Make a custom information manual for your boat
Issue 42 : May/Jun 2005
If friends or family members had to start your boat’s engine, would they know what to do? For haulout, is the lift operator confident about where to position the slings? The underwater profiles of custom-built and older, less-common boats may be a mystery to many. Local boatyard horror stories of bent shafts and ruined rudders propelled me to action.
To avoid potential disaster, I borrowed a computer and typed out a few simple instructions concerning my boat’s “special needs” when starting the engine and operating it. I found a clean and anatomically correct line drawing of the boat model on the Internet and pasted that onto the page. This drawing accurately portrayed the boat’s keel shape, prop, and rudder and would later prove invaluable to the lift operator in the yard. Also on the page I included useful specifications such as displacement, draft, and length.
The card was laminated, and a piece of Velcro on the back allows me to hang it in the cabin. Drawings and specifications for different boats can be found in the many boatowners’ groups on the Internet. For starters, Good Old Boat’s website has a convenient list of owners’ associations and resources at http://www.goodoldboat.com.
Now if a family member needs to start my boat’s engine, she’ll be able to with ease, thanks to the instructions on the card. She’ll know to open the seacock and how the diesel’s tricky preheater works. And the lift operator can position the slings with assurance. No worries, mate!
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
