Boating Equipment:  The essentials for getting the best out of your boating experience


Boating Equipment: The essentials for getting the best out of your boating experience -- the resources you will need and thoughts on getting them.

Boating equipment can make or break your boating experience.  All boats come equipped with all kinds of "stuff" - some of that stuff is absolutely necessary, and some is sizzle.  What you need depends on what kind of boat you have, where you are planning to do your boating, and under what weather and other conditions.  Boaters who intend to go offshore need very different equipment from those who are planning to be on small lakes or rivers. 

This page cannot hope to do justice to the range and variety of boating equipment available on line or in stores.  Marine catalogs are typically over 1,000 pages long, and cover almost everything conceivable.  But this page gives a flavor of what boating equipment is about.

Everyone whose boat has an engine will need the basics for repairing and maintaining that engine, from oil filters and bottles of oil, to coolant, spare belts, and other parts that the manufacturer recommends should be carried on board.  Everyone who has any electrical and electronic systems (almost everyone except for owners of very small boats) needs to ensure that they have spare equipment such as: fuses, wire, soldering iron, solder, clips, insulating tape, lightbulbs, and again, any specialty repaire kits provided by the manufacturers.  Everyone who has a marine head should carry manufacturer's repair and replacement part kits, and the same goes for pressure or manual water systems, and stoves/cookers.   Sail boats will need sail repair kits, spare shackles, blocks, line of all kinds.  And everyone will need paints, anti-fouling, varnish, oil, cleaners, thinners, cloths, masking tape ...and so it goes on.

Boating electronics are also very important for all types of boats - even small ones that do not have the space to house them or the electricity to drive them.   For small boats, battery-powered, hand-held devices such as VHF and GPS are available.  For larger boats, the sky is the limit in terms of the boating electronics that are available, and the ways in which their data can be displayed.

Another aspect of boating equipment that is critical is that of safety.  These include life rings, throw-ropes and lifeslings, man-overboard poles and boarding ladders.   Hand flares, parachute flares and smoke signals should also be on board.   Signal horns and fog horns are also an important part of boating equipment, not only for fog, but as they can be used to alert other boats that may not have someone on watch, or whose captain doesn't know the "rules of the road".   And, of course, fire extinguishers are critical for anything except the smallest of dinghies, sailing dinghies and similar boats.

There are many Marine Stores around that sell all kinds of boating equipment - in locations near water and online.   For the beginner, it is useful to visit such stores and see what's available.  In any case, they are often fun places to visit, and being able to see, handle, and smell the various products can be educational.   It is essential to know your way around boating equipment.
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