The days are getting longer, the sun is brighter, and if you’re a boater, you’re starting to think about the rites of spring. Spring commissioning, that is.
As always, yacht clubs, marinas, and magazines like this one offer annual spring checklists suggesting which tasks you need to perform before finally putting your boat back into the water. And boatyards are busy cranking out estimates of what it’s apt to cost you if you ask them to do the work.
But Mark Miller, boatyard chief at Ferry Point Marina, cautions that while checklists are valuable, you also need to be mindful of the two basic objectives of spring commissioning: fixing whatever’s gone wrong during the winter and carefully preparing the boat to help reduce the risk of problems once the boating season begins.
“By all means, go through everything on that checklist, but keep these two goals in mind—before you start your spring commissioning, while you’re doing the work, and after you’ve finished and are ready to begin sea-trials,” Miller says. “That means you need to work slowly and carefully. Don’t rush it through just to get the job over.”
Before you start on this year’s checklist, take a careful look at what’s happened on your boat during the four or five months that she’s been idle and stored onshore, correcting anything that you may have missed or done too hastily when you winterized her, and fixing any new problems that have developed over the winter.
“Never assume that anything that worked when you winterized the boat last fall will work in the spring,” Miller says. “For most boaters, there will have been five or months or so when the boat has done nothing but sit there. It’s easy for leaks to show up over the winter. Or the battery power drains. Or corrosion begins to spread.”
Inspect the boat while she’s ashore. Do you see any fluid on the deck? Have hose clamps or sea-cock handles come loose or fallen off? Has water entered the engine room or anywhere below? Are ports or hatches secure? Are the batteries dry and properly connected? How about the hull? Stuffing-box tight? Need new zincs? Bottom paint?
(If you’ve left your boat in the water all winter, you’ll probably have to risk missing some of the essential checks. As an alternative, consider arranging for a “short-haul”—that is, taking your boat out of the water for a day or so to enable you to inspect the underwater surfaces and gear. Example: are barnacles clogging your impeller?)
After the boat is in the water, check your batteries and engine. Is the fuel in good condition? Oil level adequate—no leaks or drips? Transmission fluid at the proper level? Are belts correctly tensioned? Is the battery holding a charge? Are the terminals and wires clean and tight?
Start the engine and run it for half an hour or more, listening for sounds of trouble. “Giving it some run-time enables you to hear a lot of problems in the boat,” Miller says. “It also gives the engine a chance to work off some of the moisture that may have collected there during the winter. And it helps charge your batteries.”
If your boat is large enough to have electrical, mechanical, water, and waste systems, check them carefully, not just for a quick on-off test. Flush all the water tanks and let them overflow. Make sure your water system is free of any antifreeze you might have put in last autumn. Make sure your pumps work after having been dry all winter.
Next, what about your safety equipment? Check your fire extinguishers, distress signals, air horn, loud-hailer, and other safety gear to make sure they’re working and not expired. Also go through your first-aid kit to check the condition and expiration dates of any medicines you carry and replace those that no longer are usable.
Don’t forget your compass, navigation lights, radar reflector, VHF-FM marine radio (and a hand-held backup radio as well), and chartplotter.
Here are two other guideposts: Don’t stint, either on time or on money. Ensuring that your boat is properly maintained and equipped isn’t just a point of pride. It’s also a matter of safety if your boat encounters problems while you’re underway this coming summer. Take your time and do the job thoroughly—and right.
Be sure to cap your spring commissioning with a painstaking sea-trial, testing everything that you can, from your throttle and kill-switch to your transmission controls. Don’t settle for a quick spin around the marina. Take your boat out for several hours. It’s better to discover problems now than to risk being surprised farther from port.
Finally, think back over what you’ve done and ask yourself whether you’ve fulfilled the two basic objectives: fixing whatever’s gone wrong during the winter and preparing the boat thoroughly to help reduce the risk of problems once the boating season begins. That’s the last item on our checklist.
Happy boating!
by Captain Art Pine