5 batter boating tipes

1. It sounds like Zen, but it's a path to zoom. "Learn the sounds, smells and feel of your boat," says veteran Lake Michigan charter captain Shane Ruboyianes (dreamweavercharters.com). "Then, if you hear, smell or feel something different, check it out before it becomes something big."A new clicking might be a pump running dry. That slight burning rubber smell? A loose belt. A new vibration? A ding in the prop. Fixing them now might cut into your boating time and budget a bit — but not the way a burned pump, broken belt or ground-up gearbox will.
2. Boat Bunkers (boatbunkers.com) has a novel approach to protecting a boat at the waterline and below. The company has created an in-water mooring station — a flotation collar that cradles the hull at the waterline, with an under-shield that cloaks the hull, depriving prospective pests of oxygen and food, thus keeping barnacles and other marine life at bay.
3. One often hears of the importance of putting your boat up for winter with a full tank of gas. But Ruboyianes says it's also important not to overfill."When it gets hot," says Ruboyianes, "gas expands. And if the tank's too full, gas will seep over the top. I can't tell you how many boats I've seen with peeling stickers and other damage from gas." Best bet? Stop pumping at the first click of the pump, and always have a clean rag handy.
4. Many boaters make sure they have a tube of Chapstick aboard for protection against sun and wind. But it can also protect you from frustration, says Glyn Austin of BRP, builders of Evinrude and Johnson outboards. Try using the lip balm as a corrosion-battling lube for snaps and zippers on the boat cover, Bimini or isinglass.Gasoline blended with ethanol instead of MTBE may be good news for the environment, but it can be bad news for boating. Ethanol grabs moisture from the air, and can dissolve varnish and other materials in your fuel storage and delivery system. Either can bring your engine to a sickening stop.
5. Yamaha offers two add-on filters to catch the bad stuff: a mini-10 filter and a 10-micron filter. The first is for outboards up to 115 hp, the second for bigger motors.How do you know when a filter has done its job? When it plugs up, instead of your motor. That's when you'll be glad you stashed a spare. You stashed a spare, right?