Repair & maintenance guides

After the Storm: How to Safely Inspect Your Boat and Document Damage

Go back to your boat only when it is safe, check for fuel, live power and sinking risk before you step aboard, photograph everything for your insurer, then work through bilge, lines, canvas, electrical, engine, trailer and mold in a set order. Do not run the engine or leave the dock until it has been checked.

Bilge Blower and Engine Compartment Ventilation on Gas Inboards and Sterndrives

Learn why gas boats have a "run the blower 4 minutes" label, how to check that the blower and vent ducts actually move air out of the engine compartment, and how to replace a blower safely with an ignition-protected marine unit.

Boarding Ladder Upgrade: A Ladder You Can Reach and Use From the Water

Make sure anyone who ends up in the water - including you, alone - can pull down a ladder and climb back aboard. Compare ladder types, check how deep it reaches, mount it away from the propeller with proper backing, and test it from the water before you need it.

Boat Damaged While Trailering: What to Do on the Road or at the Ramp, Insurance, and Hidden Damage Checks

Step-by-step help after a crash, blowout, sway accident or ramp mishap with your boat on the trailer: making the scene safe, police reports, photos, which insurance usually pays (your auto policy, your boat policy's trailer coverage, or the other driver's insurer), and how to inspect the trailer, hull, drive and bunks for damage you can't see at first. Policies and state rules vary, so your own policy wording and state law win.

Boat First-Aid Kit and Medical Prep: What to Carry, Day Trips to Offshore

Build and maintain a boat first-aid kit that fits how far from help you go, with the extras boaters actually need for seasickness, fish hooks, cuts, burns, sun, heat and cold, plus a crew briefing, expiration-date checks and training. General preparation only, not medical advice.

Cabin Heater Safety Aboard: Diesel, Propane and Electric Heaters

Heat your cabin without poisoning the crew or burning the boat. Covers carbon monoxide alarms, exhaust and through-hull checks for diesel and propane heaters, fuel and ventilation, why household and camping heaters don't belong in a closed cabin, and how to use electric space heaters on shore power safely.

Carbon Monoxide on Boats: Where It Comes From, CO Alarms and Warning Signs

Carbon monoxide can build up in cabins, under canvas and around the swim platform, and its first symptoms look like seasickness. Learn the danger zones, where to mount marine CO alarms, how to test and replace them, and exactly what to do if an alarm sounds or someone feels sick.

Carbon Monoxide Outside the Boat: Teak Surfing, Swim Platforms, Generators and Raft-Ups

Carbon monoxide doesn't only build up in cabins. People die in open air behind the boat: teak surfing, sitting on the swim platform with the engine idling, swimming near a running generator, or rafted next to someone else's exhaust. Learn where the gas collects, what the law says in states that ban teak surfing, and the simple rules that keep everyone safe.

Cold-Weather Boating: Cold Water Safety, Gear and Engine Care in Late Fall and Winter

Boating after the crowds leave can be beautiful, but cold water changes the risks. Learn why cold shock is the first danger, why the popular 1-10-1 rule needs caution, what to wear, how to plan, and how to care for the engine, battery and anything that holds water between trips.

Dinghy and Tender Rules: Lights, Registration, Capacity, Life Jackets and Kill Switch

Your dinghy is a boat in its own right. Learn which navigation lights it needs after dark (rowing or under power), when the outboard means it must be registered, and how capacity plates, life jackets and the kill-switch law apply to a small tender.

Dogs and Pets Aboard: A Safety Checklist for Boat Owners

Set your boat and your dog up for a safe day on the water, from a well-fitted pet life jacket with a handle to shade, fresh water, safe boarding and a plan for getting a dog back aboard if it goes over the side.

Electrical Safety at Your Private Dock or Boat Lift: GFCI, Shock Drowning and Annual Checks

Lights, outlets, lift motors and de-icers at a home dock put household current right next to the water, and a hidden fault can kill a swimmer without any warning. Learn the owner checks you can do safely, the protection your dock should have, the no-swimming rule, and which jobs must go to a licensed electrician.

Emergency Drills for Your Crew: Engine Failure, Fire, Steering Loss and Man Overboard

Practice what everyone aboard does when the engine quits, a fire starts, the steering fails or someone falls in. A few short drills each season turn panic into a plan, and teach your crew to anchor, call for help on VHF 16 or DSC, and get a tow.

Emergency Steering: What to Do When Your Boat's Steering Fails

A plan for the day the wheel goes slack or locks up - stop safely, find the problem, then steer home with an emergency tiller, twin engines, a drogue or a bridled bucket - plus how to build the gear and practice it before you need it, on outboard, sterndrive and inboard boats.

Engine Cut-Off Switch (Kill Switch) and Lanyard: The Law, Testing and Daily Use

How the engine cut-off switch (ECOS) and its lanyard or wireless fob work, when federal law requires you to wear it (boats under 26 feet, 3 hp or more, on plane), how to test it before every trip, and why a spare clip aboard matters.

Engine Room Automatic Fire Suppression: How It Works, Checks and What to Do After a Discharge

Understand the fixed clean-agent extinguisher in your engine room - how it fires, why the engines must shut down, how to check the helm status light, gauge and cylinder weight, when it needs service - and the safe sequence to follow if it ever goes off, starting with keeping the hatch closed.

EPIRB and PLB Care: Registration, Batteries, Self-Test and Mounting

Keep your 406 MHz emergency beacon ready to work on the worst day of your life. Register it free with NOAA and renew every two years, track the battery and hydrostatic release dates, run the self-test without triggering a false alert, and know what happens after you press the button.

Flybridge and Upper-Deck Safety: Weight Up High, Rails, Ladders and CO

People and gear on a flybridge, tower or pontoon upper deck raise the boat's center of gravity and cut its reserve stability. Learn how many to allow up top, how to check rails, gates, ladders and hardtop or tower loads, how to get crew down safely in rough water, and why carbon monoxide can collect at the stern and even on the bridge.

Fuel Smell on Board: What to Do and How to Find the Source

A gasoline smell on a boat is a fire and explosion warning. Learn what to do in the first minutes, the most common sources (fill and vent hoses, tank fittings, fuel lines, carburetors and injectors, overfilling), how to look safely, and when to stop and call a pro.

Galley Stove Safety: Propane, Alcohol and Electric Cooktops Aboard

Cook aboard without fires or carbon monoxide scares by ventilating the galley, storing fuel the right way, checking flame-failure devices, using gimbals and pot holders, keeping an extinguisher and fire blanket in reach and never using the stove to heat the cabin.

Harmful Algae Blooms: How Boaters Spot Them, Check Advisories and Clean Up Afterward

Blue-green algae and red tide can sicken people and kill dogs within hours. Learn what a bloom looks like, where to check state advisories before you launch, how to run the boat around one, and how to rinse the hull, trailer, gear and your dog afterward. Includes what health agencies say about eating fish from bloom areas.

How to Build a Damage-Control Kit: Plugs, Patches and a Plan for Leaks

Put together a labeled kit that can slow or stop water coming into your boat - softwood plugs tied at every through-hull, rescue tape, spare clamps, rubber and plywood patches, plastic sheeting, underwater sealant, a manual pump and the tools to reach a hidden leak - and practice with it so your crew knows where everything is.

How to Check and Test a Gasoline Vapor (Fume) Detector

A gasoline vapor detector sniffs the bilge all the time and sounds an alarm long before fumes can explode. Learn how these detectors work, where the sensor belongs, how to test the system the way its maker says, what causes false alarms, what to do when it goes off, and why it never replaces the blower and your own sniff test.

How to Check, Mount and Replace Boat Fire Extinguishers

A monthly five-minute check of every fire extinguisher aboard, plus how the 2022 Coast Guard rule changes affect you, where to mount them, and when to recharge or replace. A boat fire spreads in seconds, and an extinguisher with a dead gauge, missing pin or expired date will not help you or pass a boarding.