When boating, one of the most important things to put in place is safety of the boat.
This often leads to questions like how does having a pre-departure checklist help you when boating.
Having a pre-departure checklist helps you confirm that the boat is in an optimum condition and performance to go on a trip.
This will help you discover some of the things that are missing or needs to be increased in number.
An example of this is the number of life jackets that is available in the boat.
The number available must be adequate in supply for all the people that will be boarding the boat.
What Is a Pre-departure Checklist
A pre-departure checklist is a list that contains boat conditions and items that must be satisfactorily met before a boat is used for a trip.
The list contains a lot of items that must be checked.
This is very important and helps to confirm that the boat is in an optimal level of performance.
How Does Having a Pre-departure Checklist Help You When Boating
1) It helps Determine The Total Life Jacket Needed For a Trip
One of the most important data that is taken before a boat leaves the shore is the number of passengers on board.
When the total number of people that is on a boat is determined, it is very important to make sure that the number of life jackets available is adequate.
Having personal floating devices that is less than the number of passengers on board is very dangerous.
That is why it is always very important to make sure that you have them in adequate number.
One of the ways of making sure that this is possible is by including it in the pre-departure checklist.
Once it is on the list, it is easy to make sure that they are adequate in number.
If there is a deficit, it should be made available before the vessel sails off.
2) It Helps In Knowing The Reliability Of A Boat Engine
Another great determining factor of the safety of a boating recreation or trip has to do with the condition of the boat or vessel engine.
It is always a very bad experience when the engine of a boat fails in the middle of no where.
This leads to a lot of casualties.
It becomes worse if you are caught up by a heavy storm when you are using a small boat with less stability.
Most times, such casualties could have been avoided if a proper check was done on the engine before leaving the shore.
But the thing is that some people are carefree about the process sometimes.
To increase your level of safety on the water, always make sure you inspect your boat engine well.
Observe the sound of the engine and also check the engine signals that show up on the boat dashboard.
3) It Helps In Spotting Damages On a Boat Early
The easiest way to spot a damage on a boat is when the checks are performed.
During times like this, a thorough check is done on the physical as well as the mechanical condition of the boat.
From times like this is when damages like punctured surfaces is seen in a vessel.
But if you do not take the pre departure checklist important, it becomes difficult to see errors like this.
4) It Helps Protects The Passengers On Board
Another way how having a pre-departure checklist help you when boating is that it protects the passengers on board.
When the passengers are on board, things like life jackets availability to all passengers must be satisfied.
When this is done, it increases the safety of the passengers on board incase of any casualty that develops during the trip time.
5) Pre-departure Checklist Protects a Boat From Damage
One of the things that damages a boat has to do with minor faults that are not corrected.
As time goes on, these faults develop into something very disastrous is not corrected.
But with the help of the pre departure checklist, a lot of these faults can be easily corrected.
This will help in protecting the boat from damage or damage of other parts of the vessel or boat.
6) It Helps Determine The Capacity Of The Boat To Carry All Passengers
One of the mistakes I see a lot of small cruise boats make has to do with the weight they carry on the boat.
Most of the boat operators are very care free about things concerning the maximum weight that can be carried on the boat.
This has led to some of the casualties that occur when boating.
A close attention should be paid to this to ensure the safety of a boating experience.
Before the boat moves, the weight of all the passengers should be taken to know if the boat is capable of carrying them all.
Not just the weight of the passengers but the weight of other things like extra gasoline for the boat engine should also be taken into consideration.
When this is done, casualties of a boat capsizing or sinking will be greatly minimized.
7) Having a Pre- departure Checklist Prevents Fire Outbreak when Boating
Some of the worst casualties to occur in a boat is fire outbreak.
It is even worse if the fire extinguisher in the boat is not enough to extinguish the fire.
That can lead to a lot of casualties.
If it occurs, casualties will occur to the passengers on board.
Also, the casualties will really affect the optimum performance of the boat too.
But when a fire extinguisher is made available in optimum number, the level of casualty from a fire outbreak is really minimized.
Conclusion
How does having a pre-departure checklist help you when boating should not be a new question to you now that this guide has shown you how important it is.
Always make sure that you have the items on the check list to avoid casualties while boating.
Even if you encounter a casualty when you are boating, the impact will be greatly minimized when you have the necessary tools and devices available to combat it.
Have a nice boating experience and always remember to stay safe.
Further Reading