FAQ & Hot Tips

A – With a bit of effort to get boating friends to help you learn or maybe to enlist help from your dealer, anyone who is capable of driving a car should be able to drive a power boat.  It is not hard – it’s great fun! I suggest you talk to your marine dealer before you buy the new boat. They may have a convenient local solution, you can talk to the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (http://www.cps-ecp.ca/) or go to the Canadian Yachting Association who do the on-the-water training for BOTH sailing and power boating. They can connect you to the Provincial Sailing Associations who in turn can connect you to courses from organizations like the Humber Sailing School through Humber College in Toronto, Cooper Boating in BC and many others who do hands-on, on-the-water boating instruction.

Q – I have a new house in a new development and my garage is 19 feet long. How long a boat can I get into that space?
A – To begin with, you have to include the length of an outboard or stern drive engine on the back if it’s a power boat and here’s a hint: many new homes have 8 foot garage doors but strangely, they often measure 96” to the frames and then the trim narrows the opening a bit so be aware of that. Next, the trailer tongue will extend past the bow or the boat but there’s a neat solution called a swing tongue trailer. The tongue folds back on a hinge to shorten it to fit your garage. Talk to your dealer for specifics.

Q – Should you tow the boat with the cover on or off? I see people doing both on the highway and some have the full top and windows on – the works. What’s best?
A – The best solution is a highway trailer cover. It has special fasteners to keep it tight and it is designed not to beat in the wind or rip. The covered boat creates less turbulence, saving on fuel, and it keeps loose items like life jackets from flying out.
We strongly recommend NOT towing with the regular mooring cover or with the convertible top and side curtains up. They were not made to withstand hours at 100 km/h.

Q – Occasionally when fishing, I travel longer distances and will be out of sight of land in the Great Lakes from time to time. Do I need to get a VHF radio in case of emergency?
A – A VHF radio is an essential piece of cruising equipment. Every boat on a large body of water should have one. You can do more than just communicate. The Coast Guard (Canadian and American) monitor VHF and there is important marine weather information available too. The new VHF radios have a great emergency feature called DCS that can be programmed to give the vessel’s location in case of emergency. Don’t leave home without it!

Q – This year, instead of storing my boat for the winter, I am planning to keep it on the trailer at my home so that I could trailer the boat down to Florida to go fishing on my winter vacation. Is there anything I need to add to my insurance policy to make sure I’m covered for this?
A –  Yes – You should know that most policies have a geographic territory; for example, you can’t go below the 49th parallel. This allows you to just go into the US, but not far south. Some policies have a trailering limitation of 500 miles from your mailing address. It is best to discuss these points with your agent and get the coverage you need.

Q – We are hoping to do some cruising with our cuddy cabin. We do have a refrigerator on board but how do we find out how long we can safely store various types of food on board or in our 12 volt refrigerator?
A – Visit the web site for the Canada Food Guide. It has detailed charts for this. Visit www.canadafoodguide.ca

Q- I will be buying a new 4-stroke outboard and plan to store it on the boat, on the trailer. Is it OK to leave it on the transom in the upright position or would the crankcase oil be better in another position?
A – Four stroke or two stroke, the best way to store them is in the fully upright vertical position, (not trimmed out). This allows the cooling water to drain out of the block and prevents any damage due to freezing. The oil pan on the four strokes are below the powerheads, so leaving them in the upright position is fine.

Q – What do people do to keep their trash from blowing around in the boat?
A –  I like soft-sided duffle bags and coolers for general storage and of course you should carry a few garbage bags but here is a neat way for boaters, hikers and campers to separate wet bathing suits, toiletries, food and garbage without regard to having the “right size” bag. There’s a product called Knot-a-Bag (available at most marine chandlerys) that is a tube. Just pull out any size bag you need from the little dispenser and knot it. It's perfect for trash, travel, storing fish and carrying wet clothes.

Q – With a trailer size boat, can you cook food on board or do you need to live on cold fare like sandwiches?
A – There are many small size marine type BBQ’s available now and they use little disposable propane canisters. (see photo below, of us using our portable sport BBQ) or you can go for something like this removable pedestal mount that you can install outside on your boat’s swim platform.