MERCURY TECH OF THE YEAR

DAVID VOORDEN HAS beaten the best from Australia and New Zealand to earn the title of Mercury Marine’s 2018 Technician of the Year.

David, from Leisure Coast Marine in Fairy Meadow, outside Wollongong, battled his way past technicians from across Australia and New Zealand to collect the first prize of a brand-new Mercury 60hp EFI four-stroke outboard.

In the final, held at Mercury Marine HQ in Melbourne’s Dandenong South, David and five other regional finalists had just 45 minutes each to diagnose and repair ‘faults’ in three different EFI engines – 40hp, 115hp and 135hp.

They had to verify the fault, isolate the failed system and component, repair/replace the faulty component and then test the repair. Competitors were awarded points for their process and speed.

When it was all over, only eight points separated the top three: David Voorden (Leisure Coast Marine, NSW), 153 points; Joshua Kammann-smith (Rifen Marine, Qld), 147 points and Garry Watson (Midway Marine, WA), 145 points.

The competition, in its second year, started with qualified technicians competing at a regional level in NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA and New Zealand before moving through to the final. The other regional winners were Cam Williams (Stihl shop, NZ), Craig Bell (Hodge Marine, SA) and Andrew Chopping (Sealand Marine, Vic).

Additional high achievement awards were given to Ben Castle (Gulfland Marine, NZ), Troy Walsh (Sportscraft Marine, NZ) and Nigel Johnson (Wanaka Marine, NZ).