First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

[kevin81]

Hey,
Finally deciding to ignore my father's advice and get a boat and I'm starting to plan my first trip. Does anyone have any tips, tricks, destination suggestions, or advice?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[ezwitter]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

i would try and find a friend are family member who has experience with boats to go out with you first

 

[ezwitter]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

boating safety course would be nice

 

[robert graham]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Study up on your boat/motor, take several short trips close to shore, learn what to do when motor quits, weather gets real nasty, boat springs a leak, etc.,etc....lots of stuff can go wrong in a boat that can turn out to be life-threatening. Always operate boat "well within your abilities". Good Luck!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

good stuff here. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=300472

 

[JimMH]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

I grew up with boats and have been around them all my life. If I was starting out green I would definitely take a boating saftey course. Get intouch with you local Dept of Natural Resources or if you are on the coast, the coast guard. Either of these should be able to guide you to a course.

As stated above get a friend that is a veteran of boating to go with you and show you the ropes. Remember drive defensively and stay alert to what is around you, A good map of the lake or coastal area you plan on going to is very helpful. Get a copy of the state boating regs for your area and read up on them.

And remember to have fun!

 

[DrWiffel]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

I don?t want to scare you off or anything but I have good little story what a little inexperience can bring to you.

Last summer I just bought my first boat in about 10 years or so. I had taken the safety course about 12 years ago. Anyhow, I was having a few beers on the river (we weren?t drunk or anything) and my buddy and I decided that we wanted to see how fast we could get my boat to go with his motor on it. I was had a 14? fishing boat (really really light aluminum) and was rocking the 9.9 Chrysler. With the boat loaded down there was no way that it could plain out. We emptied the boat (had a bunch of camping gear) and put his 25hp Mercury and headed up stream. Tell you what though that boat was screaming. I wasn?t the one driving, and noticed that we were about to hit some small wakes parallel with the boat. I had seen this before and immediately grabbed for the sides of the boat to brace myself for a strong pull. I held on for the first one but hitting the seconded wake it threw us both out of the boat making the boat go in circles with both of us on the out side of the circle. I later looked up information about what had happened and learned that they call this circle ?the circle of death?. Apparently it?s called this because many people get ran over by there own boats. We were very lucky not to have been thrown just outside of the circle and not to have been struck by our own boat. To top the whole thing off, we weren?t wearing life jackets. Only reason I?m telling you this, is because a situation can change in an instance, and sometimes there?s no such thing as ?I?ll just get my life jacket when it?s floating next to me? it can all change in the blink of an eye

If any of you experience the ?Circle of Death? let your boat just run up on shore, run out of gas, or get someone to drop a rope in front of the boat and it should catch the prop and wrap it self up (should stall it out).


Good luck to you, boating?s a blast, and be safe.

 

[sailingisfun]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

You should take some one that knows what they're doing. I'm taking my small 17ft. sailboat out in the bay and I'm definately taking some one who has experience. I want to enjoy and not regret the experience. Seriously though, have lots of fun.

 

[Thad]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

What everyone else said, plus...

Where do you plan on going? Make sure you have maps, charts, a GPS, etc. You want to have a good understanding of the waterways you will be on.
Make sure that you have all of the required safety gear plus extra things like tools, fuses, rain gear, bailing bucket, stuff like that.

Also, you want to make sure that you have a bottle jack and lug wrench that will fit the trailer. And, make sure the spare is good.

The little things like that can make all the difference in a successfull trip and a failed trip.

Have fun and don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[Dave K.]

Re: First Boat, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Kevin I would just say to "eeeez" your way into boating. No major trips, start out slow & comfortable, get used to the boat, etc etc...! Even experienced boaters get "tossed curve balls" by something new once in a while.

If you take it easy at first, you will learn to really appreciate & enjoy boating.