How to Start a Speed Boat

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Albert Hedgepeth with Expert Village. One of the first important things to do whenever starting an engine is to go ahead and turn on the bilge blower, especially if you have an inboard motor. The next thing you want to do is go ahead and make sure all your passengers are seated, that the stern of the boat where the propeller is doesn't have any obstructions, and you want to go ahead and kind of give everybody a warning that you're about to start the boat, just to make sure that everyone has a safe handle and footing where they are. Once the bilge blower has had a couple seconds to go ahead and remove all the fumes and stuff out of the engine compartment, you want to go ahead and prime the engine. The way that you prime the engine is you disengage the propeller--most gearshifts have an actual button on them that will disengage and just let the throttle control the idle of the boat, rather than actually spinning the propeller. You want to go ahead and push that button in, and then you want to prime the engine by choking it, or giving it gas twice. At that point, you can go ahead to your key, and crank the boat up. Once the boat actually reaches a consistent running temperature and speed, you can go ahead and back the idle off. A lot of times whenever starting a boat from a cold state, you want to go ahead and let it run a little high to start, just so that everything in the engine can warm up, and get the fluids and the pressure up to the level that it needs to happen. If you're having trouble starting your boat, one of the first things you should check is the battery. If the batteries seem to be charged, at that point you probably should grab a mechanic."