A boat is an expensive investment so you want to do anything you can to keep it looking good and functioning properly for as long as possible. A boat cover will help to protect your boat from the elements when it is not being used. It will keep it clean and protect it from extreme weather, birds, dust, sun, wind, rain and hail.

The boat cover can be either custom or semi-custom fit. A custom fit is made from the exact measurements of your boat, and will be more expensive. A semi-custom fit is tailored to fit specific styles of boats, not the exact measurements of your particular boat. To get the measurements for the semi-custom fit cover measure the boat’s beam at the widest point, and the boat’s centerline length straight from the bow to the stern.

Cotton canvas boat covers will allow the best airflow and breathability, but it is the least durable, is not water resistant and can shrink and stretch. Polyester is not breathable, but it is strong, long-lasting, and water repellent. It is also resistant to rot, mildew and staining. It should not stretch or shrink. A combination of polyester and cotton will give you the best qualities of both fabrics.

The type of boat cover material you choose will depend upon the situation. For towing or trailering, the best choice is polyester or the poly/cotton blend. When you are transporting the boat, be sure the straps are very secure, and the fabric is tight so it does not blow around. A cotton canvas boat cover is a good choice for storage in a covered facility over winter or for extended periods of time. It works well indoors because it doesn’t need to provide protection from the elements, and it allows the air to flow. While polyester is not good for humid areas due to the lack of breathability, it is the best waterproof boat cover for long periods outdoors while exposed to sun, rain, and heavy wind.

Before you put the cover on be sure there is no standing water in the boat. If so, try to swab it out or let it evaporate, but do not put the cover on with the water still in there, especially if you are using a polyester cover. Once you ensure the boat is dry you can put on the cover. Be sure the cover fits tightly so no water, dirt, or animals can get into the boat. To keep water from puddling or pooling on the outside of the cover you can add support holes underneath the cover so it will be on a slope.

You may want to invest in more than one boat cover if you live in an area with changing seasons, or if you will be transporting it from location to location. It is a worthwhile purchase to help keep your boat in great condition. Be aware of the return policy in case your boat cover does not fit properly.

Tags: boat cover, boat cover material, boat covers, canvas boat cover, canvas boat covers, waterproof boat cover

Snorkeling gear can be complicated or simple, and it really depends on the classification you put yourself in. The basic snorkel gear setup is a specially designed snorkel mask, set of Fins and Snorkel. Of these you have a variety to think about. You can buy a snorkel gear set from your local sporting goods store, but I believe that the best snorkel gear is one that you put together yourself.

Your mask should be low profile or low volume. That means the amount or volume of air between your eyes and the lens is minimal, allowing for a better seal and better vision. The lenses should be made of high quality polycarbonate to allow for depth changes and temperature changes.

The fins should be open heel or adjustable to allow for the use of dive shoes or socks. Full foot types are fine but they can stretch over time and become loose and can come off as you are snorkeling along. Choose a fin that is all in one component and not a ram toe or two pieces sleeved into one. Two piece fins can split and come apart where the plastic of the fin comes in contact with the rubber foot pocket.

Fins should be comfortable and offer gentle but powerful propulsion. That is, a gentle kick will not turn up much sand and will be enough to propel you forward.

The snorkel is your most important investment. You have a choice of standard (a plain open top that can allow water in), semi dry (it doesn’t allow as much water in when diving or playing in the surf) or total dry (it does not allow any water to the snorkel so you don’t have to blast clear. Snorkels now feature large bore tubing, drop away mouth pieces, interchangeable mouth pieces and splash guard tops, and there are versions for people who have breathing problems too.

Next up, you are going to want to get a Snorkeling vest or Snorkeling BC. A BC is a Buoyancy Control vest. It comes in a variety of styles; Horse collar, Vest, and surround style. A BC is important to wear in case of problems. While you may never consider snorkeling to be dangerous, many times you can get stung by fire coral, lion fish, jelly fish and then you cannot swim. A BC allows someone to keep you afloat and let someone help you.

Dive Skin or 1 mil wet suit will not only help you with buoyancy and help to keep you afloat, but it will protect your back from severe sunburn.

If you go for continual pike diving and bottom skimming, you will need a depth gauge. One on a wrist watch style is a better investment. Since pike divers can develop DC (Decompression sickness) or NN (Nitrogen Narcosis) knowing your limits and how deep you have gone is a big help in preventing both complications.

A compass is another good investment. Orienteering and surface navigation will prevent you from getting lost. And there is always a possibility of getting lost just by snorkeling.

A dive flag floating marker is another much needed safety investment. As regulated by the Coast Guard. It doesn’t matter whether you are a SCUBA diver or snorkeler, you have to mark where you are.

And finally a camera for taking those pictures underwater of what you found. Make sure it is waterproof to at least 15 feet and has a flash to light up the colors.

Now that you know everything you need to know to put together your own snorkel set, what are you waiting for? Get out there and enjoy the water!

Tags: best snorkel gear, snorkel gear, snorkel gear set, snorkeling gear, snorkelling gear

Boating has become one of today’s most popular outdoor activities. Buying a boat will lead to fun and sun for you and your family. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t think ahead to the times when they aren’t going to be able to use their boat. Boat storage is definitely not on your mind when you’re buying a boat, but it should be.

But once the reality sets in that you need a place to store your boat, luckily there are many options. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where it is warm all of the time, you can store your boat at the marina. Some people even have boat houses at the marina that can be rented so your boat isn’t sitting outside for anyone to get at. If your boat isn’t too big, you could also just keep it in your driveway or backyard.

But for a lot of people, it isn’t warm all year long and other accommodations need to be made. When it starts to get cold and you’re not going to be using your boat again for several months, you are going to have to place your boat in winter boat storage and find a place to store it. If you haven’t noticed, storage places are everywhere. Some may not be big enough for a boat. Usually if you check around near the water, there will be a boat storage facility for all shapes and sizes of boats.

But, of course, you will want to find a place that has some good security. You want to know that your boat will be safe when you’re not around. If you find a place with good security and offers indoor boat storage, you’ve hit the jackpot. You won’t have to worry about someone messing with your boat and you won’t have to worry about the weather destroying it.

If your boat is small enough, you could go the boat self storage route and store it in your garage. Or maybe a friend or family member has some extra room in their garage. If you’re lucky enough, you might not have to pay to have your boat stored. They may let you store your boat for free as long as you let them use the boat once in a while. And you know your boat will be safe.

If worse comes to worse and you just can’t find a place to store your boat, or it is just too expensive for you to store it, you could still keep it in your driveway or in your back yard. Even though it’s not as ideal as a boat storage building and the elements will raise havoc on your boat, you can cover it up securely with a boat cover or tarp and hopefully avoid a lot of damage. Putting it up against the side or back of your garage will help. Just make sure it is always covered and away from possible falling objects.

It all sounds like a lot of work, but boats aren’t cheap and you want to take care of your investment. Find what works for you so your boat is ready for when you want to use it again.

Tags: boat self storage, boat storage, boat storage facility, boat strorage building, indoor boat storage, winter baot storage

A mask is the most important item in your snorkel set. When you go snorkelling, it is generally to enjoy all the underwater sights. However, it is very difficult to do this if your snorkel mask keeps fogging up. Anyone who has ever used a snorkel mask knows what I am talking about. Lucky for you, there are a couple methods to prevent fog from building up inside your mask.

New Snorkeling Masks

All new snorkel masks come with a residue on the inside of the lens that is left over from the manufacturing process. No matter how much you attempt to defog the mask, fog will always build up because of this residue. Here are a couple ways to remove it.

Toothpaste

Toothpaste is actually a very good way to remove this residue. Just squirt some toothpaste onto the inside of your snorkel mask and rub it around with your finger or a very soft cloth. Don’t do this with all the fancy versions of toothpaste. The classic kind works best. Also, don’t use a rough cloth as it could scratch the inside of your mask. If you are so inclined, you can leave the toothpaste in overnight. This leaves enough time for the chemicals to properly react.

Flame

This method requires you to burn the residue off the mask. What you want to do is run the tip of a flame over the inside of the lens until they turn black. Once every inch of the lens is black, wait for it to cool down, then wipe the soot away with a cloth. Repeat this until it is difficult to get the glass to turn black. Be careful to avoid heating up the plastic inside the mask. Also, please do not do this if your lenses are plastic. It will melt them and you would have destroyed a perfectly good snorkel mask. Personally, I don’t recommend this method. There are too many risks and toothpaste works just fine.

Used Snorkel Masks

Simply removing the residue will not completely prevent your snorkeling mask from fogging up. Before every dive, you will have to treat the inside of it with some defogging agents.

Spit

Spit on the inside of your mask and rub it around. Give it a quick dunk in fresh water. The goal is to leave a thin layer of saliva on the inside of the mask. This prevents water molecules from binding tightly into fog and instead forces them to bond into large droplets. Do this method right before you dive, though, because if the spit is allowed to dry, it will not work.

Baby Shampoo

Baby shampoo is said to work as well as any commercial defogging agent you can pick up at specialty diving stores. Just rub a few drops into the lens before you go snorkelling and briefly rinse with water. It is recommended to use baby shampoo because it won’t irritate your eyes if you happen to get some in your eye.

There are of course many other ways to prevent your snorkelling mask from fogging up. If you wish to know them, a bit of light search engine digging will turn up a bunch.

Tags: snorkel mask, snorkel masks, snorkeling mask, snorkeling masks, snorkelling masks

I’m sure anyone who has ever owned or used a scuba mask or snorkel mask knows that they tend to get very foggy. This is very annoying because the very reason you are using the mask is to see underwater and the fog prevents that. But, have you ever wondered why scuba masks fog up?

Well, wonder no longer. In this article I will give you a mini-science lesson explaining why scuba diving masks fog up. If you stick around, I will also tell you some strategies to prevent fogging. But, keep in mind that no strategy will completely remove fog.

Ok, so why exactly does fog build up in your scuba mask? Well, first you will need to know a little background information about air. I’m sure you have come across the term humidity in your everyday life. Basically, humidity refers to minuscule particles of water that are in the air. Since your body contains a lot of water, your breath is very humid. Once you put your mask on, you tend to exhale through your nose. This adds more moisture to the air inside the mask.

So now that you know the basics of humidity, it is time to explain what the fog really is. The fog you see inside your scuba diving mask is condensed droplets of water from the air inside the mask. Have you ever noticed that, when you pour cold water into a warm glass, droplets begin to form on the outside of the glass? This happens because the water rapidly cools the glass and the droplets form when the warm air surrounding the glass comes in contact with the cool glass. This same process happens inside your mask. The water outside your mask cools the glass and the warm air inside your mask comes in contact with the glass lenses. This is how fog is formed.

But how does fog actually form? Well, my good sir/madam, fog forms because of something called surface tension. Basically, surface tension is the ability of water molecules to hold themselves tightly together. Think of it this way, one molecule sees another and is all like “Hey, man this glass is pretty damn cold, let’s bunch together to stay warm.” And the other guy responds with “Dude……good idea.” Repeat this step oh, I don’t know, maybe a million times and you got yourself a little speck of fog or a water droplet. While horribly inaccurate, this is basically what surface tension is like.

And that is how fog forms on your scuba mask. So, how do you get rid of it? Well, the most common form of scuba mask defog is simply spitting on the lenses of your mask before you put it on. Your spit forces its way between the bonds the water molecules form and causes them to break. This causes the water molecules to spread out. This eliminates the fog effect and causes large, spread out droplets to form rather than a blanket of fog.

That’s the only method I am going to list in this article. I will be writing another article dedicated to fog preventing methods so stay tuned.

Tags: scuba diving mask, scuba diving masks, scuba mask, scuba mask defog, scuba masks

Snorkelling is rapidly becoming a popular thing to do out in the water. Whether you are exploring a beautiful coral reef or your local lake, you need a proper snorkel set if you are going to snorkel properly. Now, you can buy pre-made snorkel sets or even build your own. In this article, I will go over what you typically would find in a snorkel set. Hopefully it will help you know which pre-made set to buy, or help you get started on building your own.

Mask

The mask is arguably the most important part of the snorkeling set. Because of this, you want to get a high quality mask. Even high quality masks can have one problem that infuriated snorkelers everywhere. If you use any form of underwater goggles or masks, I bet you can figure this problem out. Yep, that’s right. Fogging. When goggles or masks are produced, there is a residual film left over from the manufacturing process on the inside of the lens. This film creates a surface for condensation to collect and create fog. Lucky for you, I have a few tricks to prevent excessive fogging. When you first buy your mask, stop by the grocery/drug store and buy some regular Crest toothpaste. Don’t buy mint, or gel, or any other silly variety. Regular works just fine. If you apply the toothpaste to the inside of your mask, it will remove the film and prevent a ton of fogging. It will not completely remove the problem, but it will definitely help. Be sure to wash the inside of your mask with baby soap before using it as
well. This will also inhibit fogging. Human spit works as well, but only use that when you don’t have any soap handy.

Snorkel

Of course you are going to need a good snorkel in your set. There are way too many varieties to list, but with a little research, it is very easy to find the right one for your specific needs. Just make sure not to buy the really cheap ones from places like Wal-Mart. They are complete and utter crap and not worth putting in snorkelling sets. Trust me. Buy your snorkels from a reputable outdoors company.

Flippers

Really all you need is a mask and a snorkel, but flippers are also very popular to include in your snorkel set. Flippers enable you to swim quickly and see more things before you go up for air. Just like with snorkels, you should really only buy flippers from sporting goods or swimming stores. Cheaply made flippers are more likely to be a nuisance than an advantage.

Accessories

Most pre-made snorkeling sets come with a mask, snorkel, and flippers, but picking up some accessories as you go can really increase the satisfaction of your snorkelling experience. For instance, you can include a waterproof camera in your snorkel set to take pictures of all the beautiful things you see to show your friends. I would also include a waterproof flashlight if you like exploring dark places. Basically, whatever you think would be useful while you are underwater, you should gradually add to your set. Before you know it, you will have the perfect snorkelling set.

Tags: snorkel set, snorkel sets, snorkeling set, snorkeling sets, snorkelling set, snorkelling sets

I hear ya, boats can get extremely expensive. You want to go out and enjoy the water but you just can’t afford to empty your bank account to get a good boat. Well, lucky for you, there are ways to find some nice, cheap boats which will do just fine.

Online

If you know how to use it, you can find practically anything you want on the internet. I am almost positive there are a bunch of individual websites offering really cheap boats for sale. However, you need to be careful. You can’t trust anything you see on the web. Before buying from an independent site, browse their site for a bit. If it looks professional and well-maintained, then there is a good chance it is legit. Also look for user/buyer comments. If all you see is blind praise for the website, it could be that the webmaster wrote those him/herself to make their site look good. Look for reviews that outline the good parts about the seller but also provide constructive criticism. If the site owner leaves up the critical comments, they are legit. A scammer would remove any bad comments about their site.

If you don’t want to do all this detective work, you can always head on over to Ebay or Craigslist. You can find some great deals on cheap boats on these two sites. Ebay has a very good reputation for keeping the people selling stuff on their site in check. There is very little chance of you running into a scammer or rip-off artist on Ebay.

As for Craigslist, you don’t actually buy things from the site. Its main purpose is to provide an advertising medium for your local area. If you go and visit Craigslist right now, you are visiting a version of the site for your local area. For example, there is a Craigslist for New York, Vancouver, Dallas, Montreal, etc… This is great for finding local people who can sell you a cheap boat.

Newspaper Ads/Advertising Magazines

Perhaps one of the best ways to find cheap used boats is to regularly check your local newspapers for ads from people who are selling their boats. Chances are, they have been trying to sell it for a while and you could get some great deals. Another good idea is to pick up one of those free magazines that contain individual ads from people selling vehicles/boats you see in grocery or convenience stores. You can find a ton of boats for cheap from these things.

Buy Smart

My last tip for you is to buy smart. What I mean by this is that you should not pay for something you will never use. You don’t need a super fast jet boat if you are just going to be fishing from it. Likewise, you don’t need a fishing boat if you are only going to be using it recreationally. That’s just a waste of money. You would be surprised at how cheap boats are when you weed out all the useless bells and whistles.

Tags: boats for cheap, cheap boat, cheap boats, cheap boats for sale, cheap used boats, really cheap boats

So, you have decided to rent or buy a pontoon boat. Congratulations on making the investment on one of the best party platforms around. Now what you need to do is customize it to fit your needs with pontoon boat accessories. Lucky for you, there are many choices available to you and I will try my best to give you some information on the more popular set ups.

Fishing

If you are looking to do some group fishing on your boat, you are going to need to get some fishing pontoon boat accessories. So, where do you start? Well, the most basic things you need are chairs for however many people you will be bringing. Any type of folding chair or camping folding chair will do. Hell, you can even fishing in style with a couple la-z-boys. That would be amazing to see a bunch of people fishing from recliners. If you decide to do this, you need to send me a picture. But, I digress. Another pontoon boat accessory that is popular for fishing is a cleaning stand. This way, you don’t have to go all the way back to shore to clean your fish. Just do it right on the lake! Of course, if you are going to be cleaning fish on the lake, you would want to cook them as well. Bring along a portable stove and have a good old fish fry right on the lake. Your buddies or family will really enjoy it.

Other popular personal pontoon boat accessories for fishing include a gazebo-style tent to protect your passengers from the sun and various other fishing related items like fishing racks or tackle box holders. It’s really up to you.

Enjoying the Water

If you are going to be using your pontoon boat for just enjoying the lake, why not add some cool swimming accessories to it? If you don’t know what I am talking about, let me explain and I am positive you will agree. Why not buy a little slide and bolt/fasten it to the deck? That would be awesome. I’m sure you could even find a diving board somewhere that you can add to your pontoon boat. So, you’ve got a slide and a diving board now. Maybe you could throw in a basketball hoop or something else like that. Now all you have to do is install a sturdy ladder and you have got yourself the perfect, portable swimming platform.

Extended Use

If you intend to spend a lot of time on your pontoon boat, you are going to want to look into some comfort accessories. You could build a little cabin-like structure and put a bed and maybe a couch inside so you can be out on the lake and still be comfortable. A nice comfortable chair on the deck for reading or just looking out over the lake is a really good idea as well.

The best thing about owning or renting a pontoon boat is that you can make them into whatever you want them to be. Just add some customized pontoon boat accessories and you can make it into anything you want.

Tags: customized pontoon boat accessories, fishing pontoon boat accessories, personal pontoon boat accessories, pontoon boat accessories, pontoon boat accessory

Has your Seadoo broken down? Or maybe you are just looking to customize your ride with some new parts. Well, whatever the case, you are here because you need some seadoo boat parts or parts for your seadoo jetski. Unfortunately, I am not here to sell them to you, BUT, I can point you in the right direction if you care to stick around. There are many places to find some really cheap seadoo parts but you have to do a little research to find them all. Luckily for you, I have done that research so you don’t have to. So, let’s get started.

Online

Oh internet, you are so useful. A person could find pretty much whatever they need on the internet. Finding seadoo parts online is no exception. There are plenty of websites offering to sell you the parts you need. However, I wouldn’t trust very many of them. You never know who is on the other side of the website. They could be scammers or just generally unreliable. However, if you really feel the need to buy from an individual’s site, just look around for a little bit. Does the site look professional? If the site looks trashy, there is a good chance they aren’t legit. After all, would you go and buy parts from a garage with the roof caving in and holes in the walls? I wouldn’t. Another good thing to look for on these sites are customer reviews or comments. Let other people be the guinea pigs. However, these can be kind of fake as well. The webmaster could just write them him/herself and make it look like people like the site. A good rule is that if all you see is blind praise, it is likely the comments are f
abricated. Look for constructed reviews that list good points and also bad points. You know the site is legit if you see some constructive criticism out in the open. A faker would delete these comments right away.

Of course, if you don’t want to go through all the trouble, there is also Ebay. You can find some really nice deals on used seadoo parts on Ebay. It is also a lot more trustworthy than individual sites. Ebay has a very good reputation for quality control and you shouldn’t be afraid of buying anything from users on Ebay. It’s also nice because you don’t have to physically deal with the seller. No haggling and no coffee shop meetings. All you have to do is have a paypal account and a finger to click the mouse.

Of course, some people enjoy the social aspect of buying used parts. If you fit into this category, there are other places to buy seadoo parts.

Manufacturers/Selling Locations

It depends on the independent retailers, but you can get parts at most places that sell seadoos. If you are unsure of whether you can or not, just drop by or call in and ask. There’s no harm in asking, and it can be a really good thing if you are able to get some replacement seadoo parts at the same place you bought your seadoo because you know they will be high quality. If you can’t buy them right at the moment, most retailers will have a seadoo parts catalog where you can order the parts you need. However, you may have to pay a lot more than you could otherwise.

Garage Sales/Classified Ads/Independent Sellers

This is probably the hardest of the methods for getting some replacement parts for seadoos, but it could potentially be the most profitable. Regularly check the newspaper to see if there are any people who are selling the parts you need. Chances are they have been trying to sell them for a while and are willing to give them away cheap. Another really good idea is to make a road trip to communities close to a lake or body of water. Lakeside communities are the best. If you spend a weekend garage saling in these areas, you have a very good chance of stumbling upon some really cheap seadoo parts. Generally, this strategy is more of a “keep your ears open” strategy. Don’t expect to get anything fast doing this. That’s what the internet is for.

Well, I hope I have helped you in your quest for seadoo jetski parts or boat parts. Whether you decide to buy from the net, a retailer, or second hand, one of these methods will definitely net you the parts you need.

Tags: seadoo boat parts, seadoo jetski parts, seadoo parts, seadoo parts catalog, seadoo parts online, used seadoo parts

Kneeboarding is a great starting point for the other, more difficult boating activities like waterskiing or wakeboarding. This is because you have a low centre of gravity so it is easier to get up on your board and it’s harder to fall over once you are going. That being said, it still takes practice and I intend to shorten your learning curve by giving you some nice tips on how to kneeboard for beginners.

First of all, there are two types of kneeboards available to you. These two types are trick boards and slalom boards. A trick board will have a lot of curvature on the bottom with thick rails and is generally designed for kneeboarding tricks. A slalom board is relatively flat with sharp rails. If you are just learning, the best kneeboard for you is a slalom board as trick boards are designed for advanced users. Slalom boards can also come with fins which help your balance, but aren’t very good for trick kneeboarding.

Once you have all your equipment ready, find yourself an experienced boat captain and hit the water. When starting out, I advise you to find a secluded part of the lake away from other boats. This is because you don’t want to get in their way and the chop produced from many boats driving around can be annoying when you are first learning to kneeboard. Once you have found your spot, go ahead and get in the water.

The most common method of starting is called the belly start. Basically, you want to lie down on the board on your stomach with the strap pointing towards the front of the board. You also want to make sure the front of the kneeboard is sticking out of the water. Hold the rope with one hand while using both hands to hold on to either side of the board.

Once you are ready, give the ok signal to your captain. When the boat starts moving, you should pull your knees forward until they fit into the designated knee wells. When executing this manoeuvre, make sure to keep your weight back and don’t lean to far forward. If you lean forward, you could lose your balance and do a faceplant in the water. While funny, it isn’t very encouraging. Once you feel balanced on your knees, pull the strap over your knees. Make sure to tighten it until you feel securely strapped to the board.

At this point, the captain can speed up and you can start your ride. Now what you need to do is find the grip you are most comfortable with. Some people like to grip the handle with both palms down while others feel more comfortable with one hand palm down and the other palm up. Try both and decide which one feels better to you.

Once you have your grip figured out, you should practice turning. It’s very simple. If you want to turn right, pull the handle towards your left hip and lean right. If you want to turn left, pull the handle towards your right hip and lean left. Easy. I would advise practicing your turning inside the wake and only venture outside once you are confident you can deal with the rougher conditions.

Now that you know the basics, the only way to kneeboard better is getting some practice. What are you waiting for?

Tags: best kneeboard, how to kneeboard, kneeboard, kneeboarding, kneeboarding tricks, kneeboards

Are you looking to build your own pontoon boat? Or are you just interested in knowing the various parts that make up these family friendly water machines? Well, if you answered yes to these questions, you are in the right place. Pontoon boats are actually very simple and have relatively few parts.

The Pontoons

The pontoons are the heart of the pontoon boat. The basic design of a pontoon boat is two or more cylindrical floats with a raft-like platform attached above them. Pontoons can be made from a variety of materials. Basically, anything circular and able to float is a good material for pontoons. PVC pipe and metal barrels are popular choices. If you are having trouble finding these materials, check out your local scrapyard. There is bound to be some useful used pontoon boat parts available there.

The Platform

Perhaps the easiest pontoon boat part to make, the platform consists of a flat floor that covers the pontoons and is sturdy enough to hold multiple people and other things which I will go over soon. The platform can be made from plywood, plastic, or sheet metal. Personally, I think plastic is the way to go because it is water resistant and almost immune to decay. However, not very many know how to build with plastic and, in that case, a simple wooden platform will do just fine. Just make sure it is sturdy enough to support the weight of multiple people.

The Fun Stuff

This is what makes pontoon boats so great. What you choose to build on top of your platform is completely up to you. However, the one thing I highly advise you build is a nice, sturdy railing around the platform. You don’t want your buddies falling in the water after having a few drinks. That being said, the rest is completely up to the individual. Some people choose to build a house-like cabin structure where they can sleep or rest. Others like to turn their pontoon boat into a water-worthy backyard deck. Load up the deck with a bunch of chairs, build an awning or a tent, throw a grill on there and you got yourself a backyard party you can enjoy on the water. Still others like to transform their pontoon boat into a fishing platform complete with a fish cleaning stand and a portable stove to fry your fish directly on the lake. The beauty of it, is that you can tailor your pontoon boat to whatever you want.

Propulsion

While a pontoon boat can easily be paddled or ride a current, some people like to equip their boats with a motor. Since pontoon boats are definitely not built for speed, you can get away with a standard outboard motor. However, some boaters have successfully used motors of up to 200 horsepower with no problem. I would not recommend getting a motor that powerful unless you are extremely confident in the construction of you boat. Going too fast on a poorly built boat can cause it to fall apart. And that’s not very fun is it?

Tags: build your own pontoon boat, parts for a pontoon boat, parts for pontoon boats, pontoon boat, pontoon boat parts, used pontoon boat parts

So, you just bought that brand new boat, but you don’t have a lot of boating experience? Well, have no fear! I am here to give you some really nice tips to avoid a devastating boat crash (yes, devastating). While I have never seen two boats crash into each other, I am sure the result would not be pretty.

Tip 1

You may not technically crash your boat if you don’t follow this tip, but it could cause some damage to your motor. That being said, my first tip is that you should always know how deep the water is when you are docking or taking your boat out on the lake. If you put your motor down too early, it could hit the bottom and there is a chance of the blade breaking. This is a very expensive mistake and one that can easily be avoided. When my dad taught me how to drive a boat, this is the very first thing he beat into my head. Never completely lower the motor until you know it will not hit the bottom.

What I do is that I lower the motor so that the blades are just beneath the surface. Then I start it up, and slowly back out. Once the water near the front of the boat (where I am) is deep enough, I know for sure that it is deep enough where the motor is. I then lower the motor all the way down, and go on my merry way.

Tip 2

Familiarize yourself with boating “traffic” rules. Yes, there are rules when you are boating just like there are rules when you are driving. I know for a fact that there is a boating manual available out there. This is because it is now illegal for anyone to operate a boat without a boating license (at least where I am, I’m not sure about other places). If you don’t know any of the rules, I highly suggest you go and pick up this manual and read through it. It’s not very long and it can potentially save your boat or even your life from a boat crash.

As a little taster, I will give you one rule that not very many people know. When two boats are approaching each other in opposite directions, they both need to veer starboard and pass each other. This means the other boat will be on your port side. Just like driving a car in North America. Stay right and you’ll be fine. However, if two boats are approaching each other but they both are on the “wrong side of the road,” and passing each other properly will result in too drastic of a course change which could result in the two boats crashing into each other, it is advised that you do not change course, but pass each other on the opposite sides you are supposed to.

Tip 3

This one is a no-brainer. Do.Not.Drive.Drunk. Seriously, boating while you are drunk is even worse than driving drunk. There are no seatbelts in a boat, and you really need to pay attention to your surroundings more than driving a car to avoid a boat crash. It is also possible to flip the boat without hitting anything, so operating a boat under the influence is a terrible idea. Don’t do it.

In fact, I wouldn’t even get into a boat when you are drunk. Even if you have a designated driver. I remember one time at my annual fishing trip. That year, we decided to change it up a bit and go on a fly-in fishing trip to a secluded lake in northern Alberta. Well, late one night, we decided to go out fishing (luckily there were three of us who weren’t totally wasted). So, we piled in to the three little aluminum boats and set off. Everyone but the driver was pretty drunk and we were all having a jolly good time. Well, when the time came to haul up the anchor, my boating buddy went to pull it up and fell in the lake. Luckily, he was able to grab hold of the boat and we waited until the other boats got to us. While it was absolutely, pants-pissing hilarious at the time, it could have turned out differently. So, I suggest just staying at the campsite if you have had a little bit too much to drink, even if you aren’t going to be driving.

If you follow these little tips, you are one step closer to avoiding boat crashes. The next step is just getting some practice under your belt.

Tags: avoiding a boat crash, boat crash, boat crashes, boating tips, boats crash, how to drive a boat