Good-to-know Info

Here are a few safe boating tidbits from Seaworthy Magazine, as summer draws near...

Five Reasons to Change Your Prop
Everybody knows to change the engine oil, swap out the impeller every year or two, change belts, etc. but the prop is much more likely to be overlooked. Choosing the wrong prop or continuing to use a prop that is damaged can not only cause your boat to perform poorly, it can increase your fuel consumption and even damage your engine and transmission.

Trailer Tires
Here's something for trailer boat owners to think about this summer when they're zooming down the road with thousands of pounds of boat bouncing along behind the car: If you're traveling at 50 mph, the trailer's 12-inch tires will be going 60 mph; 10-inch tires will be going 70 mph; and 8-inch tires will be going 90 mph! This spring you can avoid a lot of headaches by taking a few minutes to make sure your tires are healthy. Most trailer tires are left outdoors and fail because they "rot" over time (look for spiderweb cracks on the sidewall). That's true even if the tires are rarely used.

Life Jackets and Kill Switches
A man in Arizona was taking his 18-foot bass boat out onto a lake by himself one night, as he had done many times before, when he struck a jetty that had recently been built. In an instant, he was catapulted off the bow and landed, unconscious, in the water... Prior to getting under way, he attached the engine's kill switch to the life jacket he was wearing. If he hadn't bothered with the life jacket or the kill switch, he would likely have been run over by his own boat, cut up by the prop and drowned. Instead, the engine was stopped before he hit the water and he floated quietly beside the boat until he regained consciousness. Despite a few broken ribs, he was able to climb back aboard, start the engine, and return home. It could be argued that there is no need for a good swimmer on a boat to always wear his or her life jacket in all conditions. But when you're by yourself, especially at night or in foul weather, a life jacket certainly makes a lot of sense. As for the kill switch, it should always be attached to whomever is at the controls when the boat is under way. Always.