ATV and snowmachine owners will soon be able to fix machines locally, instead of shipping vehicles as far away as Anchorage. Christine Trudeau reports that last week, Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF), the area's CDQ Fisheries organization, teamed up with a Honda dealership in Homer to give this area's mechanics training on the latest repairs.
Twenty-three mechanics from CVRF communities, including some from Napakiak, Tuntutliak, and Eek, recently attended a snowmachine training workshop at a Honda dealership in Homer.
"We're trying to provide better service to the residents of Western Alaska in our shops in their local communities," says CVRF's Bob Marquez.
It's the first partnership of this kind, and Marquez says the training will save money and time for local residents who use this equipment for daily activities and subsistence. Sometimes people in the region have had to ship their machines all the way to the road system for specialized software repairs.
"Ski-Doo and Honda are two of the biggest products in rural Alaska," says Marquez, "so we felt it was important that we trained our guys up in the service and repair of these items."
The training focused on hardware as well as software: welding, repair, and diagnostic equipment. Marquez says CVRF hopes to build on the training and send its mechanics to more dealerships for further certification. He says that it worked out for both sides.
"They came away with a good understanding of what the challenges are from the dealership side," says Marquez. "We were able to communicate to the dealer what our challenges are living in Western Alaska, both as repair mechanics and as residents that live there as well."
The ATV and snowmachine manufacturers have expressed interest in coming out to Western Alaska for more training sessions this June.