Repair & maintenance guides

How to Find and Fix LED Lights That Interfere With Your VHF and AIS

Some LED bulbs and fixtures put out radio noise that quietly drowns weak VHF calls, DSC alerts and AIS targets. Run the Coast Guard's squelch test, track down the noisy light with a handheld radio, and fix it with distance, filtering or a quieter fixture.

How to Find Your Engine's Serial Number, Model and Year (and Get the Official Manual)

Find the ID label on your outboard, sterndrive, inboard diesel or PWC, read the model and serial number correctly, tell it apart from the boat's HIN, and use it to open the free official owner's manual. It's the first step for ordering the right parts and following the right maintenance plan.

How to Fit, Support, Clean and Store a Boat Cover

Make your mooring or storage cover last for years by getting the fit right, supporting and venting it so water never pools, using a cover that's rated for the highway, cleaning and re-waterproofing it the right way, and fixing small tears before they grow.

How to Fix Boat Trailer Lights That Flicker, Dim or Don't Work

Track down the real cause of dead or flickering trailer lights, from a bad ground to a corroded plug, and fix it so the repair lasts. Working brake, turn and tail lights are required by law and keep the driver behind you from rear-ending your boat.

How to Flush an Engine While the Boat Stays in the Water

Boats kept in a saltwater slip, on a mooring or on a lift can't always use flush muffs. Learn how built-in outboard flush ports, sterndrive and inboard flush kits and flush-valve seacocks work, which engines can use them in the water, how to avoid back-flow and hydrolock, and a simple after-every-trip routine.

How to Flush Your Engine With Fresh Water

Rinse salt, silt and sand out of your outboard or sterndrive cooling system using the built-in flush port, flush muffs or a flush bag. Flushing after every saltwater trip is one of the easiest ways to prevent corrosion and overheating.

How to Fog an Engine for Storage

Coat the inside of your engine's cylinders with fogging oil before a long layup so rust does not form over the winter. Learn when fogging applies, how it differs for carbureted, fuel-injected and direct-injection engines, and why your maker's instructions come first.

How to Get Better Fuel Economy From Your Boat

Boat fuel is expensive, but most owners can stretch every gallon further without buying anything. Learn how to find your boat's most efficient cruise RPM, why a clean bottom, the right prop, good trim and less weight matter most, which tune-up items count, how fuel flow data helps, and which fuel-saving myths to ignore.

How to Get Rid of an Old Boat: Sell, Donate, Turn In or Scrap It the Right Way

An old boat nobody wants can cost you money for years. Learn your real options (selling as-is, donating, state vessel turn-in programs, landfill or dismantling), the tax rules on donations, how to cut your name off the registration and title, and why you should never abandon a boat.

How to Get Through Aquatic Invasive Species Boat Inspection Stations

Many states, especially in the West, make you stop at an inspection station before you launch or when you cross the state line, to keep zebra and quagga mussels out. Learn what inspectors check, when they decontaminate, what decals, courses and seals you may need, and how to arrive clean, drained and dry so you're through fast.

How to Get Your Boat Ready to Sell (Records, Title and Prep)

Prepare your boat for sale the way buyers and surveyors expect: gather the title, registration and HIN paperwork, organize your maintenance records and receipts, fix the small stuff, detail the boat, get it ready for a sea trial and buyer's survey, and close the deal with the right documents.

How to Grease Your Outboard's Lubrication Points

Grease the swivel bracket, tilt tube, steering and shift linkages, trim rams and prop shaft splines on your outboard. Grease keeps salt and water out of the moving joints. A 30-minute job once or twice a season prevents seized steering, stuck props and corroded brackets.

How to Identify Your Boat Trailer Axle and Order the Right Parts

Find your trailer's VIN plate and axle lot number, take the key measurements (hub face, spring centers), read the numbers on your bearings and seals, and figure out the brake and hub type, so the parts store sells you parts that actually fit.

How to Inspect a Used Boat Before You Buy

A step-by-step checklist for looking over a used boat, from paperwork and the hull ID number to the transom, engine, compression test, sea trial and trailer. Know what to check yourself, what the red flags mean, and when to pay a marine surveyor.

How to Inspect a Used Boat Trailer Before You Buy

A worn-out trailer can turn a good boat deal into hundreds or thousands in repairs, or a breakdown on the way home. Walk through the capacity plate and VIN, frame, axle and springs, hubs, brakes, tires, lights, coupler, winch and bunks, and the title paperwork before you hand over the money.

How to Inspect and Clean a Raw-Water (Sea) Strainer

The sea strainer is the cheap screen that keeps weeds, shells and plastic out of your engine, generator and A/C pumps. Learn how to clean it safely with the seacock closed, reseal the lid so it can't suck air, spot a cracked bowl before it floods the boat, and winterize it.

How to Inspect and Clear Cockpit Scuppers and Deck Drains

Most boats that sink at the dock fill up from the top, through clogged scuppers, cracked drain hoses and leaky hatches during a heavy rain. Learn how to trace every drain, clear clogs, check flappers, hoses and clamps, flood-test the cockpit and keep drains working in freezing weather.

How to Inspect and Maintain a Boat Lift (Cables, Pulleys, Motor, Bunks and Storm Prep)

Inspect the cables, pulleys, motor, wiring and bunks on your boat lift, center the boat correctly, and prepare the lift and boat for storms and winter. Cable failures and overloading from rainwater or snow are the most common ways lifts drop boats.

How to Inspect and Repack Boat Trailer Wheel Bearings

Check, clean and repack your trailer's wheel bearings so a seized hub does not leave you stranded on the highway. Boat trailers get dunked in water every launch, which makes their bearings fail far more often than those on dry utility trailers.

How to Inspect and Replace Boat Fuel Fill and Vent Hoses

Old fill and vent hoses crack, go soft and leak gasoline into the bilge, often where you can't see them. Learn the signs of aging, which USCG hose types (A1, A2, B1, B2) belong on fill and vent lines, why fill hoses need two clamps at each end, how to check the vent fitting, flame arrester and anti-spill devices, and how a careful replacement is done.

How to Inspect and Replace Exhaust Shutters and Flapper Valves

The rubber shutters inside a sterndrive's exhaust and the flappers at an inboard's exhaust outlet are one-way valves that keep water from washing back into the engine. Learn where they are, how they fail, how to check them every year, and why riser service is the perfect time to replace them.

How to Inspect and Replace Sacrificial Anodes (Zincs)

Check the anodes on your outboard, sterndrive or inboard running gear, replace them when they are half gone, and choose the right metal for the water you boat in. Fresh anodes are cheap insurance against expensive corrosion damage to your lower unit, drive and prop.

How to Inspect and Replace Spark Plugs

Pull, read and replace the spark plugs on a gas outboard, sterndrive, inboard or PWC. Fresh, correctly gapped plugs help the engine start easily and run smoothly, and the old plugs tell you a lot about the engine's health.

How to Inspect and Replace Your Bow Eye and Transom Eyes

Check the bow eye and transom tie-down eyes for rust, loose nuts and missing backing plates, and replace and reseal them properly, because a failed bow eye can let the boat slide off the trailer.