{"id":10415,"date":"2021-05-21T13:29:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/?p=10415"},"modified":"2025-07-03T16:08:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:08:04","slug":"your-guide-to-boat-checks-before-heading-out-on-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/blog\/your-guide-to-boat-checks-before-heading-out-on-the-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Guide to Boat Checks Before Heading Out on the Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

For many, their boat is one of their largest investments \u2013 their pride and joy. You may spend years tinkering with bits here and there when you\u2019re not enjoying the finer things in life – namely, lounging in the sun, fishing, or going as fast as you\u2019re allowed to!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But all too often, caught up in the excitement of getting back on the water, people take their boats out without the proper checks. Unfortunately for us boat lovers, an unnoticed issue in a boat can become a much bigger problem than an unnoticed issue in a car.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So, here are some absolute musts<\/span> when it comes to checking your boat before hitting the water.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

1. Check your bilges<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"\"Short of a big bucket and a lot of frantic bailing, your bilge pumps are your last defence in the event of taking on water \u2013 so <\/span>check <\/i>them. Most bilge pumps have a manual switch to check that they work, but it\u2019s worth actually lifting up the float switch (if safe to do so) or manually pouring water into the bilge to check that it will activate the switch.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

The benefit of actually testing the bilge pump with water is that you\u2019ll also be able to see if it\u2019s capable of shifting that water. The pump may work as far as the switch, but obstructions in the pump line could prove costly in an emergency.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Depending on the size of your boat, it\u2019s also worth having a backup bilge pump. Float switches can fail, so proofing yourself with backups means that you\u2019ll have more time to get to a manual switch if you start to take on water.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

2. Check your power<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

Depending on how you get your power, it\u2019s worth checking it <\/span>before <\/span><\/i>you leave port or drop your boat from a trailer. Some zero-maintenance AGM batteries will have been fine leftover winter, but then an unseen parasitic drain could have flattened them if you forgot to disconnect them when winterising. In fact, a parasitic drain could flatten them in the week or so since you last took your boat out.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Most rigs will have a separate bank for leisure batteries as a safety measure so that you can still start your engines if they flatten, but be sure to check both banks if you rely on a starter battery to get your motor going. You can check simply with a multimeter, or many rigs have an in-built voltmeter battery monitor for ease.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

3. Check your fuel system<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

Other than checking your fuel level, be sure to check your fuel <\/span>lines<\/span><\/i>. Especially if you\u2019re using diesel. Fuel filters are known to clog up over time and stop the flow of fuel to your motors. While it\u2019s better to have fuel particulate clog up a filter than your actual engine, it\u2019s worth checking the fuel filter so that you can focus on having a good time on the water. Having to row yourself three miles back to land is no fun. Well, it <\/span>can <\/span><\/i>be fun, just not when you weren\u2019t expecting to have to do it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

4. Check steering\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

Many people take for granted that their steering is going to work, but a quick look at your system could save you a lot of trouble when it comes to moving around. Free up any rusted parts of the steering with some appropriate grease \u2013 or alternatively, <\/span>de<\/span><\/i>-grease and reapply if parts of your steering have got gummed up with debris.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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5.<\/strong> Check your lights<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"\"You may be intending to only go out during the day, but a sudden change in weather or another problem could see you having to navigate at night. As such, it\u2019s vital that you check your lights before a journey – not only your main navigational lights but also your onboard lights so that you can get around your boat in the dark.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Make a checklist<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The best thing to do, especially before a long trip, is to make a checklist of every necessary check so that you don\u2019t forget any of them. After all, it\u2019s much better to realise you need to buy a new fuel filter <\/span>before <\/span><\/i>you\u2019re out in the water.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Need more power?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

If you\u2019re thinking about a power upgrade, check out our <\/span>CXO300 outboard motor<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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British diesel outboard innovator, Cox Powertrain has announced that its game-changing diesel outboard, the CXO300, has been chosen as a winner in Boating Industry\u2019s 2021 Top Products programme. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":10429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10415"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24013,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10415\/revisions\/24013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coxmarine.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}