Power Boating For Dummies E-Book

Randy Vance

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 642

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Ahoy, there! From docking and mooring to routine power boat maintenance and repairs, this handy guide is your trusted first mate for smooth sailing For both new and experienced boaters, Power Boating For Dummies is a useful reference that covers the ins and outs of this exciting and popular sport. The book starts at the beginning, taking you through the process of buying a boat, but it's helpful to anyone who owns a boat. Designed to teach you how to pilot a boat, equip it, store it, tow it, handle emergencies, and more, -- it's a comprehensive guide written in jargon-free language . Power Boating For Dummies teaches you everything you need to know about buying, operating, and enjoying a power boat up to 35 feet in length and provides expert guidance for anyone new to the sport and new tips and ideas for improving power boating for even those with some experience captaining a boat: * Calculate the costs of boating and compare those costs to non-boating activities * Decide which type of boat to buy -- fishing, runabouts, pontoon, cruisers, or houseboats * Know which mechanical checks to perform when you're looking at a pre-owned boat * Learn the rules of boater safety * Find out what it takes to acquire a boating license * Outfit your power boat with the right gear, equipment, and supplies -- for fun and safety * Operate your power boat, from launching and loading to driving, anchoring, and docking * Navigate with charts, GPS, and radar * Handle the weather and other boat emergencies * Check (and change) fluids, charge your boat's battery, and perform other routine maintenance tasks * Check and repair belts and propellers and fix leaks and other minor problems * Prepare your power boat for all seasons * Keep your boat's galley fully stocked To learn about all of that and so much more, including boating tactics that separate the pros from the amateurs and all-important items you'll never set sail without, grab your copy of Power Boating For Dummies today.

Leseprobe

Power Boating For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting On the Right Boating Track

Part II: Safely Operating Your Boat

Part III: With Much Boating Fun Comes Much Responsibility

Part IV: Keeping Your Boat Shipshape

Part V: Enjoying Your Boat

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting On the Right Boating Track

Chapter 1: Powering Up to Be a Boater

You Might Be a Boater If . . .

Weighing the Costs of Boating

Costs of landlubber family activities

Costs of boating as a family

Considering Different Kinds of Boats

Getting Trained and Licensed

Navigating the Boat-Buying Scene

Buying a new boat

Buying a pre-owned boat

Getting Your Boat On and Off the Water

Getting Your Boat Around on the Water

Getting Your Hands Dirty

Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Boat Type and Engine for Your Boating Needs

Acquainting Yourself with the Parts of a Power Boat

Getting Serious with Fishing Boats

Freshwater fishing boats

Saltwater fishing boats

Kicking Back with Runabouts and Pontoon Boats

Running around in runabouts

Living large on pontoon boats

Going the Distance with Cruisers

Express cruisers

Sedan cruisers

Houseboats

Understanding Different Boat Engines

Getting sporty with inboard power

Tooling around with outboard power

Spending the day with sterndrive power

Maneuvering with pod drive power

Zipping about with jet propulsion power

Chapter 3: Finding and Buying the Right Boat for You

Narrowing Down Your Boat-Buying Choices

Considering location and type of water

Matching boating activities to the right boat type

Choosing the right horsepower for your boat

Setting Your Boat Budget

Budgeting for boat storage costs

Figuring in trailer, fuel, and maintenance costs

Insuring your boat (immediately)

Choosing how to pay for your boat

Deciding Whether to Buy a Pre-owned or New Boat

Buying basics for pre-owned or new boats

Considering a pre-owned boat

Looking at a new boat

Going Shopping for Your Boat

Buying through a Web site

Buying from an individual

Buying from a dealer

Buying at a boat show

Getting Licensed and Educated

Passing the state boating exam

Taking a boater safety course

Chapter 4: Accessorizing Your Boat for Safety and Fun

Getting Quality and Approved Safety Gear

Staying afloat with life jackets

Being prepared with throwable life preservers

Having the right fire extinguisher onboard

Keeping a spare anchor on hand

Stowing paddles just in case

Securing and Protecting Your Boat with Mooring Lines and Fenders

Choosing the right mooring lines

Fending off scrapes with fenders

Communicating and Navigating Safely with Marine Electronics

Avoiding the bottom thanks to a depth finder

Verifying your location with a GPS

Staying in touch with a VHF radio

Choosing Safe, Fun Watersports Accessories

Inflating the fun with tubes

Washing away boredom with wakeboards

Getting started on two skis

Slipping through the water on a slalom ski

Selecting the correct tow rope to match your watersport

Jacketing up for safety and looking cool

Part II: Safely Operating Your Boat

Chapter 5: Towing Your Boat and Maintaining Your Trailer

Getting Properly and Safely Hitched

Defining the parts of the vehicle-trailer connection

Getting help aligning your vehicle and trailer

The same old routine: Coupling the trailer securely to the vehicle

Pulling Your Trailer Safely and Efficiently

Bring ’Er Back: Mastering Techniques for Backing Up a Trailer

Backing up while looking over your shoulder

Backing up while looking in the side mirrors

Keeping Your Trailer Roadworthy

Lighting and wiring are the first things to fail

Keeping those trailer wheels rolling

Making sure you can stop

Checking all the hardware regularly

Getting Some Handy Trailer Gadgets

Chapter 6: Launching and Loading Your Trailered Boat

Being a Prepared and Polite Boater at the Ramp

Get it together at home

Don’t be a ramp hog

Staging for Launch

Sizing Up the Boat Ramp to Tailor Your Technique

Mastering a shallow ramp

Meeting the challenge of a deep ramp

Combating a crosscurrent on the ramp

Launching Your Boat with a Crew

The boat handler

The vehicle driver

Guests and kids who board after launch

Launching Your Boat Alone

Time to Go Home: Getting Your Turn in the Loading Line

Figuring out what’s going on around the loading line

Offloading passengers and getting into position

Loading Your Boat on the Trailer

Approaching the trailer

Making contact with the trailer

Getting Up a Slippery Ramp

Making Your Boat and Trailer Road-Ready

Chapter 7: Hitting the Open Water: Driving Your Boat

Fueling Up Your Boat

Taking care of your engine’s special oil needs

Fueling up on land

Fueling up at the dock

Getting Your Motor Running

Putting safety first

Priming the fuel line on outboards

Choking the engine and pumping the throttle on carbureted motors

Troubleshooting a nonstarter

Getting Underway

Throttling up for take-off

Maintaining and changing course

Adjusting the boat for a great ride

Shutting Down the Engine

Chapter 8: Docking, Rafting Up, and Anchoring

Docking Your Boat Like a Pro

Docking stern-in (back first)

Docking bow-in (pointy end first)

Docking alongside (parallel)

Tying your boat safely to the dock

Undocking and shoving off

Rafting Up with Fellow Boaters

Approaching a boat or raft at anchor

Hitching your boats together

Putting fenders at the rubbing points

Breaking up the party and the raft

Anchoring Your Boat the Right Way with the Right Anchor

Understanding the parts of an anchor

Choosing the right anchor style

Determining where and how to set the anchor

Keeping an eye out for drift while anchored

Weighing (raising) anchor

Part III: With Much Boating Fun Comes Much Responsibility

Chapter 9: Rules Do Apply: Navigating to Avoid Collisions and Confusion

Sharing the Water: Boating Rules

Boating’s golden rule: No right of way on the water

Maintaining a proper lookout

Crossing paths with another vessel

Overtaking a vessel

Meeting another vessel head-on

Keeping your speed in check

Reading Boat Lights

Light colors and locations on the boat

Interpreting the lights you see

Understanding Navigation Markers

Intracoastal Waterway markers

Other channel and navigation markers

Chapter 10: Finding Your Way on the Water

Charting Your Course Over Big and Little Waters

Understanding chart basics

Where to buy your charts

Finding True North (And the Way Home) with a Compass

Discovering how a compass works

Navigating with a compass

Choosing the right compass for your boat

Understanding the Value of VHF Radios

Turning on and tuning in

Communicating between boats

Scanning the Unseen Depths with Sonar

Seeing how sonar depth finders work

Choosing the right sonar unit

Using sonar

Spotting fish with sonar

Using GPS Chart Plotters

How GPS units work

Choosing the right GPS for you

Finding your way with GPS

Letting Radar Spot Things Far in Advance

How radar works for you

Choosing the right radar for your boat

Chapter 11: Navigating Bad Weather

Tuning In to Marine Forecasts Before You Go Out

Checking weather on the Web

Using VHF and weather radios to monitor weather on the water

Locating weather information on your GPS

Knowing about Warnings and Advisories for Small Crafts

Taking small craft advisories seriously

Knowing regional advisory differences

Taking Precautions When the Forecast is Bad

Tweak your departure or destination plans

Head for port at a hint of lightning

Anticipate sudden weather changes

Secure or relocate your boat in named storms

Dealing with Weather Conditions

Gauging wind, waves, and seas

Understanding the power of thunderstorms and lightning

Navigating through fog

Handling Your Boat in a Storm

Preparing your crew

Riding out the storm

Handling your boat in rough seas or waves

Chapter 12: Preparing for and Handling Boating Emergencies

Being Equipped for Dealing with Boating Hazards

Checking your safety equipment

Stowing a first-aid kit

Bringing communication gear

Taking navigation tools

Filing a float plan and checking insurance

Tackling Types of Emergencies

Equipment failure

Fire

Grounding on hazards below the surface

Collision with another vessel

Weather

Personal accident or injury

Calling for the Help You Need

Making a mayday call

Making a pan-pan call

Other means of getting attention

Deciding whether to wait for help or head for shore

Deciding to Abandon Ship

Attempting Temporary Repairs

Assessing the damage

Fixing what you can

Part IV: Keeping Your Boat Shipshape

Chapter 13: Keeping Up with Routine Boat Maintenance

Checking and Changing Your Engine’s Oil

Lubing up four-stroke outboards

Dealing with oil in two-stroke outboards

Changing inboard and sterndrive engine oil

Changing the oil in a jet-drive engine

Changing Gear-Case Lubricant and Transmission Fluid

Changing gear-case lubricant

Checking and changing inboard transmission fluid

Other Sterndrive Lubricants You Should Monitor

Checking the power-steering fluid

Checking the hydraulic engine trim fluid

Protecting Your Engine from the Effects of Ethanol

Understanding the negatives of ethanol

Dealing with the effects of ethanol

Monitoring Engine Gauges

Maintaining Your Boat’s Battery

Using a battery charger

Replacing a worn-out battery

Washing, Waxing, and Preserving Your Boat’s Good Looks

Getting the right boat-cleaning tools

Using the right soaps and waxes for boats

Chapter 14: Getting Your Boat Ready for Winter and Spring

Preserving Your Fuel and Engine

Changing Your Oil for Long-term Storage

Preventing Your Engine from Freezing Up

Keeping Your Battery in Shape for Spring

How to Freeze-proof Your Plumbing

Freshwater systems

Locker drains and other plumbing

The bilge

Covering the Boat Lengthens Its Life

How to Get Your Boat Ready in the Spring

Chapter 15: Repairing Leaks and Other Damage to Your Boat

Doing Quick Repairs to Keep Things from Getting Worse

Fix leaks

Tighten or replace bolts and screws

Check and tighten hose clamps

Tighten and repair hardware

Spotting and Fixing Loose or Damaged Belts

Testing belt tension

Knowing when a belt needs changing

Understanding Propeller Types and Repair

Getting propeller dimensions right

Having the right number of blades

Knowing the differences in prop materials

Determining if your prop is damaged

Removing the propeller to replace or repair it

Repairing different types of propellers

Handling Electrical Problems

What do those colored wires mean?

Working on a 12-volt battery system

Resetting circuit breakers or replacing fuses

Tampering with 110 volts is dangerous

Tracking down electrical problems

Using some helpful wiring tools

Part V: Enjoying Your Boat

Chapter 16: Finding a Safe Harbor for Your Boat

First Things First: Make Sure You Have a Mooring Cover

Floating Your Boat in Wet Slip Storage

Getting what you want from a wet slip

Preparing your boat for wet slip storage

Another alternative: Hoisting your boat

The cha-ching factor of wet slip storage

Weighing the pros and cons of floating your boat

Stacking the Deck for Dry Storage

What you can expect from dry-stack storage

Preparing your boat for dry storage

Racking up the costs of stacking your boat

Weighing the pros and cons of racking up

Buying into Convenient Moorings

Sizing up the ’minium craze

Enjoying premium marina amenities

Using a Trailer for More Freedom and Frugality

Where to keep your trailered boat

Preparing your boat for open storage

Weighing the pros and cons of trailering

Chapter 17: The Well-Fed Boater

Navigating Your Galley

Refrigerators and coolers

Appliances that bring the heat

Civilized eating: Tools and utensils

Planning to Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Keeping your stuff cold: You gotta pre-chill

Having plenty of drinks on the drink

A navy travels on its stomach

A word about alcohol

Chapter 18: Getting Your Feet Wet with Boat Clubs

Getting Hooked on Fishing Clubs

What fishing clubs have to offer

Finding the right fishing club for your interests

Joining Boat-Brand Clubs and Rendezvous

Finding boat-brand clubs

Tapping in to rendezvous

Joining a Watersports Club

Joining the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

Some Boat Clubs Are Like Timeshares

Joining a fractional ownership boat club

Weighing benefits and liabilities

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Tactics That Separate Pros from Amateurs

Know the Limits of Your Crew

Give Fair Warning for Any Maneuvers

Prepare Your Crew for Docking and Disembarking

Yell to Be Heard, Not to Offend

Resist the Temptation to Hot-Dog

Be Clear about Who Has the Helm

Use Proper Docklines

Avoid the Tangled Mess of Lines

Tie a Bowline Knot

Go All the Way with a Half-Hitch Knot

Chapter 20: Ten Important Items to Keep Onboard

Life Jackets

Clean-Up Equipment

Extra Rope

A Boat Hook

A Backup Horn

Spare Fuses

Four Key Tools

Spray Grease

Materials to Plug Leaks

Sun Protection

Chapter 21: Ten (Plus Two) Mechanical Checks for Buying a Pre-Owned Boat

Check All the Engine Fluids

Engine oil

Gear case oil

Hydraulic drive trim fluid

Trim tab fluid

Power steering fluid

Operate All Engine Devices

Check the Engine Belt

Examine All Engine Instruments

Test All Electric Devices

Check the Drive System Alignment

Check for a Sound Deck and Hull

Ferret Out Trailer Troubles

Power Boating For Dummies®

by Randy Vance

Power Boating For Dummies

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920905

ISBN: 978-0-470-40956-5

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Randy Vance has been boating since he was 8 years old. From family boat to personal runabout at age 20, he’s bought and sold nearly a dozen boats in his boating career.

With his family, Randy ran a small resort and marina on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for more than 20 years. During that time, he was a popular outdoors columnist in local papers and magazines and hosted or appeared on many radio and television programs covering topics of boating and fishing. Later, Randy began a public relations career at Bass Pro Shops, employing his enjoyment of boating, outdoors, and writing in one happy position. After a short stint at the failing Outboard Marine Corporation, Boating Life magazine publisher John McEver asked Randy to take the helm of his magazine — a position Randy has enjoyed with co-editors Robert Stephens and Sue Whitney since 2000. Boating Life magazine and some of Randy’s articles have won awards in many publishing circles.

During his tenure at Boating Life, Randy has had the pleasure of piloting thousands of boats in hundreds of different places and conditions. Mexico, the Exumas, Dry Tortugas, Alaska’s Admiralty Island, Sweden, and Bimini, Bahamas, are among his favorite boating destinations.

Randy, his wife Linda, and youngest daughter Amy, along with three champion Cotons du Tulear and a stray Jack Russell Terrier, enjoy a 25-foot Bluewater offshore boat with twin Evinrude outboards. Most often you’ll find him offshore at Cape Canaveral or just outside of Springhill, Florida, or Punta Gorda, Florida.

Randy and his daughter Amy are in the midst of the long and arduous process of researching his next book Restoring Old Boats For Dummies. . . just joking; they’re attempting to bring a 1978 Glastron GT 150 back to its former glory. The GT 150 was made famous in the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die when it jumped a levee over the head of a local sheriff.

Randy’s son Justin and wife Shasta are currently raising the next crop of boating Vances in Phoenix, Arizona, a desert state surprisingly blessed with beautiful boating waters. Randy’s daughter and fellow boater Megan Chacon is raising another boating infant named Brody while husband Gabe Chacon gets his mariner’s fix aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln, stationed in Seattle, Washington, when he’s not boating.

Boating creates strong bonds among those who participate, and Randy’s primary pleasure has been bringing new boaters into the sport.

Dedication

To my wife and kids, who are ready to boat any time I jingle the keys.

Author’s Acknowledgments

This book would not be possible if it were not for the “What Next?” That was the name my family gave the 15-foot outboard-powered Starcraft that Dad bought in 1963. We launched it the first time in Huntsville, Alabama, and left the drain plug out. It sank on the ramp. We raised it that same day and went skiing. A few years later, when I could barely see over the helm, my dad let me drive it from the launch ramp to our rented cabin on the lake. Later, renting that boat at our family resort helped put me through college. For me, boating has always been what was next and sometimes what came first.

Howard Vance, my grandfather, was a guy who boated to fish. Somewhere, I have a photo of him in his captain’s hat beaming from the helm of his Kayot pontoon boat. He infected me with the bug of fishing from a boat. When a boat wasn’t available, my grandpa Leonard Young kept the fishing bug stoked: I’d visit him at his Kentucky farm and find a bucket of minnows in the stock pond and a bass rod leaning up against the pump house when I arrived.

But just as this book wouldn’t have been possible without those responsible for my boating origins, it wouldn’t be credible without the boating experiences I’ve enjoyed later in life with other greater boaters.

Midland Michigan outdoors columnist Steve Griffin and I paddled a blue canoe through the Quetico Provincial Park. That darned canoe would go every way but where you pointed it. We taped a new name on its freeboard: “Blue Bitch.” We laughed our heads off the rest of the week, and I learned a valuable lesson: No matter how bad a boat is, it’s good for friendship.

Bob Orth, my father-in-law, approaches boating with the systematic logic of a pilot — which he was for some time. For him, planning, preparation, and careful execution of every aspect of boating is the challenge and fun of the game. Mike Folkerts is Commodore of the Alaska branch of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. A week of boating with his team and watching them work together like a well-oiled machine taught me much about the way families and friends learn to enjoy each other while boating. Mike’s crew also moved the needle on my safety gauge a little closer to the U.S. Coast Guard ideals. Curt Jarson and I have adventured to the Bahamas often, and from him I learned both the finesse of setting up a boat to run through rough water and the mental discipline of “holding on loosely” while other boaters handle my boat.

Many other people in the boat building and marine publishing arena, friends, peers, and competitors have influenced my boating almost always for the better. I could not have written this book were it not for the friendship I share with all of you.

Perhaps most instrumental in creating this book are my teammates at Boating Life magazine, Robert Stephens, Sue Whitney, and John McEver, who all covered my butt while, in my spare time, I pulled many loose ends together in Power Boating For Dummies.

What makes For Dummies books so easy and fun to read is their carefully formatted style that lets readers grab concepts one tidbit at a time, sort of like browsing a buffet line to select the goodies you want when the mood strikes. I might never have captured that style in this book if it were not for veteran For Dummies author Chris Bigelow.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Development Editor: Christopher Bigelow

Senior Project Editor: Christina Guthrie

Acquisitions Editor: Michael Lewis

Senoir Copy Editor: Elizabeth Rea

Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

Technical Editor: Lenny Rudow

Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck

Editorial Assistants: Jennette ElNaggar, David Lutton

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photos: iStock

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katie Key

Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Sarah Philippart, Christin Swinford

Special Art: Interior illustrationsby Precision Graphics (www.precisiongraphics.com)

Proofreaders: Laura L. Bowman, John Greenough

Indexer: Steve Rath

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

I’ve been power boating for 45 years and even sailed a little, too. In that time, I’ve had the pleasure of guiding fishermen, teaching my kids and friends to water-ski, and in many ways ushering new boaters into the fun and adventure of a lifestyle I wouldn’t consider life much fun without. In all that time, I’ve written newspaper columns and magazine articles on the how-to’s of power boating. For nine years I’ve been the editor-in-chief of Boating Life magazine.

Through my work and play, I’ve learned that new boaters don’t get into trouble from the complexity of boating but from their preconceived notions of how boating should be done. In Power Boating For Dummies, I do my best to protect you from trouble by helping you know just what to expect from a boat before you ever get your hands on the controls.

Among non-boaters and especially among sailing boaters, there’s often an unjustified assumption that power boaters are goof-offs who bungle along with beer in hand as they pilot crafts they know nothing about. Well, every group has a few outlaws, and I’ve had the fortune of watching diligent water cops take them out of the game. But I’ve also had the pleasure of helping others who want to get better at boating to avoid the stereotype.