There’s a lot of smooth sailing, many thousands of miles, behind every job performed by Passas Small Engine Service & Repair.

Both operations manager Marina Giameos and her husband, lead mechanic Nikos Passas have logged a lot of miles at sea, experience and passion which they bring to their Bainbridge-based business, servicing inboards, outboards and sterndrives.

Passas Small Engine Service & Repair specializes in diagnosing and repairing boat engine problems, including pre-purchase inspections, tuneups, electrical work, water pump impeller changes, fluid changes, winterization and general maintenance and repair procedures.

Passas travels to assist customers all over Kitsap County, but specializes in cases closer to home: Bainbridge, Suquamish and Poulsbo.

Although, close to home may be a relative term. The meeting that introduced the business’ founding couple quite literally set the tone for their life’s occupational passion on a very different sort of island very far away from the Pacific Northwest.

“We met in a boatyard,” Giameos said. “He was fixing my dad’s engine on his sailboat.”

First enthralled with the maritime world at a very young age, Passas was raised alongside shipbuilders, fisherman and divers on the island of Patmos in Greece. He started working in a boatyard when he was just 12.

After graduating as a marine technician from the Alexander S. Onassis Hellenic Naval Academy in Athens, he spent more than two decades working in the maritime industry before opening his own business.

Giameos, too, is a life-long lover of everything nautical. She was born on Bainbridge and, after graduating from the University of Washington, settled in the port of Le Havre, France as a maritime English instructor. Her travels eventually led her to Patmos, whereby she worked at the marine chandlery and guided small groups on traditional wooden sailing yachts. Years later, back on Bainbridge, the couple founded Passas Small Engine Service & Repair in 2011.

“Bainbridge Island has a strong boating community, whether you own a powerboat, sailboat, canoe or paddle board,” Giameos said. “Bainbridge is also a top destination for boaters in the Puget Sound. We often get calls from people making a day trip to the island who are experiencing some sort of engine mishap.”

Whether the bothersome boat is in a driveway or dockside, Passas specializes in getting things in working order again. Safe and efficient boating, Giameos said, is much more than just a job for her and her husband.

“Nikos also spends time helping new boat owners launch their boat, perform maneuvers within the tight quarters of a marina, guide them into the slip, perform sea trails and help troubleshoot if problems at sea occur,” she said.

“We also enjoy working with so many boaters who are in the maritime field themselves, either chartering up to the San Juans or Alaska [or] divers who clean the hulls and install moorings; captains planning a lengthy sail across the Pacific, commuters who make the daily journey to Seattle on their personal boat, liveaboards in a marina — which we have found is like a village in itself.”

Giameos runs the business from a home office — more challenging than you’d think in the summer with two young kids around — though she and Passas plan to pursue acquiring a possible more permanent location from which to operate; a small garage space with room enough to keep on hand the parts and accessories needed most often, in the near future.

“Most people here, they know how to manage their boat and even upkeep it and we try to keep the cost low as far as maintaining and service goes,” she said. “We try to encourage boat owners to do the preventative maintenance before the season starts so they’ll be ready to go.”

The greatest joy in the work comes, Giameos said, “when everything’s running smoothly.”

“Oftentimes we know boat owners are content when we don’t hear from them all summer,” she said.

Visit www.passasmarine.com to learn more about Passas’ services and rates.