by CLAUDIA BRADLEY
Staff reporter
They come to you. Earthworks Mobile Repair is a new Orcas Island business that handles most vehicle and equipment repairs at the customer’s location.
“Chris Sepe, a factory trained Ford mechanic, is especially talented at troubleshooting electrical and fuel related problems on all types of vehicles and equipment,” said Darrel Suthergreen of Earthworks, Inc. Since opening this last year, Sepe has repaired everything from old saw mill equipment and farm implements to passenger cars and buses. “He has restored equipment that many customers thought was beyond repair,” said Suthergreen.
Sepe was originally hired to keep the Earthworks excavation equipment in working order. “We used to have to send everything off-islannd for repair,” said Suthergreen. “He did such a great job for us, we decided to open up his services to the public.”
The types of repairs and kinds of vehicles and equipment Sepe has been called to repair are varied. The installation of a new “shaker table” at one of the island’s rock plants, the replacement of a heater motor, faulty wiring and the hose reel unit on a delivery truck and rebuilding the teeth on an large excavator bucket are three diverse types of repairs that Sepe has made. “He even surprised some long-time islanders by repairing an antique farm equiptment,” said Suthergreen.
A normal day might see Sepe be diagnosing and repairing a starting problem on an bulldozer or a 1950s Ford, installing radios, lights and special wiring on a new 2008 Ford F-350 or servicing a commercial-size wood chipper. “Whether it was built 100 years ago and needs some TLC, or it was built last year and requires computer savvy, Chris will probably figure out how to fix its problem,” said Suthergreen.
Sepe’s service truck is outfitted with welding equipment, air compressor and a large variety of specialty tools, including a computer code scanner for diagnosing later model vehicles. “New challenges are what keep my business interesting,” says Sepe. He can be reached at (360)507-4054 or 376-6390.
