Boating season has arrived! It is prime season for boating, fishing, water skiing and just soaking up the sun on the deck of your boat. As you fetch your boat from storage, there are some key boat parts you should check before dropping the boat in the water. There are also some things you need to check before you take the boat out of the water.
Before the Boat Goes in the Water
Before the boat goes into the water for the first time this year, you need to check some vital parts.
- Always check your motor to make sure it has enough gas and enough oil.
- Make sure the engine is not leaking any vital fluids. Trailing motor fluids in the water could get you ticketed by the DNR if you are spotted and followed for a boat fluid leak.
- Make sure nothing attached itself to the bottom of your boat from last season. (This mostly applies to barnacles, eels, and invasive species of water creatures.)
- Clean the deck and inside of the boat thoroughly so that you do not have any surprises (e.g., mice, insect pests, etc.) scurrying or scuttling around while you are out on the water.
After the Boat Comes out of the Water
When the boat comes out of the water, or before you move your boat from one body of water to another, there are a few more things you need to check and complete.
- Completely empty the boat of any water it took on. Empty your drain ports and let the boat flow. This rids the ports of any stowaways and invasive species, such as zebra mussels, which destroy the ecosystems of other bodies of water.
- If you think you need to, flush the drainage ports just to be sure stowaway creatures are all out.
- Scrape any water life forms off the bottom and sides of the boat. These should not be transported to another waterway.
- Pull all duckweed, reeds and/or seaweed off the rotors of your engine. Leave it on dry land and let nature take care of it.
- Check engine fluids again. You do not want to continue boating elsewhere if you are low on gas, your engine is running hot, or there is now a leak where there was none before. (It happens; you hit something in the water and it knocks the propellers around a bit.)
If you do this every time you go boating, you will find that you spend less time replacing your boat's parts and more time enjoying your boat. Contact a business like Boater's Landing for more information.
Share