7 tips to get a boat back on the water after COVID-19 lockdown

But hope is on the horizon. The daily cases in the state are slowly falling, and chances are that once the current stage four lockdown period ends in mid-September, boaters will be allowed back on the water.

The more switched on trailer boat owners who are confined to home under the new iso-rules will have been doing the right thing and occasionally starting up their engine, and keeping battery systems connected to a trickle charger.

However, September also marks the traditional time of the year that the state’s boaters rush to get their vessels ready – as soon as the final siren sounds on the AFL Grand Final many Victorian boaters will swap the TV’s remote control for a fishing rod.

So, what can you do if the water is calling, yet the closest booking at your nearest marine service centre is weeks away?

Here’s a short checklist of the things you can do to check that your boat has endured the coronavirus lockdown and is ready to hit the water without the risk of leaving you high and dry.

The best way to kick things off is with a visual inspection of our outboard engine to ensure it has not deteriorated while laid up.

Remove the engine cover and look over the whole engine for any signs of corrosion, especially around electrical connections. Hopefully, you’re in the habit of drowning it with a quality water-repelling anti-corrosion spray after each time out on the water.

Look for signs of electrolysis on any of the electronics.

Check the sacrificial anode to ensure it is still in good condition and able to protect your engine from corrosion. Look at all the bonding wires to ensure they are correctly grounded and aren’t frayed or split.

The boat’s battery is part of the engine, so make a visual inspection of its condition. Pull it out of the battery box and check for cracks and signs of aging.

Check and clean the battery’s terminals and terminal connectors to get the best performance out of the connection.

Work your way down the outboard engine looking at all the pivot points. Look for grease that is stained brown; this is a sign that it has mixed with water and the supply of grease around the pivot point needs topping up.

Visually inspect any parts of the outboard engine’s set-up that use chrome, such as the ram for the steering. Chrome loves attracting water, and a thin film of grease will keep the water out. Again, check for brown stains indicating that water has mixed with the grease.

Top up any grease nipples with a couple of pumps of the grease gun. Use marine grease that includes anti-rust additives.

As you run your eye down the outboard engine, check in behind the propellor for any fishing line that may have caught up in it – if left there, the line could break the propshaft’s seal, which will then leak oil from the gearcase.

Smart boaters will have removed all the fuel from the boat before parking it up for winter. If you haven’t, it’s time to replace what’s in there.

If your boat has an underfloor tank that’s quite full and you haven’t added any fuel preserver since laying up, you’re going to have to access the tank to remove any stale fuel.

If you can get a jiggler into the tank, use that to remove excess fuel that you can burn in the lawnmower once the grass starts growing again.

Otherwise, you’re going to have to modify the fuel line so you can use the fuel line’s primer bulb to gravity-drain into a fuel can.

Leaving fuel in a tank is bad because the fuel will draw condensation into a tank, rusting it from the inside.

If your tank has a small amount of fuel in it, you can probably get by just topping up the tank with fresh fuel to dilute the stale stuff.

Check the fuel filter for any sediment it has pulled up out of the tank, and make sure there’s a spare on the boat just in case you need it.

If you have a two-stroke engine, it pays to drain the carburettor to remove any excess two-stroke oil that may have become concentrated in it as the petrol evaporates over time. Gummy fuel residue can play havoc with an engine.

Check the fuel lines for cracks or signs of wear.

After going out and getting some fresh fuel, hook your outboard engine up to the water tap and fire it up cold.

Listen as you crank the engine to hear how well the battery handles the demands of the load placed on it while starting.

If the battery has been on a trickle charger and yet the speed at which the engine cranks starts to taper off the longer you hold on the ignition key, your battery may not be as good at holding charge as it once was.

A good practice is to change your boat’s battery every two years, using the money you get selling the old battery to someone who hasn’t managed their electrical needs as smartly as you to subsidise the purchase of the new one. On a boat with a dual-battery system, alternate each year between which battery you replace.

Once the engine starts up, listen to how it is running, and watch for the telltale to start streaming, showing that the impeller is in good working order. Generally speaking, an engine shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to warm up – any longer than that and it’s a sign that the thermostat may need replacing.

Watch for something called lean sneeze on a two-stroke engine. Two-stroke fuel left sitting in the carburetter over winter can gum up and cause the engine to run lean, making it cough and splutter.

Turn the steering from lock to lock, and knock the engine into forward and reverse to ensure the movement of each is free and easy.

Also check the power trim system to ensure it is working properly. Leave the engine trimmed up without locking the leg in place, and check back after a while to ensure the leg is still trimmed up and hasn’t started falling down.

Top up the power trim fluid level if needed.

Don’t dedicate all your time and attention to the boat. The trailer it sits on will also need a thorough going-over before you hit the boat ramp.

Grab a hammer and tap off the hub cap to inspect the grease around the wheel bearing. Again, if it is yellowed or brown, it’s a sign that water has mixed in with the grease, and things are starting to go rusty.

Grab the top of each wheel and give it a shake. Any movement from side to side can hint that a wheel bearing isn’t as healthy as it could be, and is in danger of collapsing.

If you notice either of these two problems, the wheel bearing will need to be replaced.

Hook up the boat trailer to the car and run through the trailer’s electronics, testing to see if all the lights are charging normally.

If your trailer has a break-away system to prevent loss of control should it come off the hitch, check to see that the system’s battery is charging via the vehicle’s tow plug.

Grab a tyre gauge and test the tyre pressures to make sure they’re up to operating specification. While you’re there, inspect any brake discs to ensure they’re free from anything but light surface corrosion, and that the pads are in good shape.

Check the trailer’s leaf springs to ensure the slippers and pivot points are in good condition and well lubricated.

September and October tend to be the busiest periods for Melbourne-based marine rescue services as unprepared boaters rush back onto the water and find the faults they should have discovered back at home.

Dying batteries and dodgy fuel are the main culprits.

As always, check local weather conditions before making a call to head out, and check online services such as the Boating Victoria app that can even show you how busy the local boat ramps are in real-time.

Once Victorians are allowed back on the water, everyone is going to have to be patient as all boaters adhere to the strict social distancing guidelines used to control the spread of COVID-19.