat.”

Coming alongside and boarding a 150,000-ton coal collier on open water is not easy. Matt Hardison, operations manager and captain for Paradise Point Marine, who operates Paradise Creek, a launch boat with newly installed, twin Volvo Penta D11 510-horsepower engines, accomplishes this task with relative ease.