There is nothing quite like the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair as your family and friends enjoy cruising along the water on a beautiful day. One of the major causes of stress on a family trip is figuring out how to drive a houseboat. Luck for you, we are going to cover all the basics from how to dock a houseboat to the top ways to stay safe on a houseboat, we will get your family in sea shape in no time.
More...
How to Start A Houseboat
It’s hard to talk about how to drive a houseboat without first covering how to start a houseboat. Luckily this isn’t too different from starting your car, but there are a few things you will need to do differently in order to get your trip started off right.
Normally you will need to start your houseboat from the main deck of the boat. This is also where you should be operating the boat from when you are within the docking area. Once you get out on the open water you can move to the controls that are on the top of your houseboat (in some cases).
In order to get started the first thing you will need to do to start your houseboat is to turn the blower on. The blower brings in fresh air. This is important for your engine as it will need it to successfully start up and continue to run.
After you have started the blower and given it about 5 minutes to get ready, it will be time to start up your boat. Most houseboats will have two engines, each of these will need to be started independent of each other. Once you have started one, you can move on to the other.
We always start with the port side (left side if you are looking towards the front of the boat) engine. Once you have run the blower for enough time you will turn the key slightly to the right (similar to turning on the battery in your car). You will normally hear a noise from the boat indicating that it is ready for you to start it up.
In the majority of boats you will need to then hit the control switch, this will turn on a seperate light that indicates that you are ready to start the boat. From here turn the key like you are starting a car. This will engage the engine and rev it up, you should see the tachometer on the dash go up to indicate the starting of the engine.
Once you have completed this for the port engine, you should move onto the starboard engine in the exact same pattern. As you do this you will probably notice the dual gauges, which will show you how each engine is operating.
How to Pull a Houseboat Out From the Dock
The process of pulling out of the dock with your houseboat can be one of the more stressfull moments of the trip. Normally you are new to the controls and aren’t really sure how to use them. Luckily you are by the dock and you can rely on slow, steady movements to get yourself out safely. If you are on a rental houseboat, chances are that you will have a member of the dock crew there to help you get into the open sea and bring you in. If not, then we can take you through the steps of how to get into, and out of, the dock so you can enjoy your trip on the water.
Here is a pretty good time to think about the controls of a houseboat and the best way to go about driving it. On the majority of houseboats you will see there is a steering wheel (some are bigger than others) and throttles.
The throttles can come in a variety of different configurations, but the majority of times they are laid out with two for each engine. These are the equivelant to your gas pedal. You can move faster by pushing them further forward. You can either speed up or slow down by pushing them further forward or bringing them back towards the middle. An important note is that the middle is zero, and that bringing them all the way back will put the engine in reverse.
As you are pulling out, you will be in the dock, which is a no wake zone. This means it will be important to keep the RPMs down so you don’t rock the dock and cause problems for the rest of the boats. Instead you should keep the throttle very low. This can be tough because houseboats are so big that they often take a while to get moving. The other side of this is that because they are so big, it takes just as much time to stop them.
Before you launch you will want to think through your departure. Are you in a straight ahead slip or a pull beside. If you are in a straight slip your departure will be a lot easier. If you are in a pull beside (where the boat is horizontal to the dock) you will have a little bit of a longer process, but as long as you go slow and take your time, you will be able to get onto the water.
The key with pulling out from a straight dock is ensuring that you are going to make the turn. In an ideal world you will have plenty of space to back up, but the reality is that at most docks space is at a premium and you may need to make a tight turn. If this is the case, or you are worried about your turn radius, make sure that you are using the fenders (the boat bumpers) to help cushion the edge of you boat if you do swing into the dock. The other thing to think about is not to get moving too fast. I have seen people even push off out of the dock and slowly float back before using their motors.
Things to Know For the Open Seas
Once you have gotten away from the dock you will find that you are ready to have one of the best feelings in the world, piloting your boat along the open sea. There is nothing quite as nice as driving along with your family and friends on a nice day. While the major stress is behind you, it’s still important to keep a couple of important lessons in mind.
The first thing to think about is the boat itself. Because of the size of the boat, the reaction to your steering will be much slower. This means you need to be thinking several moves ahead. As you are looking out across the water you should be visually planning your path. This will allow you to have an idea of where you are heading and plan for when you need to start turning.
As you are driving one of the universal rules is to keep 30 feet away from anything else in the water. This includes docks, the shore, objects in the water and other boats. Because of the size of your houseboat, you will have the right of way the majority of times. If you pick a line, and stay to the right of the main water way, you should be fine.
With that said there are a few times when you do not have the right of way. These include whenever a boat is inoperable or is stopped. This is why we encourage houseboaters to stay to the middle of the lake and wide passages. If you are going to go into a cove, make sure that it is clear and that there is no one in the cove before you go.
The universal rule of boating is that all parties are responsible for avoiding a crash. This means if you have any ability to avoid hitting another boat, by all means avoid it. Again the size and manuvaribility of a houseboat means that you normally will not be able to make sharp turns. Because of this, the best thing you can do to avoid a wreck is just to pick a line and keep it.
Another important step that you can take to limit the amount of issue you run into is to assign someone as the spotter for your boat. This can be someone who will be up close to you, or someone at the front of the boat. Either way, this person is responsible for looking for, and pointing out, anything in the water that you will need to avoid.
Rules for Boating at Night or Limited Visibility
One thing to think about when you are thinking about how to drive a houseboat is night time operations or anytime you will be boating in restricted visibility. Because of the size of a houseboat, you really want to avoid driving at night, but if you are going to there are specific maritime rules that you will need to follow. These are designed to keep everyone safe and help to limit the amount of accidents that occur.
While nighttime is the most common time you will be experiencing these rules, they apply anytime there is limited visibility. This can come from a variety of different situations. One of the more events that can cause limited visibility is rain. Depending on the level of rain, you may need to engage in restricted viewing procedures. The other common event is fog, espcially in the morning. Fog can be particularly tough because it tends to be pretty thick on the water making it difficult to see items that have a low profile. In any situation where you feel like you can’t see clearly, you should switch into limited visibility mode.
There are two major differences in operating in limited visibility. The first is that you should be moving at an idle. This gives you a better chance to see any potential problems and avoid them. The second difference is that you must have your boat lights on to help ensure that people can see you and avoid you.
By moving at an idle you get a chance to see any major issues that will pop up. Because of the limited visibility, you won’t be able to see as far out in front of you as normal and you don’t have breaks to stop your momentum. Again, because you are going to be driving a houseboat, and houseboats aren’t very manuverable, this really means that you give people additional time to avoid you. This is where it’s important to keep your line.
At the same time, you will need to be even more aware of potential obstacles in the water that you will need to avoid. This is the time where a spoter and a high quality spot light come in handy.
The other thing that will help you navigate in poor visibility is ensuring that you lights are on, and that you understand the lights that you see on other boats.
Every boat is going to have 4 main types of lights. The first type (and probably the most useful) are the sidelights. These are the red and green lights that indicate the width of the boat. The red lights will be on the boats port (left) side while the green lights will be on the boats starboard (right) side. The next light that you will need to see is the Sternlight. This is a white light that is only visible from behind the boat. This indicates the back edge of the boat. The last light is a Masthead Light. A Masthead Light is on the top of the boat and indicates that it is power driven boat (sailboats don’t have a Masthead Light). On boats under 39.4 feet in length, the Masthead and Sternlight can be combined, and you will see the All-Round White Light which is displayed on the top.
How to Keep Your Family Safe on the Water
Part of learning how to drive a houseboat is knowing how to keep your passangers safe as you travel across the water. If driving a houseboat is a new experience for you as well as the rest of your passangers there are a couple of things you will need to think about.
The first thing you need to make sure you are communicating to all of your passangers is that you will be moving across the open water. This may seem like it’s obvious, but many people don’t think about how this will effect them moving around. As your houseboat moves across the water it will be more steady than smaller water craft, but it won’t always be a smooth ride. That’s why it’s important as people are moving around the houseboat, they keep ahold of something to ensure that they don’t fall down or overboard.
On that note, it’s also important to have a life jacket on board, and readily available, for each person on your boat. Maritime law requires that all boats have a life jacket for everyone that is aboard. Personally, I think it’s better to take it a step further and ensure that these life jackets can be accessed easily. If someone does go overboard, you want to make sure that you can get them some sort of safety device right away. We have the rule that anytime our kids are on the boat and outside, they need to have a lifejacket on.
Another thing that you should have close to your captains chair is a throwable life ring or throwable PFD. Again if someone goes overboard you want to be able to get them some form of flotation device right away. This can make a critical difference in getting the person back on board quickly. With a throwable PFD or throwable life ring you will be able to give them something to grab a hold of so that you can pull them back towards the boat.
How to Dock a Houseboat
One of the scariest parts about learning how to drive a houseboat is figuring out how to dock a houseboat. This can be a really difficult task and takes years before you are fully comfortable saying that you know how to dock a houseboat. With that said, as long as you go slow and take your time, docking your houseboat can be a simple, although stressful task.
A lot of times if you are renting your houseboat and you tell them that you aren’t sure on how to dock a houseboat, they will provide someone who has specific training on how to dock a houseboat in that marina. This can take a huge weight off of your shoulder and can ease the burnden of worrying about how to dock a houseboat.
If you have bought your houseboat or the marina doesn’t offer someone to dock your houseboat for you, it is completely within your capabilities to do the job yourself. The first thing I would recommend though is talking with people on the dock about how to dock a houseboat. What you will likely find is that they will provide you with their expert opinions on how to dock a houseboat, along with some unique tips and trick that they have learned from docking a houseboat at that particular marina. If nothing else, this will help make sure they know that when you are coming in to dock your houseboat that you may need help, and they will be more likely to come help out.
The primary rule to remember when you are docking your boat is that you can speed up a lot easier than you can slow down. The last thing you want to do is come into the dock with too much speed. Because boats don’t have breaks, the bigger they are, the longer it takes to slow them down. This means that your big houseboat will take a lot of force to slow down so it is much better to go into the dock at a slow speed. If you do find yourself with too much speed you can put your engines in reverse to try and slow things down, but this should only be used as a safety precaution and not something you rely on.
The next big thing to consider when figuring out how to dock a houseboat is that it is much easier to have people pull you into your spot then to try and do it with your engines. A group of people working together to get your boat into position is a huge advantage. When trying to dock a houseboat you want to get connected to the dock as quickly as possible. This will allow people on your boat to pull you into position.
The group on board that is helping you get into dock plays a crucial role in docking a houseboat. You want to spread them out evenly on both sides of the boat. This will help them serve as a buffer on each side. One key thing to tell them is to never put any body part between the boat and the dock. As you pull into your dock you can use items like boat hooks to help extend their reach and get attached to the dock quicker. These are the people that will make pulling into the dock much easier.
Congratulations: You Earned Your Sea Legs
When thinking about how to drive a houseboat it’s important to remember that the goal is for you to enjoy your experience. The majority of houseboats today are built so they are easy to drive. The key thing is to take your time and remember that boats don’t have brakes.
While it can be stressful when you are thinking about how to pull out of the dock on a houseboat or how to dock a houseboat, if you remember to go slow you should enjoy your time and have a great experience.