It's always surprising when you become so familiar with your boat that you forget something basic, like leaving the fuel shut off or forgetting to put the plug in the stern before launching. Your owner's manual should include similar checklists, and you should make it a point to use them regularly. There are checklists for Pre-Start, Take-Off, Before Landing, After Landing, and Shut-Down Procedures. What is the finish on the interior woodwork? Where do you get replacement parts for the stove? Where are the spare fuses for the electronics? If you weren't there, what questions would your wife or family ask?Īs a pilot, literally everything I do in the cockpit is covered by a checklist. If your storage diagram shows that flares are in the locker behind the chart table, is that where they really are? Walk through your boat and look at everything that you might have a question about some day. Once you have the manual in a rough state of organization, take it down to the boat and review it for accuracy and detail. Sailboat owners should photograph the masthead and spreaders, and make notes on the wrench sizes for various bolts and nuts so that you can take the proper tools aloft and eliminate the frustrating shouting from the top of the mast for "a larger wrench". If, for example, you bent a propeller and had to replace it in the water, would you take a 3/4-inch or a 15/16ths wrench to loosen the prop nut? A photo in your manual would show you what to expect underwater, as well as the exact tool needed. When your boat is hauled, you should take photos of underwater fittings and then annotate them before adding them to your manual. For example, when the boatyard asked what kind of bottom paint you used, could you remember? The exact brand, color and even the quantity used should be noted in your manual. Think back on all the things you couldn't remember last season. Sorting the manufacturer's brochures into categories will certainly organize your drawers, but you need to go one step further to produce a truly useful manual. A photograph of the engine, again from a sales brochure, can be labeled to locate items such as dipstick, diesel decompression lever, or even the sizes and serial numbers of belts and filters. A cabin layout drawing, cut from the manufacturer's brochure, can be used to show exactly where items are stowed. For example, you probably won't need to keep a nationwide list of repair facilities for your direction finder: simply pick out the ones closest to your cruising waters and list those in the primary manual.ĭon't be shy about adding your own artwork or sketches to illustrate various sections. The other two notebooks contain the complete parts lists, catalogs, and other paperwork that were summarized in the first manual. One is a summary that contains everything I need for most situations and questions. You don't need to include everything in one manual, and I ended up with three conveniently-sized notebooks. Make your owner's manual concise, but complete. As the brochures and papers arrive, you can review them to see what needs to be included in your manual and what can be summarized and stored separately. In most cases, you'll be surprised by the prompt response to your request. To track down the missing material, you can call local dealers or write to the manufacturer. You can sort the pile into general headings, such as engine, electronics, galley, etc., and you should make notes of missing items at this point. The starting point for a custom owner's manual is to empty all the papers, catalogs and manuals out of the drawers and lockers where they've been accumulating. Buyers of used boats are lucky to get any paperwork, and it probably won't be complete. Most new boats are delivered with a large envelope full of loose paperwork covering the engines, electronics, galley gear and electrical system, as well as any accessories added by the dealer. Most boat builders don't supply an owner's manual, at least not in the same style that you'd expect with a new car. It was a satisfying project, and the end result was that everything a crew member might need to know is in one spot. When you finally found the item, it was oil stained, dog-eared and the most important page was missing! I had the same problem until I created a personalized owner's manual. Remember when you had to search for a particular piece of paper last summer? It might have been a parts list for the head, a generator manual, or the list of authorized repair shops for your VHF radio, but you ended up rooting through several drawers full of stray paperwork.
0 kommentar(er)
