3 PLANNING AND SAFETY


■ Make sure the seawater cooling inlet strainer is free of debris. If the strainer is below the waterline, this will mean first closing the seacock. Take care to open the seacock again before starting the engine.


■ With outboard motors, ensure the air vent on the tank is open.


■ Finally, have a general look around the engine and transmission looking for leaks, loose electrical connections or anything else amiss.


Before you fire up the engine, take a glance over the stern to make sure there’s nothing there that might foul the prop. Once started, check that a healthy flow of cooling water is being expelled with the exhaust. Then allow the engine to idle for a few minutes to come up to its normal operating temperature. A great deal of internal wear can occur if a cold engine is put under load too quickly.


Raw water inlet


Water pump Strainer


If the strainer is fitted above the waterline the lid can be removed with the boat afloat.


Other important checks


■ Notify a contact ashore of your departure: the time you intend leaving, where you intend fishing, and when you expect to expect to return.


■ Obtain the latest weather report.


■ Make sure all the safety gear is on board. A typical list is detailed in the panel opposite and will be discussed more fully in Chapter 12.


■ Test the steering. Turn it from lock to lock. It should operate smoothly, without any obvious twitches of abnormal resistance that might indicate a frayed wire or other malfunctioning component.


■ Turn batteries on.


■ The amount of electrical equipment carried varies greatly from boat to boat. Depending on your own inventory, you should test bilge pumps, VHF, GPS (or chartplotter), trim tabs, outdrive leg tilt mechanism and navigation lights.


20


RYA Seamanship for Sea Anglers


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