Section 3 • Using Your Boat
•If there are passengers not wearing PFDs, the PFDs must be readily accessible. “Readily accessible” means out of the storage bag and unbuckled.
•All throwable flotation devices (cushions, rings, etc.) must be right at hand.
6.Passenger Instruction and Location
•Everyone on board must be told about the boat’s behavior from starting to getting up on plane.
•Before the operator does any
•The operator may have to make rapid changes in speed and/or direction to avoid a problem, with little or no time for alerting passengers. It is critical that all passengers be seated in the designated seating areas and holding on to prevent falling overboard or getting knocked about in the boat at all times when the boat is underway.
7.Starting the Engine
!DANGER
Gasoline vapors can explode
Before starting the engines, open engine compartment and check for gasoline smell.
•If you smell gasoline, do not start engine; get everyone off the boat and get trained help to find and fix the problem.
•If there is no gasoline smell, perform checks specified by manual, then and only then, close engine compartment and run blower for at least 4 minutes before starting.
The engine operation and maintenance manual furnished with your boat describes
Listed below are basic
Open the engine compartment and check for the smell of gasoline.
•IF YOU SMELL GASOLINE, get everyone off the boat, do not operate any electrical switches or light any matches, lighters, etc. Get trained help to find and fix the problem, before starting the engine or operating any switches on the boat.
•If you DO NOT smell gasoline:
1.Check all fluid levels and any other necessary checks as specified in Section 8 and in the engine manual.
2.Check that water level in bilge is minimal. Verify that the bilge pump is operating by turning the bilge pump switch to MANUAL and listening for the pump running and check to see that bilge water is being pumped overboard.
3.Close engine compartment.
4.Check fuel level. Be sure
you have enough fuel for (fig. 3.4.1)
your trip. Remember the “1/3 Rule”: Use no more than 1/3 of your fuel for outbound trip; use 1/3 of the fuel for return trip; keep 1/3 for reserve in case of emergency (FIG 3.4.1).
5.Run bilge blowers for at least 4 minutes before attempting to start engine (FIG 3.4.2).
Unlike your automobile engine which is naturally ventilated even when it is not moving, your boat engine compartment (the bilge) does not have sufficient natural ventilation when the boat is not moving or moving
slowly. That is why the engine compartment must have forced ventilation, using the bilge blower, to remove potentially explosive gasoline vapors before the engine is started and when the boat is moving slowly.
Because it may be difficult to remember to turn on the bilge blower every time you slow down the boat,
3.4 | 245 Performance® |