Advice for new boater

Just picked up a used 20 foot bow rider in great shape from a friend of mine that was not using it.

So far have been out on Lake Placid.  Saw a bald eagle yesterday which was really awesome.

Anyone have advice for a new boater besides putting the bilge plug in (already heard that from about 5 people) ?

What lakes are best?  I'd like to get on Champlain this weekend if it's not windy.

Coach Z wrote

What lakes are best?

The ones that don't allow motors...

Or you could try Stillwater or Great Sacandaga if you are feeling brave.

Advise you to get the kids out of the tube and up on some waterskiis, great work out and lots of fun.  

Coach Z wrote

Just picked up a used 20 foot bow rider in great shape from a friend of mine that was not using it.

So far have been out on Lake Placid.  Saw a bald eagle yesterday which was really awesome.

Anyone have advice for a new boater besides putting the bilge plug in (already heard that from about 5 people) ?

What lakes are best?  I'd like to get on Champlain this weekend if it's not windy.

Yea, if you haven't already, definitely take a boater's safety course.

If you anchor or moor always do so from the bow. If hooked to the stern, waves can kick up and make it impossible to unhook then they swamp the boat. A guy on LG died recently in this situation. Always have a good floating knife on board to cut lines in emergency situations. Make sure people know where it is. Ebay has them.

As soon as the waves pick up, EVERYBODY must don lifejackets. No exceptions. The most important part of a lifejacket is that it fits proper. Watch for large rogue waves from tour/cruisers boats. It may have passed by some miles ahead, but it's big waves are coming. They can be hard to spot. If transversed at an angle and at any speed your boat will very quickly and very violently rock side to side, slamming people into the boat and tossing their unconscious selfs over board, even the driver. I saw a vid of this at boater's course. Those on board got slammed hard and then went flying out like mere toys. It happens extremely fast and is truly violent. Unconscious people in the water die very quick.

Kids 12 and under are law required to wear LJ when " underway ". This means anytime you're not tied up to a dock, anchoerd or moored. Even on a free floating boat they must wear one.

If you're going to store it at dock, get the biggest fenders you can afford though they may be hard to stow on your rig. 10-12 inches in diameter. Look for used ones on Ebay. The usual 6-8 inch diameter ones are not worth much if waves are pounding the boat against the dock. If this happens, make SURE beforehand that all know not to get a body part between boat and dock. Disastrous.

Carry a battery jumper pack. Buy some stretchy lines from Airhead, They're the bomb when moored, at dock or anchored as they take out the jolt from waves. Get different lengths. I put carbiners on mine. Keep in mind this causes them not to float, don't drop overboard.

http://www.amazon.com/AIRHEAD-AHDL-4-Bungee-Dockline-Feet/dp/B0012RJTUW/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1408973167&sr=8-10&keywords=airhead

Learn how to anchor. It's not just dropping it over board. Danforth anchors need a 5-6 ft chain leader attached to the anchor. New box anchors and hourglass shaped anchors are said to hold very well.

Get a marine radio. Handhelds work fine. DO NOT rely just on cell phones. Radios alert nearby boats. There will be some close to you who will be able to respond quicker. Marine radios also have weather alerts, very important! If lightning occurs get off the water ASAP. This means any port in a storm, any dock or island....whatever. If a radio is on board, you're required by law to have it turned on and monitoring ch 16. It's easy.

The law requires you to keep a " watch out " .This means you're responsible for what's ahead. Train your mate to always have a eye out ahead. Watch for people in the water even " out in the lake's middle ". Believe it or not, people do try and swim across lake George. Waves can VERY easily hide a swimmer, kayak or canoe. You're also required to have a distress flag,  a throwable life saving device and a horn or whistle.

Boats " to the right " have the right of way. Be wary of others, many break the rules of navigation. Sailboats almost always have the right of way unless they're not undersail or in a navigation channel or are overtaking you.

REMEMBER, lakes like Lake George and Champlain are " Big Water ". They must be respected. Don't F' with them, they kill. 3-5 ft waves can be expected with or without storms. Your little boat will not handle these well and any distance back to port will be a very, very long and slow scary ride. Even a normal windy day can produce big waves on these lakes. Beware.

Charts are a must in my book especially on big lakes. Not a map, but charts. Study them. Charts show much info including depth and nav hazards and they included marina locations, phone#'s and emergency phone numbers. Also very useful to find stuff. It's not unusual to find rocks sticking up in the middle of LG.

Sacandaga's water level can vary greatly, 10 ft or more. This exposes different nav hazards, some in the lake's middle I'm told. Never assume just because you're out in the middle of ANY body of water that there's enough depth.

If your boat has a bilge, ALWAYS follow the ventilation procedures. ALWAYS!, No shortcuts !!!! or BOOM!

Lastly, if there's any alcohol on board and you're stopped by law enforcement, the boat's driver is required by law to give a breath test. There's a lot of law enforcement on LG.

Back to the fun part, Spent all day on LG yesterday ! Friggin awesome!!! Just fantastic!! Anybody living up here should have a nice boat at sometime. LG is the nicest lake in the country. Do Not Miss It!  

Oh yea. Be VERY careful who you let drive your boat. No d-bags or stupid f'cks ever! This is especially important when pulling a tuber or skier. People nowadays tend to get all " woo hoo ! ". A common major accident is the slingshot move where the boat turns hard at speed and the tuber slingshots around the side. Fun sure, but don't over do it. Many people have been seriously hurt this way even in open water or slammed off of docks, etc all because some d-bag was driving.

Bays are the best place for tubing etc. On busy days, a tuber in the water can get mowed down. Also, not long ago on LG a kid was killed tubing when another boat tried to pass behind the towing boat and " didn't see " the tuber.

Can't say it enough.....Beware of others and stupid sefish f'cks ! There's plenty out there now a days.

You're required by law to have a spotter on board when towing people. " It takes three to ski ".

FWIW some of the tubes you sit in have cause boat damage and injury when launched over waves. The tube comes down upside down and scoops up major amount of water that then jerks the boat very hard.

Take the NY State boat safety course with your kids.  It is about 8 hours and is very informative.  I was dubious as we have had boats forever, but I learned a lot.  Your kids will need it if they want to operate the boat by themselves, as there is a new law that will require this document, but us old timers are grandfathered in.

Snowballs wrote

As soon as the waves pick up, EVERYBODY must don lifejackets. No exceptions. . . . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

This is just crazy. How about this idea: when the waves pick up, drive slower. We're talking relatively calm lakes here, not the high seas.

The fun of "boating" is just doing whatever you want on a boat (tubing, skiing, fishing, sitting on it and drinking). Yeah, you should be safe, but come on, let's not go nuts on the safety thing here. You're more likely to get injured driving to the lake than you are on the lake. Maybe snowballs can recite a list of auto maintenance rituals and checks that you have to perform so you can be sure that your vehicle is running at maximum safety capacity.

You have a boat, just enjoy it how you see fit.

And Upper Saranac Lake is great because there's never anybody on it.

Always the douche bag aren't you !!! Calm Water ?!? Not the high seas ?  For your info LG gets big waves dumb ass. Even going slow these can put people overboard especially if they try to move about which they do. Even going slow big waves move a boat up and down or sideways, easy for a kid to go overboard.  If the water's cold or if they're older they can have a heart attack.

Thanks for so quickly providing an example of the selfish dumb ass people I warned about. It's stupid fucks like you that make it dangerous for others.

Never let Matt drive. He's too damn stupid. What a jerk !

mattchuck2 wrote

Snowballs wrote

As soon as the waves pick up, EVERYBODY must don lifejackets. No exceptions. . . . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

This is just crazy. How about this idea: when the waves pick up, drive slower. We're talking relatively calm lakes here, not the high seas.

Should tell that to the people who die on Great Sacandaga every year or so.  You need to respect the lakes - they turn into seas quicker than you may think...

Although I suspect many of these deaths involve the extra amount of booze you can carry in a motor boat.

I read his post and thought to myself...geez i dont know how I survived with my boat.  So many dangers I never saw.  Kept it on LG, it is the prettiest lake I have ever been on.  

If you take that boat on Champlain you better look at the weather, you will get tossed around pretty good.  May be a lttile more experience before you screw with that lake.

Check out Taylors pond.  

Drop it in Lake Flower and go up through the locks.  The first one is operated by the DEC but the second one is a do it yourself lock.  Pretty cool exp for adults and the kids love it.  

Let's not discount the fact that maybe he's new to boating. He asked for advice so he would like to learn in advance some issues, probably you learned some things prior to boating also.

What if he didn't know some things and because of this one of his family got hurt or killed ? It happens every year so I felt like helping him.

Thanks for the advice.  Keep it coming.

I added to my shopping list.  Where do you get charts?

Lake Goerge is pretty far to drive so I plan to stick up here for now.  I also hear it's more crowded than up here.

I don't plan to go out of the sheltered bays on Champlain like around Valcour Island which is closer for me than LP and I don't have to drive thru the Notch with the boat.  I want to check out the Saranac Lakes but I'm told the locks are tricky so I will take someone more experienced when I do that.

I agree safety is number one.  I already did the boater safety course and plan to have my wife and son do it too.

Charts-marinas have them. Shop around. Prices vary. They're great and will help you learn the lake faster and find cool spots. It's good to know your position.

LG above the narrows is much less traveled. The northern end is really nice.

How far is taylors pond?  I think it is like a 15 minute trip for you.  That would be the go to place for skiing and hanging out.  Putting the boat is is a little tricky but there are people around who would help.

I have heard good things about Taylor Pond but the dec web site says it's not a full ramp dock launch.  Has anyone launched there with a trailered boat?

Silver Lake also looks nice.  That is a private lake not sure what it costs to put in there.

Back to charts. If you're going to boat many different waters, a Chartplotter/fishfinder may be better/cheaper than buying many paper charts. Much more than a fishfinder, they display charts for many waters. One SD card will cover our area BUT I personally can not vouche for how accurate they are or if all the ADK waters are on them. People say they are accurate. Humminbird and others make them.

Likely there's not paper charts for all ADK smaller waters, IDK.

People do boat without either, but you asked for advice and charts are always recommended by boating authorities. Many ADK waters have rocks sticking up where you wouldn't expect them.

I like my LG charts. They're 4 - 22  inch long pages. Good reading.

SB I really do want the advice.

The boat came with an Hummingbird

Need to learn how to use it

Charts would still be helpful I would think.  I saw a fishing guide for NYS that had maps and notes on almost all lakes.  May not be as detailed as a Nav chart but still helpful.

If your Humminbird IS a Chartplotter you're in ! You'll have to verify that. Many are just fish finders. I have a good one but's it's not installed yet. Mine will also give you a view of what's below. I hope to see the shipwrecks on LG. These are marked on the paper charts.

Charts are really good for big water. It's nice to have a hard copy to learn the lake and it's cool spots. Like topo maps for hikers, a good chart reader can use it to find more desirable spots.
 
I only boat LG so limited info on other lakes. One day, we'll go to Champ for an extended boat trip and stay at hotels.

Glad to help you Coach, anytime. Don't forget to grease your trailer's wheel bearings using marine grease. It matters. Your water impellor needs changed every couple years if it's an outboard, not sure how inboards work. Make sure the motor has a good " pee" stream when you start it up.

You're going to love having a boat ! We love ours.

Forums help. here's one....

http://forums.iboats.com/forum

One thing chartplotters have over paper charts is they can guide you back safely if caught out after dark, fog, low vis etc. Even if there's no chart on it for your particular water, you can retrace your course with one. Small lakes might not matter, big lakes yea. As you know boats don't have head lights. in fact, they're illegal.

Most likely this won't be a concern. Some people love going out after dark saying it's a whole 'nother world. I for one wouldn't want to be out on a big lake after dark. Too many hazards if traveling very far.

Yes it not that bad.  There is a rock you need to avoid but if you take it slow it no problem.