Thursday 28 March 2024

Maintaining Your Boat – Few Tips That Can Help You To Increase Your Boat’s Life

Many of you have a special connection with your boats. People who own boats take care of their boats and enjoy sailing in the right season. People in many countries store their vessels during the winter season and then get it warmed by the spring time and get it ready for the upcoming season. This process is termed as “spring commissioning”.

Maintaining Your Boat - Few Tips That Can Help You To Increase Your Boat’s Life

People should remember a fact that a boat has electronic and electrical systems, which are subject to get damaged with time. While preparing for the boating season, boat owners just fix the exterior of the boat hoping for a smooth sailing. Maintaining the electronic and electric system is as important as the exterior or the boat. Here are some tips that can be very helpful maintaining your boat completely, some of them are mentioned below for your benefit:-

  • Starting at the source –

The batteries of your boat are like the “heart of body”. If the batteries are not working right or are weak nothing else will work correctly. First step is to visually inspect the boat’s batteries. Inspect and clean any corroded terminals and posts. You should also look for the signs of leaking electrolytes.

Once you check the electrolyte levels fill it till top with distilled water. Once your battery is fully charged, it is important that you check them after few hours. If your batteries are healthy they will give a reading between 12.1 – 12.8 volts.

  • Remove corrosion to the wire –

During the off season corrosion, dust and moisture take their place in all over the wiring connections, weak spots and splices. Make sure to check all the connections which are connected to the marine electronics. Fix and secure the lines as needed.

Wires can get cut, nicked or the insulation can get chaffed off with time during the off season. Make sure you check all the possible areas where corrosion is a possibility. Special attention should be given to the wiring connection which may get rubbed against metal, wood or fiberglass. Spliced wires are one of the main trouble spots.

  • Inspection of the fuses –

Fuses are one of the most common places where the electronics fail. First visually examine all the fuses and replace any blown or suspected to blow fuses. Do this before your first voyage, so that you do not experience any problems during the sail. It is also very important to check in fuses of all electronics.

  • Clean and organize your spots –

It is very common to find a chartplotter which is plugged with the MOBs and track lines. This can be a result from your previous trips. First step is to clean it out. It is a great idea to update your electronic charts with the latest version.

If you are looking for updating the electronics of your boat you can find outboard parts in Florida very easily. Make sure you do all the adjustments and repairs before you start sailing in the season.

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