Safety Around Boats and Motors
Safety should be the first consideration when using boats and motors. There are several pieces of equipment that you should have mounted on your boat and motor or carry with you at all times. Some are required by law and others are required by good sense. They can save your life.
Staying Safe on Boats
Every boat is required by law to have a life jacket for each person onboard. These life jackets should always be kept within easy reach. There's often no time to open a locker and take out life jackets in emergencies. Keep them near the people who may need them and make sure each person knows how to get into them quickly.
Children should always wear a life jacket while on boats and around water. Even if they're beginning to learn to swim and you watch them carefully, make them wear the life jacket at all times. Don't take a chance with their lives.
Fire extinguishers are also required on most boats. Be sure you know how to use one and that it's in good working order. You should be able to quickly put out any fire that starts on a boat before it endangers you, so keep the fire extinguisher where you can reach it quickly if you need it.
Some kind of sounding device is also required on most boats. Bigger boats have built-in horns, and you can carry small compressed air horns or whistles on smaller boats. Sounding devices are used to warn other boats away if they're approaching too closely and also to signal for help if you're in trouble. Radios and cell phones can also be used to call for help, but they are not required on boats.
Safe Handling of Motors
Motors can have two devices that help you control the boat. Kill switches hook to the key or electric system of the motor and kill the motor if you pull a cord. If you have the kill switch attached to you and are thrown away from the steering wheel or tiller, the motor will stop. This is extremely important if you're thrown out of the boat because the boat will start running in circles and come back and run over you.
A foot throttle allows you to control the speed of the boat just like in a car and means you can keep both hands on the steering wheel rather than driving with one hand and having the other on the hand throttle. Most bass boats are equipped with them and any fast boat would be safer with a foot throttle. Keeping both hands on the steering wheel is safer than using one hand.
