Gardog,

I think Waterfoul touched on a good subject. Whether you have a twin or single engine set-up you might want to practice shifting/manuvering your boat in a spot where there is no boating traffic. Do this a few times to get the feel of how your boat turns and responds. This can be helpful when you are around the docks and any boat traffic---even the wind or river water currents.

Things can get pretty hairy around a busy marina or boat launching site---wierd stuff can happen quickly and you can find yourself in very tense situations within seconds. Tempers can easily FLARE UP ---especially around a busy boat launch. Having your gear loaded and preped BEFORE you launch your boat is a wise idea. I usually do this while my boat is sitting in my driveway before I leave for the launch.

Most launch sites have a prep lane or an area where you can prep your boat for launch without impeding the flow of other folks launching or retrieving their boats. This can usually be done while waiting your turn if there is a waiting line. If you do this it will help things run much smoother and quicker when it is your turn to launch. It will also keep you from getting the old sour eye look and comments from the other boaters.

If you go to a launch site on a busy day and just sit there and watch for a few moments, you will easily be able to quickly pick out those boaters who have their act together from those who still have to unload stuff from their car and put it in their boat and those who just plain take their sweet time. --- that's when tempers start to flare and set some people off.

Once you have launched your boat and go to put it in gear just do everything SLOWLY! -----slow, small moves while manuvering your boat is priceless! The more time you spend with your boat the better you will become----from preping your boat for a day out on the water, at the launching ramp, to manuvering your boat safely.

Sorry I was so long winded, there looks to be a lot of good advice from the other guys here, but I thought this might help you out a bit as well. It just took me a little longer. Have fun.

1) Money: everything will cost 3 times what you expect.
2) Time: everything takes twice as long to do as you expect.
3) Expectations: Expect to use a lot of #1 and #2 above even if you dont use the boat.
Also, always expect other boaters (or your crew for that matter) to do the stupidest possible thing.
These 3 lead to a lot of boaters on the "3 year plan".
Gary

What's all the fuss about....?
It can't be too hard driving one of these things..it's got a steering wheel just like a car does'nt it ?

Don't unhook the boat from your trailer until the boat is in the water. Especially if someone has spraid silicon on your trailer bunks without you knowing.

To buy a boat and THEN get bit by the speed bug. You now are trying to stuff too much power into a hull that is not designed for those speeds. You end up wasting money, now have a boat that is a bear to handle, and can even be out right dangerous. If you want to do some reading on this, search the boards with a user name of "kook".

Kaama made a very good point...

Take everything VERY SLOW. I see people approaching the docks all the time like they are parking a car. Way to fast, and then when they realize they can't stop they throw it in reverse and still end up smashing into the dock. Small inputs of throttle and steering will work a lot better.

Don't get macho at the launch ramp and blame your wife/girlfriend for your bonehead mistake(s).

Fill the gas tank and empty the head.

Take a safe boating course.

Everything is more expensive than you think.

All sailboater are not idiots.

Wear polarized sunglasses and sunscreen.

It only takes a few seconds to check for fumes.

One other thing. Take your cooler out of your boat before the drive home. Youll be amazed at how much damage it will do when you have to hit the brakes hard.

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention fumes... don't want your boat to burn down to the water line... also... after you have retrieved your boat...do a few test stops to dry off your brakes.. nothing worse than getting on a freeway on-ramp... and have to slam on your brakes.. I've been there... slam on the brakes.. and the tailer brakes are wet... not working... a big heavy boat seems all that more heavy when it is picking up your rear wheels and shoving you into stopped traffic.. and Remember more than anything The word BOAT is an acronym... B stands for "Break"... O stands for "out".... A stands for "another"..... T stands for "thousand". And I'm not talking pesos here either!

DID NOT KNOW ABOUT NEVER STARTING ENG. W/ DRIVES UP, ALSO WHEN I FLUSH THE ENG. USE THE ON BOARD SYSTEM DO I HAVE TO HAVE MUFF ON OUTDRIVE WHEN STARTING????????????????????????????????????