Know your position and surrounding charted dangers. Watch for floating debris, particularly after a storm or on rivers after spring thaw or heavy rain.
When Launching Get the boat back on plane to drain water out of the transom, and/or plug it with anything on hand.
Shut the seacock. If it won’t shut, wrap the hose with strips from a canvas cover, or cut the hose clean off and cap it with a tapered wooden or foam plug and a hose clamp.
Each spring, make sure shaft-seal cooling water is flowing through hoses from each engine to each shaft seal, and install a crossover hose so one engine will cool both seals. If one fails, keep the shaft from spinning with a pipe wrench and wrap it with strips from a canvas cover, tarp or bicycle-tire inner tube.
Don’t anchor from astern. A change in sea state or even a boat wake might come over the stern and swamp boat.
