Top 4 Items that Will Help Keep Your Boat Afloat

The worst thing you could ever do with your boat is crash her. It is a fear that lingers in the mind of any boat owner, though thankfully it doesn’t happen too often. Still, whether you are on a lake or on the ocean, you obviously have to be careful to avoid the land as well as other watercrafts. The following useful things will help you avoid an accident, arrive at your destination safely, and have a more enjoyable time on the water.

1. Use a chart plotter. Knowing where you are going is one of the most helpful things you can do for yourself, especially if you are cruising along at a pretty decent speed. You can’t stop in water like you can on land. Instead, it would be better to turn in order to avoid danger. But if you don’t know where you are turning to then you could be turning into more danger. Studying the charts will help you familiarize yourself with your stationary surroundings and keep you safe.

2. Using a radar unit will help you see objects on the water that could be a potential threat. It can show you vessels of various sizes, land masses, and even random flotsam and jetsam big enough to cause damage. Though a radar unit is one of the most useful items you could have on your boat, it has a very limited scope. It can’t see what’s on the other side of a huge cargo ship or around a peninsula. Even if you don’t see it on the radar, you could still be on a collision course. There is a solution to that though.

3. An AIS transceiver is another one of the most useful systems you could have on your craft. It will let cargo ships, and anyone else who has an AIS receiver, see you on a display screen. Since it uses a VHF antenna, it isn’t like radar and can see a ship on the opposite side of an island that may be headed around the bend. This is especially useful if you run into a patch of fog or if you enter into a place that has a lot of commercial traffic. Still, though this system is very helpful, it can’t pick up a signal on a boat that doesn’t have an AIS transmitter.

4. No matter what other equipment you may have, nothing can take the place of your own eyes. Keep your eyes open and watchful. In order to help see all around you at once, you may want to have some marine cameras installed. This way, all you have to do is look at a screen to see what is starboard.

Of course, though these nautical tools will help, don’t depend too heavily on technology. Cameras can’t see everything, after all, and neither can plotters, radars, or Automatic Identification Systems. Be watchful, alert, and ready for anything; and of course–have fun out there!