How To Test A Boat

If you think you've found the boat that meets your expectations, it's time to test it. Testing your boat is more than just taking it for a test drive around the harbor. You should look at everything closely, as a professional boat tester would.

Sometimes, it can be hard to tell a top quality boat from one that may have problems later on. To an untrained eye, both can look good on the surface. When you start to break everything down and give it a careful inspection, you'll be able to tell a great boat from a not-so-great boat.

By opening up all doors and access plates, you can gain good insight into the construction of the boat. You should also stick your head into the anchor locker of any boat you are considering to buy, and if they've cut any corners you'll normally be able to see it here.

Looking into the anchor locker also lets you look at the hull to deck joint. If there is light coming through, or if the fiberglass around the joint can be seen through, it normally means shoddy construction.

When you buy a boat, you should put it through a rigorous visual inspection. It's also equally important to conduct a vigorous test on the water as well. A private seller or dealer will normally want to stack the deck, ensuring that the boat will perform well.

Normally, this involves a near empty gas tank, no gear or extra passengers, and keeping the boat in sheltered water. Therefore, it's up to you to insist on a more realistic test. Think of the test as an actual day out on the water, and you'll find out if the boat is indeed something you should spend your money on.

During your water testing, you should determine if the boat performs well and meets all of your expectations. You should determine if the boat travels at the right speeds, and whether or not it is capable of doing everything that you plan to do with it after you buy it.

When test driving the boat, you should put it through all paces in open water, cutting waves at all angles. If you plan to test a saltwater boat, you should bring along a 5 gallon bucket and try throwing some water onboard. Any boat you plan to use offshore should quickly shed water through the scuppers. Some boats will pool water in the bow and drain slowly - which can be very dangerous in rough waters.

If a seller or dealer balks at any questions you put to him, simply find yourself another dealer or another boat. There are plenty of great quality boats available, ranging in prices. Make sure to check everything very carefully before you decide.

India's automakers rev up for run at U.S. car market (The Toledo Blade)

First of three parts MUMBAI, India — Yet another challenge is facing the U.S. auto industry. And this time, it isn’t coming from Japan, South Korea, or Germany — or the meltdown of the economy. In the next few years, Indian automakers and parts suppliers, long outcasts because of lackluster innovation and stagnant technology, have ambitious plans to sell cars to American consumers and peddle ...

Kingfisher report (The Natal Witness Group)

With summer rains now settling in most rivers have burst their banks and have created most anglers dreams, ‘ginger beer’ coloured water which puts most fish on the bite, especially summer flatfish.

Slithery Jacqui Smith wants a backdoor ban on prostitution (Times Online)

The curious thing about common sense is that it is so uncommon. Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, is so short of it that at times she seems uncommonly silly. Last week she unveiled a proposal about prostitutes that is clearly silly, regardless of one’s opinions about the control of prostitution.

Brunswick Announces Organizational Changes (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)

Brunswick Corporation today announced several organizational changes aimed at both strengthening its operations outside of the United States, while ensuring the continued integrity and quality of its Hatteras Collection, makers of several leading brands of yachts and sportfishing boats.

Shopping at Weedmart (San Diego Reader)

Colleen Daley lives on a sunburnt patch of overzoned Chula Vista real estate. She is besieged by the odiferous crosscurrents of wafting grease and the crackling bark of drive-in order speakers — her one-bedroom ranch is surrounded by fast-food joints.

DMF report shows mixed bag (Carteret County News-Times)

Shrimp harvests have more than doubled this January-June period compared with 2007, rising from 442,349 pounds to 1.2 million pounds, according to a recent fish dealer report.