A rack full of seven broken outboard motors confronted Australian Army and Philippine Marine Corps mechanics at the beginning of a joint training program at the Force Reconnaissance Regiment in Ternate, the Philippines.

One was Lance Corporal Tyson McInnes, a vehicle mechanic cross-trained on marine motors. He was mentoring Filipino Corporal John-Michael Budol, a civilian mechanic before becoming a marine rifleman and assigned to boat maintenance.

While other Philippine marines and Australian soldiers were steering Zodiacs through the surf and up rivers, the pair stripped down the motors to find the biggest issue was carburettor cleaning.

“They struggled with a lot of salt residue build-up in the carburettors, so they’d run into non-starting motors,” Lance Corporal McInnes said.

“I was teaching Budol how to pull it apart and what to clean inside the carburettor. He was over the moon.”

The marines had been conducting basic servicing and corrective maintenance but they were keen to learn more preventative maintenance. This included everything from spray cleaning carburettors when they got off the water to flushing motors with fresh water to remove salt.

Lance Corporal McInnes also ran lessons for the main group of boat operators on basic faults in different components.

“That included little tips and tricks when they’re out on patrols to keep the motors running,” he said.

“They were really interested in mechanics – they want to know everything about it. They understand it’s vital to keep them going.”

The pair continued fixing fuel leaks and brought in a tool to properly synchronise carburettor timing.

Their final motor needed its head removed to fix the valve clearances and timing, a long process the pair finished a day before the exercise ended.

The broken motors were now fixed and ready to get back on the water.