Got a problem? If it has anything to do with mechanics or maintenance, see Winston Ault. Chances are he can show you how to fix it. And if it involves an affair of the heart or a moral dilemma, he may be helpful there too.

The resourceful Ault has been quietly lending his expertise on St. Thomas for almost 20 years. His day job at Seachest Ace hardware store gives him plenty of opportunity to advise amateur – and sometimes not so amateur – fixer-uppers. As a sideline, he handles maintenance for a number of island customers, and specializes in sewage treatment/gray water systems.

He’s also an active member of his church, the Faith Christian Fellowship Alive in Christ Church, and sometimes counsels troubled young people.

Born and raised in Guyana, Ault is a product of the British school system. After he passed his General Certificate Examination, he spent two years in technical school learning the basics. His first job out of school found him working on rice harvesters, land rovers and other heavy equipment as he perfected his mechanical skills.

He moved first to Antigua, where he worked in maintenance and moonlighted at a hotel providing security. One time he was the only hotel representative on duty in the middle of the night when a couple arrived needing a room. Although it clearly wasn’t his job, he found one for them and made sure they were properly registered the next morning. The couple was so impressed, they extended their stay; the manager was so impressed, he offered Ault a full time job. But he didn’t stay long in Antigua.

His wife at the time was from St. Thomas, and in 1995, Ault moved to the island. Never one to be idle, he saw an advertisement for a night houseman at Marriott Frenchman’s Reef and applied for the job. The human resources director noted his mechanics experience and suggested another position for him. That’s how he got involved with helping to operate the Total Energy Plant, creating electricity, desalinating water, and providing sewage treatment for the 500-room hotel.

He was fascinated by the concept of processing and recycling water for flushing. After processing, the recycled water was so clear in appearance, they had to add blue dye to it to distinguish it from the fresh water.

“I never believed that could happen,” he said. “It stole my interest.”

The plant was underground, access was a bit cramped and “the heat was a lot,” he said. Besides, he was the new hire and as in many situations “the person who comes last gets the brunt of the job.”

But none of that bothered Ault because the mechanics were so interesting.

“Basically, it was fun. To me it was fun,” he said. And the more time he spent in the plant, the more he learned. In two years he had risen to a supervisory position.

Before that happened, however, he went through a life-changing event. His first hurricane, Marilyn, ripped through St. Thomas in September 1995, disrupting electrical and other services for many months. Although damaged, Frenchman’s Reef was able to continue operating, thanks to its Total Energy Plant, and it became a refuge first for hundreds of homeless residents and later for relief workers who poured into the territory.

“There was no beach after the hurricane passed,” Ault recalled. He thought the hotel would purchase sand and put in an artificial beach, but he was told that wasn’t in the plan. Instead, he watched day to day as the waves gradually replaced the shoreline.

“That made me have a better understanding about who God is,” he said. No man had to replace the sand; God did it.

In 2001, new management decided to cease producing the hotel’s own utilities and switch to the V.I. Water and Power Authority. So Ault moved on, briefly training and working as an exterminator, and then taking his current job at Seachest.

He has worked in several areas of the store, filling in wherever he was needed. He said he developed the habit of watching customers’ faces and body language and offering help if they appeared to be dissatisfied or perplexed.

“I grew up in a country that’s like 20 years behind in technology,” he said. It isn’t generally easy to find the latest tools and gadgets there, so you have to work with what is available.

“Something break, you have to find a way to make it work.”

So now, “I would come up with things other people wouldn’t think of ” to solve a household maintenance problem. And he’s more than willing to share his expertise.

Ault has two grown sons, one serving in the National Guard and one in the Navy, and two young grandchildren. He also has a six-year-old girl.

“My daughter became an aunt when she was two,” he said with a broad smile.

What’s next?

“I want to write a book,” Ault said. “Whenever I get the opportunity, I share my conviction.”

One of those convictions is that it doesn’t pay to look for other people’s shortcomings, just be aware of your own motivations.

Another: the word ‘friend’ doesn’t need a modifier. And: everyone is special in some way.

“I believe there’s an ability that God has given every person, that can’t be duplicated,” he said. “It’s just sometimes we get lazy or aren’t inquisitive” and so don’t develop our talents.

Says the ever curious Ault, “You never know everything.”