Cart repair business thrives in Mason County

DUGGAN KINNE FOR THE OLYMPIAN

MASON COUNTY -- Golf carts can be more than a way to chase golf balls.

"We use ours for everything except playing golf," Hartstene Pointe resident Tom Harlan said. "There's five and a half miles of private roads here, and it makes much more sense to visit neighbors or go down to the community center in one of these than to start up the car for a five-minute trip."

Maintaining and repairing such carts has turned into a budding business for Mason County resident Alan Zelinsky.

His business, Outback Cart Service, began slowly in the fall of 2000. He repaired one cart that first winter.

Now he's got about as much work as he can handle.

"I've been a mechanic most of my life, and have spent many years maintaining the equipment at several golf courses in Thurston and Mason counties," said Zelinsky, age 42. "Then I got injured and spent five years being pretty poor."

Friend planted seed

Two years ago, a friend who does small-engine repair commented that he was getting quite a few inquiries about golf cart repair, and suggested that might be something Zelinsky could do. Some carts are gasoline powered, but many have electrical motors that run off a set of rechargeable batteries, similar to an electric car.

"I've got one customer who uses hers as a motorized wheelbarrow -- to haul plants and dirt around when she gardens," Zelinsky said.

Location

Zelinsky has a high-visibility location, just north of Taylortown at Kathy's Klassics, where he lines up the used golf carts he has for sale.

"I buy them wholesale from cart dealers, go through them to make sure everything is working right and then resell them," he said. "I even put a short warranty on them."

Although most of Zelinsky's customers use the carts to play golf, an increasing number use them as light-utility vehicles on and around their property. Even the smallest carts, those with 2 horsepower electric motors, can carry 200 to 300 pounds on level ground -- in addition to a driver and rider -- and can do so while operating between 8 mph and 10 mph.

Harlan is especially pleased with Zelinsky's work on his cart. "It's come alive again. I can almost pop wheelies with it," he said.

In spare moments, Zelinsky thumbs through catalogs with vivid pictures of custom bodies -- from Humvees to older Corvettes to classic pickup bodies -- which are available to attach to cart frames. There is a hunter's conversion available in camouflage colors and a jacked-up frame with ATV tires.

"I'll assemble the cart and paint it any way you want," he said. "Some of them get pretty pricey."

South Sound Profile runs Wednesdays in The Olympian. To suggest a business to be featured, call 360-754-5403.

Outback Cart Service

- Owner: Alan Zelinsky

- Location: 91 S.E. Wildwood Drive, Shelton

- Telephone: 360-432-0686

For more local news go to the South Sound section.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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