How to operate
A Boat
Boating for Beginners - Boating Basics - How to Drive a Boat
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what's going on guys this is gene Jensen
and I find myself on the shores of the
lake of my heart
[Music]
[Applause]
what's going on guys this is gene Jensen
and I am on the shores of Mille Lacs
Lake in northern Minnesota and we've got
a fairly calm day today
we've turned the camera so you show you
guys but later on this afternoon the
winds gonna pick up and this lake is
going to get really choppy and I think
it's going to be a perfect opportunity
to show you guys the basics of operating
a boat I first of all as a disclaimer
I'm not a boat mechanic I don't pretend
to be one I am NOT a boat expert what
I'm good at is getting a boat on the
water and getting back safely and that's
what we're gonna talk about today so
don't hold any of these crazy little
details like pitch of the prop and all
that other stuff over my head because I
don't understand them and I couldn't
care less
I'll let the engineers take care of that
so let's get into boat boat operation
how to get out of the water how to how
to operate a boat safely and how to get
them back safely
alright so to start with always wear
your PFD
and this little sucker right here this
is the pull cord to your kill switch
when you get knocked out of the boat
your engine shuts off and your boat
stops and it doesn't go away from you
and if very any chance you didn't get
knocked out or you come to you can get
back in your boat and because your boat
will be right there so always hook your
kill switch up to your PFD and always
wear your PFD when that big motor is on
safety and that's what it's all about
all right so let's go over some parts
and pieces of the boat so to start with
they puff this camera off the tripod all
right so first of all here's your
throttle this right here this is your
trim switch this is very important you
use this a lot some boats have the trim
switch and a little almost like a turn
signal whatever a little toggle right
here or right there so one thing to
understand is that every boat is a
little bit different but I like mine on
the handle and I hope to get one on here
one day but it's I just find it easier
to use it on the handle you got your
horn
you got your aerator your pump for your
for your live well bilge pump which as
many times as I've had leaks and boats I
habitually will test it throughout the
day just making sure that the the bills
doesn't have a whole bunch of water in
it
courtesy lights which is just a light
that turns on here in the cockpit and
then your nav lights and when it gets
after this when the Sun Goes Down you
put your lights out and you turn your
nav lights on so you've got the green
and red light up front and you've got
the light on the back of the boat always
when the Sun is not up have those in
have that turned on alright so once you
have the boat in the water okay and I'm
going to put a link right here to the to
how to launch a boat by yourself which
most most states will let you power
launch at lunch at like I do in that
video but check your state regulations
and check the regulations at the boat
ramp and make sure that you can power
launch it if not there's a different
technique but
have rarely come into into contact with
a boat ramp that wouldn't let me at
least idle off the the trailer but
anyway so you put the boat in the water
you get it out away from the the boat
ramp you get it past the no wait
buoys and then you're ready to take off
you're ready to get it up on plane so
what you do is you take and you run that
hit that trim switch all the way down
okay I say your trim is all the way down
take this sucker up and I'm gonna
explain this before I do it you push the
throttle all the way forward or most of
the way forward you get it up on plane
and I back off a little bit because I
hardly ever run my boat at full speed
but you can run at full speed and if you
want to run it and see how fast it'll
possibly go what you do is you go ahead
and floor your your your throttle all
the way down and then hit that trim up
and that trimmed will lift the the front
of the boat and then you lift it up
until your boat starts to to porpoise
just a little bit you'll feel it just
barely start to start hopping if you're
not going over top of anyways trim down
just a little bit and it'll stay up on
planer to give you your top speed what I
typically do is I will get it up on
plane I'll come off the throttle a bit
just to save gas and I don't need to get
anywhere fast and then I will we'll just
cruise and I'll hit that trim up just a
little bit again until it starts to
porpoise and then I'll come back down
slower speeds it porpoises earlier with
less trim faster speeds you can trim it
up a little bit more and a little bit
more and it's just a matter of feeling
playing out with your boat I remember
years ago I was captaining a a high
school know in high school it was a
junior bass masters back in the day and
me and Ryan were sitting there on the
point Ryan was fishing and I watched a
brand new bass boat across the lake get
put in the water I know the only reason
it was a brand new bass boat is this
dude had never been in a boat and it was
a nice sparkly red boat and he got it he
would he would hit the throttle it would
get up
get up and get up and get up and get up
and get up and then the guy in the
passenger seat would crawl up to the
front of the boat and the boat would go
down and then the prop would come out of
the water and the boat would go and he
did that for 30 minutes until he finally
I watched him idle back into the marina
put it on the trailer and take off
he never was told a thing about the trim
but trim is everything also when you get
into shallow water less than 3 foot of
water I trim that motor up I have a
hydraulic jack plate that's a whole
different world but I trim that motor up
and and just so I don't hit anything and
I always make sure that pay attention to
my map and know what I'm when I'm in
shallow water I don't run high-speed in
shallow water unless I know the lake
well and and yeah dude it's just about
being safe all right so we're going to
run through this now mine has a foot
throttle so actually let me switch to
the hand throttle that's what's nice
about this new evident is you can switch
to a hand throttle all right it's on
hand throttle
all right so the first thing you do is
you want to get it up on plane and up on
plane means it's up on the back half or
back third of the boat and it's up on
top of the water here we go
all right so its up on plane I back off
a little bit get to a nice cruising
speed
and I just start hitting that trip
switch just a little bit
and I haven't I've started doing faster
but my throttle I haven't pushed my
throttle down any see now starting to
porpoise so I want to come down this to
hair until that porpoising stops
and that's how I do it
now if you want to go for a spin - just
throttle all the way down and trim it
until it you get that optimum speed
without porpoising
so these are those rolling waves
not a whole lot of Whitecaps winds not
blowing really hard it's like six seven
miles an hour but because this is such a
giant lake I'm literally making a ten
mile
straight across the lake it's like how
long it is this way I can't even see the
shore
it's a huge thing and so when the wind
gets blowing on it insisting it's always
going to be a little rough so I just
want you to pay attention to how I'm
feathering
throttle as I'm riding over these
always when you're coming down the way
you want to let off I know when you want
I'm using my hand
like my hand flat on here
you know with that awful thing
it just gives me more control
I can go faster this both get right off
everybody's different feet these are
made for this
this isn't a flat bottom bottom five
feet
no your boat nobody can
what a campaign hi so all you guys who
watch Deadliest Catch you hear about
them running in the trough all the time
and what it is is the waves are hitting
you from the side so we've got all these
rollers and all these waves hitting us
from the side and really when you're
going snow like this it can be really
really rocky I mean that's and that's
what they're doing when they're talking
about fishing in the trial they're going
real slow and these big waves are
hitting them from the side well actually
it's a smoother ride when you're up on
plane riding in the trough you just have
to be careful of the wave that's going
to hit you at a 45 degree angle that's
just a matter of watching port it's not
gonna kill you it's not gonna hurt you
just gonna get you paid
we're gonna read in the chopped
listening
I'm just riding the waves I go over one
attorney
it's just gotta kind of ride and steer
with it
I do bad
all right so let's get serious for a
minute when the weather gets rough on
this Lake ten miles an hour and it's
rough and it's it's a rough tough ride
back in no matter what kind of a boat
you're in this aluminum boat hey it's an
eighteen and a half foot aluminum boat I
love Alumacraft because they're really
really solid boats and they don't
vibrate as much when you're in rough
water so you don't feel it up your back
other aluminum boats have welds right
down the keel which allow a little bit
of a flex and vibration in the hole and
when that happens you feel more
vibration up your back but anyway when
the rough when the water gets rough
you've really got to be careful don't be
in a hurry to get back in the rougher it
is the harder it is gonna get back in
and I'm gonna show you some of the
tricks and I've learned through my own
experiences some really really scary
ones but I've learned how to get myself
back to the truck and back to home
safely so when I started to see
Whitecaps on on the water I know it's
gonna be a little bumpy and so but when
I started to see like a white caps in
this boat and other boats are a little
bit different like my Triton was a lot
different if I started seeing Whitecaps
I knew it was gonna hurt cool going home
I mean it's one of the old trends it's
not one of the new ones I know how they
build the new ones but the old tri is it
flex so much that it hurt and I knew
it's gonna be a rough flight right back
so I took my time but I've been in some
pretty crazy things where in just a
matter of minutes it went from four mile
an hour wind to twenty-five mile an hour
wind and I had to get back and so what I
do is I get the boat going real slow and
I trim up I'm not talking these are
three and four foot waves when it's
really really you cannot get up on plane
and without it being completely and
totally dangerous but I will get the
boat going I will trim up until I'm I've
got the the front end a little bit in
the air and out of the water and I want
the
abe's to hit right up in the front third
of the boat I want the waves to hit
right there and I just as long as I'm
moving forward I'm fine I just keep
plowing through and what that does is it
allows the front of that boat to take
the brunt of the force of the waves and
it keeps you dry and it keeps you moving
forward now that's the worst-case
scenario to get back trim up get your
get your your front end up out of the
water and let those waves hit and you
should be able to get back I have one
time on Kentucky Lake where it almost
seemed like I was going backwards more
than I was going forward and it took it
took me an hour and I have to go for
miles and so it can be bad but you just
got to got to be safe all right so now
when you when you start to see a little
bit of Whitecaps and a little bit of
chop on the water there's a couple of
things you can do there's a point in
time where they start to get the waves
especially on big lakes like this
they'll start to get roly and it really
you'll find that your boat slams into
those waves a lot and you don't want to
break things that's when things fall
apart is when you start slamming that
boat down and what I typically will do
is just go as fast as I possibly can I
don't make being up on plane at a
priority I just kind of ride them and
try to tie them and get that speed where
it's it's you know it's pretty decent
but usually when they're just starting
to see Whitecaps you can get up on plane
and you can actually skip in a ride
across a lot of those those waves and
it'll be just fine a little bumpy but
not too bad fiberglass boats they can
hit those things really good you can get
up on top and just go they're heavier so
they plow through larger waves a little
bit better and so even after even when
the water gets too rough for this one to
go full speed on plane a fiberglass boat
can do it that's the advantage one of
the advantages to having a fiberglass
high so more about safety and things
that to have in your boat now
the best thing to do and I haven't
completely finished the rigging of this
boat for this the best thing to do is go
to the US Coast Guard website and see
what needs to be in the boat and then
pick and shoot and
most of what the Coast Guard recommends
us for deeps and you know salt water and
and professional boats and that kind of
stuff but check check and see what all
you need to have in your boat it's
really cool to get the Coast Guard to
check your boat and you have everything
that they they have on their list and
they'll give you this cool sticker that
goes on your boat saying that you've
been checked by the Coast Guard but
flares are a good thing
the basics for most of you well let's do
let's do this real quick you can go to
your state website and check to see what
they what safety gear they require on
your boat and make sure you have that
and then go to the Coast Guard and get a
few of the extra things just to see but
anyway usually states require a some
type of a throw question and mine is up
underneath my seat and it has to be
easily accessible so that's a pro
question they also require a four we if
you have a combustion engine they
require a fire extinguisher which I have
one right up underneath the camera but I
don't want to move it fire extinguisher
they a kill switch that works PFDs for
every person but just check your list on
on your state and make sure that you
have everything but the best thing to do
is read your state regulations read the
requirements for your boat and the
limitations to your boat and then go on
the coast part of website and check and
see what they require on the boat and
get as much of that as you can if you're
just going to stand in the lakes and
stuff like this it's no big deal you
don't really need the Coast Guard stuff
they're just some nice to have in the
next month or two I'm gonna have all the
stuff that I need for Coast Guard wise
like flares and things like I'm just on
too many lakes by myself to not have
some way to get to get help my cell
phone doesn't work and stuff like that
all right so now let's talk about on the
water operation and and this this is
kind of the the part that really bugs me
the most is that there's a lot of people
that don't understand what to do when
you're approaching other boats and who
has the right away and what side to pass
on and stuff like that so if you've got
a boat coming straight at you and this
is what sucks as most people don't know
this and so you have to assume they're
gonna do the wrong thing
but you're supposed to stay to the right
of a boat that's approaching you so you
pass just like you would in it on a road
you stay to the right and they stay to
the right and so on and so forth it
doesn't always happen that way if you
see somebody you know sitting down
fishing steer way clear of them I had a
giant boat about two hundred thousand
dollar boat and I'm fishing down to
Minneapolis and I had this old man just
just towed belong in his two hundred
thousand dollar giant cabin cruiser in
three foot of water kickin up mud had no
clue what he was doing I wanted to I
wanted to scream and he was like right
behind me and a lot of people just don't
know they get on a boat and they go and
a lot of states don't require boat
safety classes or anything and that's
where you get really scary but knowing
you approach them a boat that you
approach them to the right if you're
down in Florida and you're in those
really narrow grass lanes and you come
around the corner and another boats
coming back at you and you're betting it
head-on both of you cut to the right and
you put yourself in the grass and nobody
gets killed it's just that kind of stuff
always know you want to stay to the
right
if you've got a boat approaching this
way if you're in the navigational
channel you have the ride away but if
you have a boat coming in from 90
degrees and it's best just to give them
the right away if you can be courteous
on the water if you're in the
navigational channels you have the
right-of-way but be careful they may not
know that and that's what sucks about
being on the water get on your state
regulations read everything that you can
about boater safety in the end what they
require in your boat and you should be
set these are the basics on how to get a
boat up on plane and get it rolling and
then just be safe wear a PFD you have
the
these on the boat that you need
Killswitch every time that big motors on
put this sucker on because that's when
things go bad but like I always say be
sure to introduce um ADA fishing
introduce them to my channel let me help
you teach them out of fish more
important to get out of the water going
to catch some fish they have a great day
I'm gonna go get some Thanks
