Repair & maintenance guides

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.

How to Inspect and Troubleshoot Hydraulic and Electric Trim Tabs

Keep your trim tabs working with a simple seasonal check of the blades, anodes, fluid, lines and wiring, and track down the usual faults when a tab won't move, only one side works, or the tabs stay stuck down.

How to Inspect and Use the Trailer Winch, Strap, Tie-Downs and Safety Chains

Check the winch, strap or cable, bow safety chain, transom tie-downs and the safety chains to your vehicle, and learn how each one is meant to be used. These parts keep the boat on the trailer and the trailer behind your truck.

How to Inspect Boat Trailer Axles, Leaf Springs and Hangers

Check the parts that actually hold your boat off the road: the axle tube, leaf springs, hangers, shackles, bushings and U-bolts (or the rubber torsion axle on newer trailers). Learn what rust-through, broken leaves and worn shackles look like, how uneven tire wear points to a bent axle, and when it's time to replace instead of patch.

How to Inspect Sailboat Chainplates for Leaks, Cracks and Hidden Corrosion

Check every chainplate above and below deck for leaks, rust, cracks and a wet deck around it, reseal the ones that leak, and know when the plates need to come out for a proper look. Chainplates tie the mast to the hull, and one hidden failure can bring the rig down.

How to Inspect Sailboat Lifelines, Stanchions and Gates

Check the wire or rope, swaged ends, gate hooks, stanchion bases and pulpits that make up your lifeline system, and know when to replace them. Lifelines keep people aboard, but only if every link is sound, and they are never a place to clip a safety tether.

How to Inspect Wakeboard Tower, T-Top and Bimini Hardware

Towers, T-tops and biminis carry tow ropes, speakers, boards, electronics and wind loads, all on a handful of bolts. Learn how to check the welds, bases, backing plates, bolts, folding hinges and accessory loads before a crack or a loose bolt becomes an accident.

How to Inspect Your Boat's Fuel Tank, Fill, Vent and Hoses

A leaking gas tank is one of the most dangerous problems a boat can have, and it usually starts out of sight. Learn how to inspect portable and built-in tanks, spot aluminum tanks corroding from below, know the ethanol risk for old fiberglass tanks, and check the fill, vent, hoses, clamps and sender, plus why tank replacement is a job for a pro.

How to Inspect Your Sailboat's Standing Rigging

A step-by-step owner's inspection of the wires, fittings, turnbuckles, pins, chainplates and mast that hold your rig up, plus how to decide when it is time for a rigger and new rigging. Includes what insurers commonly expect for older rigs.

How to Inspect, Inflate and Replace Boat Trailer Tires

Check your trailer tires the way the pros do: the right type (ST), the right load range, the right cold pressure, and an honest look at their age. Tires are the number one reason boat trailers end up on the side of the highway.

How to Install (and Remove) a Keel Guard on a Trailer Boat

An adhesive keel guard protects the bow and keel line of a trailer or beaching boat from sand, rocks and ramps. Learn when it's worth it, how to prep and apply one the way the maker intends, and how to take it off later.

How to Install a Backup Bilge Pump and High-Water Alarm

Add a second, larger automatic bilge pump mounted above the primary, with its own overboard discharge and a loud high-water alarm wired so it works even with the battery switch off, then test it every month so it buys you real time if the boat starts taking on water.

How to Install a Boat Radar Antenna (Radome or Open Array)

Plan and install a radar the right way: choose a mounting spot high enough and clear of obstructions, keep the beam above people's heads, give an open array room to spin, bolt it down with backing plates, route the cable without damaging it and seal every deck pass-through. Know when the job belongs to a certified installer.

How to Install a Bow-Mount Trolling Motor

Mount a bow-mount trolling motor so it stows and deploys cleanly and stays put: pick the right shaft length and spot, check clearance in every position, through-bolt it with backing, consider a quick-release bracket, and wire it with the breaker, wire size, plug and voltage the motor maker specifies.

How to Install an Inspection Port (Deck Plate) in a Deck or Bulkhead

Add a screw-out or pry-out deck plate so you can reach hidden nuts, wiring, hoses and through-hulls, or check a deck core for rot. Learn where it is safe to cut, how to pick and size the port, how to seal a cored deck with epoxy, and how to bed the ring so it never leaks.

How to Install and Set Up Forward-Facing (Live) Sonar

Mount a live sonar transducer such as Garmin LiveScope, Lowrance ActiveTarget or Humminbird MEGA Live on your trolling motor or a pole, give it clean power, route the cable so it survives stow and deploy, and dial in the basic settings. Most "bad picture" and "dead transducer" problems trace back to one of these steps.

How to Install EVA Foam Decking (SeaDek-Style Pads) on Your Boat

Closed-cell foam decking makes a hard fiberglass deck grippy and comfortable underfoot. Learn when a peel-and-stick DIY job makes sense, how to template, cut and prep, the temperature and gap rules, how to lay pads without trapped air, and how to clean, repair and eventually remove them.

How to Keep a Boat Maintenance Log and Organize Your Receipts

Set up a simple maintenance log that records the date, engine hours, work done, parts and who did it, and keep receipts and photos organized. Good records help with warranty and insurance claims, show buyers the boat was cared for and reveal wear patterns before something fails.

How to Keep a Dry Bilge, Including Dry Bilge Pump Systems

Standing water in the bilge causes odors, mildew and corrosion, and hides new leaks. Learn why your main pump leaves water behind and how to get rid of the last inch: cut the sources, clear limber holes, route AC condensate and showers to a sump, and add a small self-priming diaphragm pump if needed.

How to Keep Mice and Rodents Off Your Stored Boat

Mice love a stored boat: dry, quiet and full of soft nesting material and tasty wire insulation. Learn how to remove what attracts them, close their way in, choose deterrents and traps that actually work, avoid the risks of poison, and check the wiring safely in spring.

How to Keep Your Boat Fridge, Freezer or Icebox Cold (and Off Your Batteries' Back)

Most boat fridge problems are not a dead compressor: they are trapped heat, low voltage, leaky seals or too much frost. Learn the owner checks for air-cooled, water-cooled and keel-cooled units, how to estimate power draw, and how to store the system for winter.

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.