The Boy Scout’s Motto

 

 

YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES: always be prepared. This is a good motto to live by, especially when it comes to captaining a boat. This is true whether you boat in the backcountry or blue water, whether you’re miles from the ramp or miles from land. And being prepared means carrying backups—lots and lots of backups.

PLUGGING THE HOLE: this one comes into play before you ever shove off the dock. Have you ever arrived at the boat ramp, only to discover your drain plug is missing? I have, and I never did find out if it bounced out of the boat on the road, someone snatched it at a fuel stop, or it just mysteriously disappeared into the fourth dimension. But when you’re sitting there scratching your head unable to go fishing, who cares what the reason is? Keeping a few spare drain plugs in your tow vehicle is always a good idea.

JUICE BOX: We need fluids to stay hydrated, and our boats need fluids to operate. Oil is the biggie, and it’s smart to keep a spare quart or two somewhere aboard in case a low oil alarm unexpectedly goes off. If your boat has a hydraulic steering system, you should have some fluid for it stashed away, too. 

ALL TIED UP: Most boaters carry spare lines, but some of us have honed our launching and retrieving skills to the point that we don’t use lines at all. That’s fine, but you still should be carrying a few lengths of ropes just in case. A power loss may mean needing to tie off to a tree or stump, assisting another boat may require securing your boat to theirs, or you may need to lash something down. You just never know when some extra mooring lines will come in handy.

POWER HUNGRY: If you have any devices aboard that run on batteries, you can bet those batteries will die when you’re in the middle of nowhere.

A true story: after the electrical system on a boat I was running went on the fritz and we lost all power at the helm, I began navigating to the inlet from 40 miles out with my backup handheld GPS. About 10 miles into the voyage the batteries died, but fortunately I had backups aboard. Little did I know, they had been sitting for too long… and I only got 10 or 12 miles further before they died, too.

I proudly whipped out my backups to the backup batteries, turned the unit on intermittently to make sure my heading remained true, and made it back to the inlet without any additional issues.

Whatever devices you may carry, always make sure there are backup batteries aboard—and if it’s a critical device like a handheld GPS, stash away backups to the backups, too.

POWER HUNGRIER: A loss of propulsive power is problematic to say the least, and while you can’t necessarily carry a spare outboard, small boat owners can keep a collapsible paddle stowed under a bench seat or in a rod locker. Your range may be limited, and your speed may be slow but unless you pass out from exertion there’s no more reliable means of moving a boat through the water than rowing it.

Boats with an electric trolling motor on the bow can use that as alternative powerplant for emergency propulsion, but only if you have plenty of juice at the ready so keep those batteries fully charged whether you plan on using that electric motor or not. What if your boat is too big to paddle, too small for twin engines, and there’s no electric trolling motor aboard? Keep current on your towing insurance, because in most areas there’s no better backup for a power failure than a tow boat.

SOS: This one is probably the most critical of all. Assuming your boat has a VHF, you still need to have a backup method of calling for help even when you stay within radio range. Like anything on a boat, the VHF can fail (electrical gremlins, moisture intrusion, a broken antenna, etc.) So, for starters, carry a handheld backup VHF. Unfortunately, the range on these units is extremely limited, usually to just a couple-few miles.

Offshore boaters should also carry an EPIRB or PLB, which notifies the USCG in case of emergency regardless of distance—and gives them a homing beacon to get a fix on. Today’s satellite messenger is another option, and these work well both offshore and in the back country. They have an SOS button you can press in case of emergency, and most models made these days also allow you to send text messages via satellite from virtually anywhere on the face of the planet.

Okay—ready to earn that merit badge? Go through your boat and identify all the backups you need to carry to always be prepared. Sooner or later, you’ll be glad you have ‘em aboard.

Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@fishgame.com