Technician keeps boat propellers spinning

Consider, if you will, the humble motorboat propeller.

It is small - usually 3 to 20 pounds with a 9 1/2- to 16-inch diameter - and has a simple job. Its task is to keep its head underwater and turn, turn, turn. Sounds uncomplicated, but woe to the recreational boater whose propeller quits.

It's a long paddle back to shore.

Mark Bloomquist owns Big Sky Propeller of Whitefish. a propeller repair operation. The business is almost 30 years old.

"This is our slow season now," Bloomquist said. "Maybe it's the weather or the gas prices or some kind of generalized anxiety. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, though, things will really start going crazy around here."

Big Sky reconditions damaged boat props. By the end of the year, it will have repaired close to 5,000 propellers. It is primarily a wholesale business, with propellers sent to them from marinas and boat dealerships. But Bloomquist will happily accept walk-in trade. Today the company has active accounts in 14 states.

Once propellers come into the shop, technicians Mike Griffin and Lance Mickelson go to work straightening crooked blades, excising damaged areas, smoothing cut surfaces and welding new pieces. In the end, the blades must balance and have a consistent pitch - they must be clones of one another.

Necessary skills here are accurate welding and graceful grinding. It is vital to remove as little metal as possible.

"The majority of propellers we see are aluminum, though stainless steel is becoming more common," Bloomquist said. "There are also plastic propellers, but if you damage one of them, you'll shortly be buying yourself a new plastic propeller."

So how does a propeller end up in Bloomquist's shop?

"They usually come by UPS and they always come with stories," he said. "Most commonly the owner didn't raise the motor when taking the boat across the boat ramp. Or someone backed into the end of his garage. Or they got into extremely shallow water without noticing. We had one guy who left his motor down when he was driving along the interstate. That dude ground off his blades.

"Another man used part of a railroad tie as an anchor. In his enthusiasm to head in, he forgot to pull the anchor up. When he couldn't figure out why the boat wasn't going very fast, he all of a sudden stopped and the anchor came surging up behind the boat and smacked the propeller. And yes, we were able to fix it."

It's important to inspect your propeller from time to time to detect even small dings, Bloomquist said. Left alone, even minuscule flaws can lead to blade failure, which will manifest as loss of power and speed, and a noticeable vibration.

Bloomquist sells propellers in addition to repairing them.

"I always encourage people to carry a spare - the same as they'd carry a spare tire," he said. "When you lose your propeller, you lose your propulsion.

"I've had several cell-phone calls from out in the middle of the water, however, asking me the way to remove a propeller and install a new one."

Swapping propellers in mid-stream is not a pretty job. It involves hanging over the back of the boat hoping you don't drop your tools, or jumping in and taking care of business while you bob along behind the boat.

For someone who knows what they're doing, the entire process can take five minutes. For someone who doesn't … don't ask.

"I do make the occasional boating housecall," Bloomquist said. "But only in the most extraordinary of circumstances."

Bloomquist never figured he'd end up running a machine shop. Raised in Spokane, he was a history major at college and a ski bum at heart. His first job was selling real estate with his father.

But then his brother Paul Bloomquist started up Big Sky Propeller in 1978.

"I had worked since high school in a company in Spokane that repaired propellers," Paul Bloomquist said. "And I realized as a sophomore that this little kid who was then around 4 feet tall and was the boss's son, would one day be my boss. And I didn't much like that idea.

"When you're 19 years old, you don't always make the smartest decisions. I probably should have moved to Seattle where there are thousands of boats. But instead I came to Whitefish, because I realized I didn't have to draw business from just the Flathead or even all of Montana. So, I created this market for us that became central and western U.S."

Mark Bloomquist came to the Flathead for the purest of reasons: mountains and snow.

"I came here and ran the rope tow, so I could ski Big Mountain," he said. "And then I started working for my brother so I could keep right on skiing. I was his bookkeeper and finish painter."

In 1986, Paul Bloomquist started another propeller company, this one in Seattle. Initially he planned to run both companies from Whitefish.

"It turned out not to be that easy," he said. "Mark, who was working for me, ended up assuming the management role in Whitefish when I was out of town. In 1989, I sold him Big Sky Propeller."

According to Mark Bloomquist, "I bought the business so I could stay in the area and ski, not because I especially like beating on propellers. What I do like is the flexibility of my life here. I can come to work in the morning during the winter, go home at noon for a sandwich and then be on the mountain skiing all afternoon. "

Bloomquist does not own a boat. He has never owned a boat, he said, and he never will own a boat. He does, however, know a lot about propellers. And though 90 percent of his business consists of wholesale boat dealers, it is a business that returns to him year after year with their problem propellers.

"Mark enjoys the Flathead Valley life and he manages to keep his core customer base," Paul Bloomquist said. "It's a short boating season and people who damage their propellers one weekend expect to have them back and working by the next weekend. Mark has great turnaround time. Also, he's good and he's consistent."

He's also the last word on whether a propeller can be salvaged.

"If it's not missing more than one-third to one-half the blade, we can generally rebuild it," he said. "But if it's been rebuilt too many times, the blades get thin and it's no longer viable. It won't be able to take the water pressure."

Repairs can cost anywhere from $42 to $205.

All in all it's been an OK life, Mark Bloomquist says. "When I was in college, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. And thus far, my life has turned out pretty interesting. My brother always said that I did this job to finance my lifestyle."