Top 7 Big Mistakes That New Boat Owners Make

Buying your very first boats is always an exciting experience. Once the boat is in your possession, of course you are going to be champing at the bit to take it out on the water and give it a spin. Before you start grabbing all your equipments, including marine fuel bladders, and taking to the sea, it’s important to know the mistakes that most new boat owners make. Here are the seven top big mistakes they make, and how you can avoid them.

1. Not Being Fully Prepared

Before you even take the boat out for the first time, it is crucial that you know how to prepare for being on the water itself. If you do not prepare, then you will not be fully equipped to handle any situation if it arises, which will cause more problems for you.

For example, if you do not have a fuel bladder for boats on board, if you were to run out of gas then you very much would be stuck. If you are not checking the marine weather forecast before you go out, then you could be setting yourself up for failure. You must be checking the marine weather forecast specifically, otherwise you may find yourself having to deal with storms and rough seas when you weren’t expecting them.

2. Not Maintaining The Boat

Maintenance is key for anything you own, especially your boat. Aspects of your boat will wear out over time, and you need to be able to inspect it regularly and recognize when maintenance needs to be done.

This also goes all the equipment you use on your boat, including any safety gear like life jackets, as well as fuel bladders marine and anything else you use. After all, you don’t want those marine fuel bladders springing a leak at the worst time.

3. Running Out Of Gas

On the subject of having a fuel bladder for boats on board, many new boat owners often make the mistake of not having enough gas to get them where they are going. Boat fuel gauges aren’t as accurate as one’s in cars, so you need to be sure you have more than enough to get you where you are going. The rule of thumb is having one third fuel capacity to go to your destination, one the to get you back, and the last third in reserve.

To give you peace of mind, it still a good idea to have fuel bladders marine on board. These ensure you have extra fuel, whether that is to get you further than your gas tank will, or simply to tide you over in the event of an emergency.

4. Overloading Your Boat

This is a common mistake that many new boat owners make, but it is one that can be highly dangerous in some circumstances. If you are loading up your boat with everything from passengers to marine fuel bladders, it feels like it could be hard to keep track of how much weight is on board. However you absolutely have to keep track, or you run the risk of overloading the boat.

The best way to do this is to use the boat’s capacity plate to ensure that you are in the safe zone. Over time, you will likely memorize the safe zone for your boat. As a new owner, keep checking that plate when you are loading the boat to ensure that you are not overloading it.

5. Hitting The Dock

This is probably something that every boat owner has done at least once, but you want to avoid hitting the dock if you can at all. There is a saying among boaters which goes through on never approach a dock faster than you are willing to hit it. Remember, even if you are doing everything as you should, a mechanical failure or power loss can lead to the boat simply going into the dock.

Remember, reduce your speed when you come to approach the dock, and ensure you know how to properly dock a boat so you avoid any potential damage to your boat’s hull.

6. Mooring Your Boat Incorrectly

Once you have but the boat to the dock, you will have to moor it in order to keep it in place. There have been many inexperienced boat owners who have thought they did everything right, only to watch their boat float away from the dock because they just had not moored it correctly.

When buying a boat, you are going to need to learn a range of new skills in order to properly use it and protect it. Mooring a boat is just one of those skills. While buying all the equipment you need, such as marine fuel bladders, will go along way, sometimes you are just going to have to put the work in and learn how to properly use aspects of your new purchase.

7. Getting Lost

This is something that most boat owners will do at least once in their lives, but it’s very common for new owners to get lost on the water. Even in the age of modern navigation equipment and other high-tech gadgetry, it can still happen. As a new boater, you are going to want to be prepared in case this ever happens to you.

Having a fuel bladder for boats on board will give you peace of mind if you do get lost, so you can still get to shore. You can also download a marine navigation app onto your phone, which will act as a chartplotter in the event of any of your regular equipment failing. That way, you shouldn’t ever get lost if the worst happens while you’re at sea.

These are seven of the most common mistakes that new boat owners make. If you are fully prepared with navigation equipment, fuel bladders marine, and of course the know-how to use your boat, you can avoid a lot of these potential issues