What Was First Thing You Did In Your New Boat

[mausgras]

Anyday now I will be taking possession of my first boat. As a proud new owner I was wondering what the first thing I should or would do.

Then I thought that's an interesting topic, what was the first thing other people did when they first took over their first boat.

[Mimsy]

First, we had a cocktail on the deck. Then e went through every single system inch by inch paying special attention to anything our surveyor mentioned and created a prioritized work list.

[atoll]

since i have built most of my boats from scratch i can only comment on the last 2 that i accuired ,the first thing i had to do with both of them was bail the water out,and stop them sinking

[Kettlewell]

Clean it up. I have always bought used boats, and you get a much better deal if you purchase a boat that needs cosmetics. This often involves offloading a huge pile of junk that the previous owners considered "equipment." Second thing to do is to pull out all of the ridiculous old and crappy wiring and set it up so at least you can turn on a light without fear of burning the thing down. I often end up with a huge rats nest pile of old wiring next to the boat.

[conachair]

go sailing

[maytrix]

Originally Posted by conachair

go sailing

I agree. Make sure you know where things are and how to work them and get out there.

Make a list as you go and deal with issues later.

First thing we did this past weekend after buying our 2nd boat (22 footer) was to rig it in the driveway (its something we can trailer) to make sure we had no issues. Then we did some cleanup on it.

Next day we took it to the ramp, rigged it and went out sailing.

[ohdrinkboy]

First thing....puked. I had the flu.

[Hydra]

First thing: lay 2 coats of antifouling paint before putting in the water.

Alain

[ReMetau]

Replaced our flexible coupling on our drive shaft after a 3 hour motor ride from our launch site to the last channel marker at our destination marina entrance.

[bobconnie]

Take every thing out! put back the stuff ya need and want! and make a Log of where everything is ! number the places ya have to stow stuff, and put the location and whats there ! aways need something and ya can't find it when ya need it ! this has always worked for us !! just our 2 cents

[xymotic]

unplug it and rigorously inspect the Electrical system. Well, I should say that I do that now.

[sarafina]

Strip out all the accumulated trash and broken stuff and then clean it. And then clean it again.
And then clean it out one more time... not much is nastier than a boat that has been negected...

[Rhapsody-NS27]

I towed my boat home, took out all the "stuff", cleaned it out (had been infested with bees), then proceded to working on a few other things. Recently organized some of the "stuff" and put back in the boat and threw out other stuff. Almost in the water... soon.

[sww914]

Tried to keep the water on the topsides out of the bilge. Still trying.

[brutb]

I will agree with those who said remove everything and clean clean and clean again. Next trace down all the wiring and REMOVE the many extra wires going no where and most importantly make sure all thur hull valves open and close as they should. Then you can at least try to sail away from the dock with hope of making it back without a major problem. NOTE: I said sail away, not motor as you have not made a thorough inspection of the engine and transmission yet... Good luck, it can be a lot of fun. just keep the pucker factor to a minimum the first few times out......