r/boating

saturday morning. ramp is backed up four trailers deep because one guy up top cant back a trailer. clearly new. new truck, paper tags still on the trailer, boat looks expensive. hes been at it maybe fifteen minutes and everybody is waiting because nobody wants to be that guy.

I walked up and offered to back it down for him. he said no hes got it. five more minutes. jackknifes it again. at that point I walked up again and told him he was holding up five boats and he should go find a parking lot and practice before he comes back. he got mad, called me a couple things, and his wife just said honey let him. I backed it down, handed him the keys, he didnt say thank you.

feel like I did the right thing but the way his face looked when I walked away I cant stop thinking about it. would you guys have just kept your mouth shut and waited

I have been to Hopetown several times. To leave a boat at anchor in an 8 foot dinghy to go to Elbow cay in the middle of the night is not credible. It is not something you do in the Bahamas. It is a good way to get run over by another boat or to have the currents carry you away. A prudent sailor would not do this. My guess is the deed was done somewhere else and he did this to cover his tracks. Hopefully a cell signal or a web cam sheds light on this.

hey folks, I grabbed some lucas marine grease for my trailer. I started hand pumping grease in the dexter e z zerk, and used almost an entire tube of grease. I kept going until all the old grease was out. i didnt spin the wheel or anything. Did I over do it? or will I have an absolute mess going down the highway now? sorry for the novice post.... im terrible at being an adult lol

gentlemen/women....long time lurker, first time posting.

I’m 24 and about to pull the trigger on my first boat up in Northern California. For anyone local, I’m locking in a 40’ slip at Westpoint Harbor. Grew up running around on my grandfather’s 40-footer and have rented smaller powerboats in places like Bermuda, so not brand new....but definitely stepping up here.

Couple things to factor in:

• I’m 6’5” so I already know most cabins are gonna be a “duck or crawl” situation
• Will be accompanied boating with my lovely girlfriend + brother
• Just booked a pretty serious refresher: 20 hours of private, on-the-water instruction (mainly docking and handling, as well as navigation, etc.). This is being done a 30' enclosed cabin boat, on the bay.
• Want something that can comfortably handle the Bay and ideally some light coastal cruising (nothing crazy, but up/down the coast would be sick)

What I’m looking at:

• 29–32’ cruisers
• Must be twin engine (not even considering singles)
• Stuff like Chaparral Signature 290, Sea Ray Sundancer 290 to 320 range, etc.
• Big appeal is being able to do overnights/weekend trips

Main question: am I gonna regret going in that 29–32’ range for what I want to do? Too small? Just right? Should I suck it up and go bigger? Please help.

Note - Will be doing some solo trips, so need a size I will be able to dock alone if needed.

Would appreciate any real-world advice here

I used to think staying on land was the only “comfortable” way to travel.

Hotels, apartments, room service… everything predictable.

Then I spent time living on a catamaran.

First in the Caribbean, then around Europe — and something just changed.

You wake up with the sea, not an alarm.

Your “view” changes every day.

Coffee tastes different when you’re surrounded by nothing but water.

It’s not always perfect:

- sometimes the wind gets strong

- space is limited

- plans change depending on the weather

But that’s also the beauty of it.

On land, everything feels structured.

On the sea, everything feels… alive.

I didn’t expect to get so used to this kind of freedom, but now it’s hard to go back to “normal” vacations.

Curious if anyone else here has tried living on a boat for more than a few days?

I’m currently boatless and in the market for a dual console, likely in the 5,000–9,000 lb gross trailer weight (i.e., wet, full of gear) range. The plan is to keep it at a marina on a lake for normal use, but I’d want to take it to other bodies of water, not local, maybe 2-3 times a year.

Our current vehicle can’t handle that kind of towing, and I’d rather not buy and own a dedicated tow vehicle just for a handful of trips annually if I can help it. I already understand that car rental companies and Turo prohibit trailering, so that avenue is probably closed as I’m not looking to skirt any rules.

Are there any truck rental companies that actually permit towing a boat trailer for a weekend or week-long rental? Just wondering if a legitimate option exists that I’m not aware of.

And if not, is a professional boat transport/hauling service the main remaining option? I’m imagining something like a marina or boat transport company that handles the logistics for those occasional trips. Is that a realistic and commonly used service, or is it more niche/expensive than it’s worth? Any experience with this, or other creative solutions I’m not thinking of? Thanks all.

Figured this might be useful for some of you. I spend way too much time looking up basic engine specs — oil capacity, spark plug type, compression ratio, gear oil — and it always means digging through PDFs or some forum post from 2009. So I started putting everthing in one place.

Its now a searchable site with over 1600 marine engines from 30+ brands. Yamaha, Mercury, Honda, Suzuki, Evinrude, Johnson, Volvo Penta, Yanmar, Tohatsu, MerCruiser, Nanni, Torqeedo and more. Outboards, inboards, sterndrives, even some electrics.

Each engine has stuff like HP/kW, displacement, bore & stroke, compression ratio, oil type & capacity, spark plugs & gap, gear oil specs, valve clearances, fuel system, dry weight, WOT rpm — whatever I could pull from service manuals and manufacturer docs.

Full disclosure: I built this. Its free, no ads, not trying to sell anything. I'm posting because I need people who actualy know these engines to find my mistakes. 1600+ entries means theres definitly wrong data in there somewhere.

Every engine page has a feedback button to flag bad info. If you got 5 minutes to look up your motor and check the specs against what you know, that would be a huge help.

Site is called MarineSpec — you can find it through my profile. Theres a quick free signup that unlocks the detailed specs.

Happy to answer questions about how its built or what sources I used. And if you find something wrong dont hold back, thats the whole point.

Hi, I see through hull outlets for what looks like a front bilge pump but for the life of me I can't find the pump. When I open the hatch under the stair (aft berth) I see the shower sump and outside of the sump box there is water in the bottom of the boat. Having said that...it sounds like there is a front bilge pump somewhere?

It's probably not an ideal workaround but I thought about putting a bilge pump in the same area as the shower sump but outside the sump box. It will get the issue solved but what the heck.

I am planning to buy an Inflatable boat (either Zodiac cadet or Achille LSI series) and both of these have an inflatable hull and keel. Most of the lakes and rivers shallow water near my house is full of rocks and debries that can damage their hull or keel easily.

Defender has a product for hull protection - https://defender.com/en_us/defender-inflatable-boat-nbr-rubstrake

Found some on amazon as well.

I am not sure if Inflatable boats can be folded after applying these products over Hull or Keel.

I wanted to ask, if you came across any way to protect the hull/keel of inflatable boats. Happy to know your experience and thoughts.

Hi, i'm trying to remove starboard sides of the engine brackets to pull the trim units out for service. Has anyone successfully done that? 
It seems like i might have to remove the hydraulic steering bracket that i have circled in red to make removal of the starboard side of engine bracket easier. Does it come off with some force?