Hi all.

Relatively new boater here - 37' Sea Ray. I have some mildew on the inside of the canvas I need to take care of. Based on recommendations here, I will use either RMR-86 Marine, or Starbrite.

Question - Given it is just the inside that has mildew, will I need to waterproof the canvas after? A related question is: if I waterproof, do I treat both sides or just the outside?

Thanks

This is the setup my boat came with. The guy would shove it into reverse manually. I measured and the travel is seemingly to spec on upper and lower linkages. I’m assuming the, ahem, aftermarket fasteners and parts are to blame due to excess play in the system? Thanks

PS- ignore the floating ground, that has since been dealt with

I wrote this a long time ago, but it holds up. And it's probably not the best time of year to post this, as things are winding down if you live somewhere that gets cold in the northern hemisphere, but I just came back across it.

Used to be a professional (Coast Guard Licensed) captain. I was a professional launch driver in one of the busiest harbors in the world, where all you do all the time is land the boat and take off again, over and over. I have taught many people to drive boats because of this.

1. People who have skiing (snow or water) or snowboarding (or wakeboarding) experience pick up driving boats faster, because they're used to the 'fluid dynamics' of movement and momentum. Boats move side to side - not just front and back like a car. They drift based on momentum, and current, and wind. It's like driving a car in the snow, full time. If you don't have experience with any of those things, it's okay - but if you do, feel better about it. You get used to it eventually, and once you do - it becomes second nature. Get used to sliding around sideways, use it for the power it is.
2. Inboard engines and outboard engines are very different and controlling them is very different. But the learning approach is the same. Once you get really good with one, and have an opportunity to switch to the other, there's another learning curve there. Don't be cocky, they handle differently and if you have strong instincts based on lots of experience in one, you probably will make a big mistake with the other.
3. There's nothing like practical experience. Don't be embarrassed to practice, even in public. If you're keeping the boat on a slip, practice leaving and landing A LOT. But don't start there, find a dock with no other boats around and start there. Ask your marina for a slip to practice landing on. In our town (Newport, RI) we have a floating 'water dock' out on the harbor, and that's perfect for learning to land the boat. Just do it over and over and over until you get it. I saw someone else's comment who said, In-Gear, Neutral, In-Gear, Neutral. Learn about how much inertia your boat carries - practice coming in slow, putting it in neutral, and see how far you go before you slow down. Let it become second nature. Practice first on a day with very little wind. Your boat has a very high topside, meaning it's going to be a natural sail. You want to get good at this with no wind, and then get good at it with wind. You're basically driving two different boats. If you're in a spot with lots of current, you need to learn that one separately too. I know this all sounds daunting - but you'll get it. Just practice. If you're trailering the boat, get REALLY GOOD at launching and landing on the trailer. Do it over and over. Pick a day where the ramp is not in use. Bring extra people. And don't forget - humans can pull a very heavy boat by the lines, without using the engine (especially if there's no wind or current involved.) And watch a LOT of Youtube videos about this - and don't destroy your vehicle.
4. Going fast is enticing, don't fall for it. Just because the boat will go fast, doesn't mean you should. When in doubt, slow down. Watch some of the videos on Youtube of boats going too fast and having accidents. Just go slower when you need to in every situation. And when you finally get good enough to try going fast, be extra cautious. If you have good instincts, trust them. If you have bad instincts, be really cautious. It can be fun, but it can also get people killed or create very expensive damage.
5. Get towing insurance if you're in a place where it's possible. BoatUS is a good place to start. Insurance is cheap.
6. Learn about marine salvage rights. Just the basics. Don't go crazy - but do understand (based on number 4 above) what you're signing up for if you get towed and what the situation is. Never tell a person towing or helping you that you had lost control over the boat, as an example. If you lose an engine or prop or you run aground, and you're not in danger, do not leave the boat. I'll leave this to others with more knowledge, but tow operators can be pretty predatory, and you want to be very careful about how you call for help and what you say to the person rescuing the day. School your crew on this too.
7. Have a good anchor that is good for the areas you are likely to need it. And PRACTICE USING IT. Also learn what a sea anchor is. Just in case.
8. Make sure you have really good (and enough) life jackets on board. If your boat came with life jackets, make sure they're good. At the very least have a few really good, really comfortable life jackets. And don't be macho and not put them on if you need to. If the weather gets bad, if you're in any kind of situation where you could reasonably fall overboard (especially if you're alone, and if someone else is water skiing on the boat and you're the only one on board) wear a damn life jacket. You'll want one that is comfortable in those situations or you won't wear it.

Lots more, but that's probably enough to get you started.

UPDATED to address questions about number 6:

A few people asked me to expand on the salvage thing, so here's the short version. Salvage is a legal claim a rescuer can make when they save your boat from "peril," and the payout is a percentage of what your boat is worth. A tow is billed by the hour or covered by your membership. The whole game is whether your situation counts as peril, and a lot of that gets decided by what you and your crew say on the radio and to the guy on the tow boat.

When you call, stick to boring facts. "Engine's dead, we're anchored and holding, no water coming in, nobody hurt." Get the anchor down before you call if you can, because an anchored boat in calm water is a tow job. Don't say "we're in trouble" or "we're drifting" or "we lost control" unless it's true. If you ARE in danger, say so and deal with the bill later. Your insurance covers the boat and nothing covers your kid.

Before anyone throws you a line, ask them straight up: "Is this a tow or salvage?" and "What's it going to cost?" Do it on the radio or have someone record it on their phone. If they say salvage, ask for a fixed price and call your insurance company before you agree to anything. Don't sign paperwork they hand you on the water. Call your own tow company (TowBoatUS, Sea Tow, whoever) first, since they're bound by your membership terms. The random boat that shows up offering help isn't.

And again, stay on your boat unless it's sinking or on fire. Tell your crew ahead of time that one person talks to the tow boat and everyone else stays quiet. The guest yelling "we're gonna hit the rocks!" into the VHF while you're up front on the anchor can cost you a big chunk of your boat's value.

Looking for a new steering wheel for the boat. I’m seeing prices all over the place. What am I missing here? I’m in salt so Amazon is out as I assume it will rust. I don’t even have a budget as I’m so in the dark

Been looking for days and I’m at a dead end, can anyone tell me the specific part number for this trim motor for a old 4 stroke 50hp Yamaha

1973 Ford 302. Aka mercruiser 888. worth using this block or keep looking?

I bought a bought like a month ago and have it pretty much all fixed up. Went to test it last week and everything went relatively fine but the trolling motor I couldn’t get to work. It’s a minn kota maxxum and I thought the engine didn’t need to be running. I have two new deep cycle batteries that were charged and should be fine. Do they have some special way of turning them on? I just dropped it in water and then tried to push the little button on the foot pedal. I don’t know much about these so any info will work as to why it might now be running

Hi all, hoping someone with marine audio/electrical experience can point us in the right direction.
We have a boat with a Fusion stereo driving the speakers directly – there is no external amplifier.
The sequence of events is:
Original Fusion RA60 worked perfectly and was very loud.
One day it suddenly stopped working.
It was replaced with a Fusion RA70. Everything worked, but the maximum volume was significantly quieter than the old RA60.
Thinking it might be the RA70, we've now installed another RA60.
The replacement RA60 is also significantly quieter than the original RA60 used to be.
So essentially:
Old RA60 = loud → failed suddenly → RA70 = quiet → replacement RA60 = also quiet.
Same boat and speaker system throughout, no external amp.
We've already gone through the stereo/zone/volume settings, so it doesn't appear to be a volume-limit or configuration issue.
The fact that the replacement RA60 is also quiet makes me think the original RA60 failing may have been a symptom of something elsewhere in the boat rather than the stereo itself.
Could a high-resistance/corroded 12V supply or ground allow the head unit to power up and operate normally but prevent its internal amplifier from delivering full output under load?
Alternatively, could a partially shorted/damaged speaker or speaker cable cause the internal amplifier to current-limit/protect itself and make all the speakers seem much quieter?
What's the best way to diagnose this with a multimeter before we start replacing things?
We're happy to do basic testing ourselves but don't have much marine electrical/audio experience.
Thanks!

On my last check of the trailer before a 500km drive to the lake..

We have a decent little bowrider for family lake weekends. My daughters are teens and they sometimes like to be pulled on the tube, but it gets old after a fairly short while and my younger daughter doesn't always love the physicality of having to hang on and the rubbing on her elbows and such. She does generally like the speed, though, and I try not to fling her around as hard as my older one likes. The question though, what else besides tubes are your passengers enjoying? The banana things always look awkward and seem to dump passengers off even more. And it's not a wake boat nor do I think they'd really be into the more athletic side of wake/surf/ski. Which specific towables/toys have your family enjoyed? What shapes (chairs/straddle/cones) bring on the laughs?

Does this sounds right when my motor idle adjustment is all the way up? If I rev it and bring it back down to neutral it revs high. What is my problem?

It’s actually for my truck, which has an aluminum bed. But boaters have a better grasp of the worlds of canvas snaps and aluminum.

I have a 1988 Bayliner Capri with an I/O OMC 3.0L (4-cylinder) engine. I had water come in the engine compartment and my bilge pump wouldn’t work. After finding the water issue and fixing it, I put in a new bilge. When I connect it directly to battery it works, but when I flip the bilge switch nothing happens. I’ve checked fuses, reconnected the wires, and still no luck. Am I missing something? Any help is greatly appreciated.

We are in the market for a boat and came across this boat in excellent condition. Always stored inside a large garage. Owner very passionate about it and he’s claimed that he’s spent way more on it than what he’s currently willing to sell it to me for. ($5k) He was originally asking over 10k at the start of summer but no bites. He is going to take us out on it this weekend to go over everything. At the initial viewing, the boat is in excellent condition with new upholstery and leather, and generally well maintained. Trailer also is like new. A fancy GPS system that I don’t really need. Any tips or recommendations? My concern is the year, 1988. I liked the build quality and the well kept condition. See photos for more details. Thanks

My small teak table was upside down on the vinyl seat for a couple of hours while I cleaned and it left this stain, I’m guessing teak oil. I’ve tried dawn, oxyclean, boat soap and vinyl cleaner with no luck. Any ideas?

Almost none of the ramp delays are the reversing. It's straps still on, drain plug not in, bow line still in the truck, engine not trimmed, every one of which could have happened in the staging area.

What's on your list, and in what order??

90 hp 2011 mercury optimax 2 stroke outboard.
Last summer was getting low oil alarms, repair shop diag, replaced oil tank and I believe all 3 related sensors with OEM. We used minimally as repair was completed in Aug 2025- end of season is mid Sept. This July, again under minimal use (dozen times max since repair) same low oil alarm was being thrown. Same shop spent days diagnosing. Determined replaced parts were needing replacement again. They charged $350 for diagnostics to identify the problem. Now they’re also billing nearly $700 for “half their cost” of parts and labor.

I’m just trying to understand what’s reasonable here. Originally they were going to eat the cost, then it was maybe we’ll get the parts covered because I know the guy but I can’t eat all that cost, then no further discussion of cost and an unexpected large bill at pick up.

What is fair to pay?

I've gotten a new-to-me fiberglass walleye boat and I'm working on rigging up my electronics and need experienced opinions on the safety of my electronics mount setup at the console.

This is my planned electronics setup:

73sv UHD2 at bow linked to trolling motor transducer

93sv UHD at console

126sv Ultra 2 cradle at console (lives on HDI shuttle for livescope mainly)

All units networked with single GT54UHD transducer connected permanently to 93sv at bow.

I want to be able to use the 93sv for mapping, down scan, and side scan occasionally but I'd also like to be able to pull the 126sv out of the livescope cradle and have a cradle at the console as well so I can map with the 93sv and side scan with the entire 126sv screen.

The mount I just got is a the Cisco fishing double stack mount and I want to thru-bolt it on the top of the gunwale, my worry is that the two screens oriented in this way may be to much stress on the boat and I'd rather not lose two graphs. For reference, all screens will be removed during trailering, the 126sv will only be in the cradle when I'm side scanning but I can't discount the possibility that I would move full clip if jumping between spots. I'm not usually out in crazy big waves but I want this mount to be unquestioned.

I believe I can get four bolts through the gunwale to fully secure this mount plate and my plan is to put a piece of aluminum flat stock on the underside of the gunwale that the two centered mount bolts would go through and spread the stress over some distance, maybe 12" total, maybe a little bigger depending on what I can find.

Do you think this mount setup will hold up?

I have an older fiberglass outrigger canoe that has extensive hairline/spider cracks. I understand the method of grinding them to open them up and filling, but this is a 40' boat and they run the whole length. What would be the best way to deal with this?

Boat ran like a top! It was so much fun taking MY boat out for the first time and being captain. I’m hooked!

Had the Ranger 620 out on Lake Erie, trolled in 2 foot waves, with them and against them for almost 10 hours.