Repair & maintenance guides

How to Keep Your Boat in the Water Over Winter (De-Icers, Covers and Checks)

Wintering afloat can be safe if you still winterize every water system, keep the bilge pump and batteries working, use a de-icer correctly on a GFCI-protected circuit, respect the shock and thin-ice risks, and visit the boat regularly.

How to Launch and Retrieve Your Boat Alone

A repeatable routine for putting a trailer boat in and taking it out by yourself: what to do in the staging area, how to rig one long line so you can control the boat from the dock, when power loading is off-limits, and the safety habits that keep you, your boat and the next boater out of trouble.

How to Load Your Boat Safely: Capacity Plate, Balance and Stability

Too much weight, or the right weight in the wrong place, is behind most small-boat capsizes and swampings. Learn to read the capacity plate (persons, weight and horsepower), add up your real load, balance it side to side and fore and aft, and adjust for rough water, water aboard and towing riders.

How to Match Gelcoat Color for Small Repairs

Get a chip or screw-hole repair to blend in with your hull instead of standing out as a bright patch. Learn to polish first so you see the real color, find your builder's color code or a matched gelcoat, tint by tiny steps, test cured samples in daylight, and allow for sun fading.

How to Mount or Re-Tighten an Outboard on the Transom

A loose outboard can steer badly, crack the transom or fall off the boat. Learn how to center the motor, check engine height, tighten clamp screws, seal and bolt through the transom with backing plates, add a safety cable on small motors and spot transom flex before it becomes a costly repair.

How to Mount Rod Holders, Fish Finders, Cleats and Antennas Without Causing Leaks

Add accessories to your boat the right way, with through-bolts, backing plates, sealed core and proper wire pass-throughs, so every new hole stays dry and strong. Also learn where you should never drill.

How to Paint a Boat Bilge (Prep, Paint Choice and What to Leave Bare)

A freshly painted bilge is easier to keep clean and makes small fuel, oil, coolant and water leaks easy to spot. Learn how to degrease and sand, pick between alkyd bilge paint and epoxy coatings, ventilate safely, and keep paint off the parts that must stay bare.

How to Prepare for a Free Vessel Safety Check

Volunteers from the Coast Guard Auxiliary and America's Boating Club will inspect your boat's safety gear for free, with no ticket if something is missing. Learn how to request a Vessel Safety Check, what the examiner looks at, how to get your boat ready and what to do with the fix list.

How to Prepare Your Boat for a Hurricane or Tropical Storm

Make a written storm plan before the season, then haul out or secure the boat with doubled lines and chafe gear, strip off everything that catches wind, and check it safely after the storm. Never ride out a hurricane aboard.

How to Prepare Your Boat for an Insurance or Condition Survey

Get ready for a marine survey your insurer or lender asked for: what a SAMS or NAMS surveyor looks at, the common findings you can fix beforehand (hose clamps, seacocks, bilge, fire extinguishers, wiring), the paperwork to have ready, and how to handle the recommendations afterward.

How to Prevent and Remove Mold and Mildew on Your Boat

Stop the musty smell and black spots before they start. Find and fix the water source, keep air moving, control humidity safely, and clean mold off gelcoat, vinyl and cabin surfaces with products that won't damage them.

How to Protect Your Boat, Motor and Trailer From Theft

Practical, layered security for boat owners: outboard locks, trailer coupler and wheel locks, disabling the boat, GPS trackers, engraving and marking, photo and serial number records, safer storage, and exactly what to report (HIN and serial numbers) if your boat is stolen.

How to Re-Cover Boat Cushions and Seats (DIY Sewing vs. Upholstery Shop)

Cracked, faded or split cushion covers can be replaced without buying new seats. Learn how to choose marine vinyl or acrylic fabric, which thread survives the sun, how to use the old cover as a pattern, where zippers and drain vents go, and when a walking-foot machine at home makes sense versus paying an upholstery shop.

How to Read Buoys and Channel Markers: Red Right Returning and the U.S. Aids to Navigation System

Learn what the red and green buoys, daymarks and lights are telling you: red right returning, nuns and cans, odd and even numbers, preferred channel, safe water, isolated danger, the orange-and-white regulatory and information markers, the yellow symbols on the Intracoastal Waterway and how the Western Rivers system differs. Based on the Coast Guard's U.S. Aids to Navigation System rules (33 CFR Part 62).

How to Refuel a Boat Safely (Gas Dock, Gas Station and Portable Tanks)

A step-by-step fueling routine that keeps gasoline vapor out of your bilge and fuel out of the water: shut everything down, close up, keep the nozzle in contact, stop short of full, ventilate, run the blower and sniff before you start. Includes portable tanks, personal watercraft and what to do about a spill.

How to Remove and Apply Boat Names, Graphics and Registration Decals

Take off old vinyl names and graphics without scratching the gelcoat, clean up the glue and the "ghost" outline, then apply new lettering straight and bubble-free, and display your registration numbers the way federal rules require.

How to Remove and Reinstall an Outboard Gearcase (Lower Unit) Without Losing Shift

Dropping the lower unit is the first step of every outboard water pump job, and the reinstall is where most DIY trouble starts: no forward gear, no cooling water or a driveshaft that will not seat. Learn how to set the shift position, protect the water tube, line up the splines and test everything before the boat goes back in the water.

How to Repair or Repaint Worn and Cracked Non-Skid Decks

Bring back grip where the molded non-skid is chipped, cracked, patched or worn smooth. Choose between a molded patch that copies the original pattern, non-skid paint with grit, or textured gelcoat, fix the cracks and soft spots underneath first, and mask for clean, safe edges.

How to Repair or Replace Your Boat's Rub Rail

Replace a torn rub rail insert or the whole rail, reseal the hull-to-deck joint and its fasteners while the rail is off, and stop the deck-joint leaks that often hide behind a worn rail.

How to Repair Small Gelcoat Chips and Scratches

Fill and blend small chips, dings and scratches in your boat's gelcoat with a repair kit so they stop letting water into the fiberglass and look close to new. Also learn to spot damage that is structural and needs a pro.

How to Repair Torn-Out Canvas Snaps, Fasteners and Zippers

Fix snaps that have pulled out of your bimini, cover or enclosure, reinforce the torn fabric, choose the right snap metal and setting tool, free stuck snaps, replace Lift-the-Dot and twist fasteners, and swap a worn zipper slider.

How to Replace a Fuel/Water Separating Filter (and Check for Water in Your Fuel)

Swap the spin-on fuel/water separator on your gas boat and learn to spot water and ethanol phase separation before it stalls the engine. It is one of the cheapest jobs on the boat and one of the best protections for a fuel-injected engine.

How to Replace an Outboard Fuel Line and Primer Bulb

A cracked hose or a stiff primer bulb can leak gasoline, starve your engine or shed rubber into the fuel. Learn how to choose Coast Guard-rated fuel hose, the right connectors for your engine brand and good stainless clamps, install the bulb pointing the right way, leak-test the job and get rid of the old parts safely.

How to Replace Boat Battery Cables the Right Way

Swap corroded, cracked or undersized battery cables for tinned marine cable sized from a chart for its real length and load, with crimped lugs, adhesive heat shrink, terminal boots, solid support and a fuse close to the battery.