There are so many great hints and tips to owning and using a boat. Below are 6 essential boating tips that every boat lover and user should know. Be sure to read on to find out more.

1) It is imperative to keep your gear in good condition. Having problems with your engine out at sea is not like if your car breaks down. If your boat breaks down your life is in danger. Have your motor serviced regularly and always keep your checks up to date with all other aspects of your boat. Safety gear such as radios, lifejackets and flares should be inspected before every trip.

2) Always carry safety equipment on board. You should always have at the very least some flares, a lifejacket for every person, a working radio and an anchor. Be sure these safety items are well maintained and be sure that you know how to use them.

3) Always tell someone where you are going and what time you will be back. Make sure that the person you tell knows that if you are not back on time it is there responsibility to inform the authorities immediately. Remember it is also your responsibility to log off with the person you tell once your voyage has concluded.

4) Never push the limits. With boating it is easy to want go that little bit further out or travel a little further even though the fuel is getting low. Although the temptation is there you should never push beyond your limits.

5) Learn how to read and understand weather charts and maps. Learn when it is a good time to go out and when it is not. The safety of you and your passengers depends on your ability to only go out in calm weather.

6) Be a good captain. The captain is in charge off all the passengers on board so it is vital the captain takes this role seriously. Look after those on board, know your limits and never consume alcohol whilst boating.

When planning and packing for a day of water activities, be sure to remember to take along a waterproof radio. For beach or boating, this is one item that will prove to be useful in many different ways.

Fully portable at only 5 3/16 inches wide and 3 3/8 high, the diminutive size makes it a snap to pack and carry for the beach; yet the mountable L-bracket that is included also makes it ideal for taking along on any type of boat. The open air brightness experienced at either location renders most readable displays useless, but this not the case with the Jensen radio. A wide viewing angle features a daylight readable function to provide ease in viewing the large display area for the current time, station selection or frequency settings.

Enhanced listening pleasure has never been easier than with the Jensen mini. A wide variety of choices are available; select your favorite AM/FM station using the electronic tuner, or simply plug in your own iPod or MP3 player to the auxiliary front panel. A complete kit can be purchased that includes 3.5” mini wedge speakers to further improve audio output.

Being near the water means higher humidity and often incidental water spray that can be the downfall of other radios, but the sealed in the design of the Jensen JHD910 mini provides a waterproof feature that is 100% effective. This sealed design is also valuable in repelling dirt (handy on a sandy beach) and UV rays.

Bad weather can pop up quickly over the open waters; interrupting a great time and possibly endangering the safety of those on the boat and beach. The 7 channel NOAA weather band tuner provided in the Jensen is further evidence of this being the top waterproof radio for beach or boating activities. Presetting the radio to automatically switch to weather band mode any time that an NOAA weather warning is broadcast will alert the beachgoer or boater to impending weather changes that could create a dangerous situation; giving them the opportunity to head toward a protective location to “weather” out the storm safely.

Spending time at the beach can be quite entertaining on its own, as can cruising along in a boat. Spending a full day at either, though, may require a little bit of variety.

It’s probably by now safe to say that LED lighting is here to stay. Although as little as five years ago LEDs were still considered a fairly unproven marine lighting technology, we are now seeing major boat manufacturers incorporate LEDs as standard equipment in a wide variety of lighting applications ranging from navigational lighting systems to cabin lighting. LEDs have come a long way in the last decade, and with more and more boaters realizing the benefits to be had from their durability, efficiency, and long operational life, it was only a matter of time before major boat builders began embracing them as well. For quite some time, a boaters only real option was to attempt a do it yourself installation, which results in a lot of hit or miss results. LED quality was spotty at best, and effective installation in existing fixtures required a bit more work than simply replacing a bulb. Regardless, boaters were ahead of the manufacturers and proved beyond any doubt that LEDs were an attractive addition to the marine industry. With such a strong demand obvious and present, it’s no wonder that manufacturers finally caught on and began offering LEDs in their new models.

For the boater looking to purchase a new watercraft, the option of including LEDs onboard is fairly simple since most manufacturers offer either the option to have them added or include them as standard equipment. How in-depth their inclusion depends upon the manufacturer, but for the most part, most important lighting can be ordered in LED configuration and the boater need do nothing. While the cost of including LEDs does indeed increase the overall purchase price of a boat, the savings in fuel and maintenance costs help to quickly offset their added expense and provide net savings in the long term. Replacing bulbs is quickly becoming a thing of the past as well, and maintenance of LED-equipped lighting systems consist mainly of ensuring connections and housings remain in good condition.

While it’s a positive development, equipping newer boats with LEDs from the factory does nothing for boaters with older models that still utilize traditional incandescent and halogen lighting systems. Fortunately, the heavy interest among boaters in LEDs and their efforts to include them has resulted in the growth of a huge aftermarket that caters quite well to their needs. Every year new offerings arise that make switching older boats to LED lighting ever easier and simpler. It is possible now to upgrade an entire lighting system to LEDs with little more than screw in and bolt on replacement fixtures, which simplifies things for those with the limited mechanical ability and electrical know how. Aftermarket marine LEDs also allow boaters to implement LEDs at a slow pace, making it a more affordable project as well. Rather than go all out and replace every fixture in one huge overhaul, boaters can simply replace fixtures with LEDs as they eventually fail and burn out, allowing them to reap the benefits of LEDs while spreading the costs over a longer period of time.

For boaters seeking to switch to LEDs, the aftermarket can at times seem a bewildering mishmash of unknown brands and confusing options. With the huge popularity of marine LEDs has also come a large number of new distributors and suppliers, each seeking to gather his share of the market, and a portion of the boaters funds. Unfortunately, this has also led to a lot of unhappy boaters as they seek to purchase the cheapest LED fixtures possible without understanding some of the problems associated with bargain brand LEDs. While generally speaking LEDs outperform incandescent lights by a wide margin in almost every measure of performance, they still require some extra attention to detail that is often lacking in bargain brand versions. To avoid some of the problems, boaters need to understand a few salient points before embarking on their venture into LED lighting.