Preparing for each is different enough that having a specific list for the different situations ensures that everything is safe to get underway. A checklist is also one of the best ways to manage your boat maintenance and personal safety. When your boat breaks down out in open water, you become vulnerable to additional problems. Reminder and to-do apps popular on smart devices today are a great platform for building a list of regularly scheduled maintenance tasks.The apps allow you to set a date to inspect items like fire extinguishers, or when engine fluids or anodes need to be changed. Using apps with reminders set, relieves you from having to remember critical items that need attention.They also have a notes section where you can record engine hours of the last change and numbers for any parts used in the process. Checklists are most useful for regularly reoccurring tasks, ones we believe we do so often we’ve memorized them — tasks like
starting your boat and leaving the marina. Therein lies the problem: It’s easy to become complacent with reoccurring tasks and believe you’ve done this so many times you don’t need reminders of how to do it. For most people, life is busy, so it’s easy to get distracted while going through a task. I’ve seen it happen on many occasions — the ever-present phone rings or a boat neighbor asks a question as you’re preparing to get underway — and the next thing you know you’re pulling out with the shore power cord still connected. Before we started making checklists a habit, I was occasionally upset by a boat passing close by, without calling us on the VHF radio, only to realize I’d forgotten to turn it on. Checklists are also important when multiple people are involved in the same process, so we use checklists for departing from the boat as well. More than once on our Sunday drive home from the boat, we looked at each other and asked, did you take out the trash or did you turn off the propane? Using a boat departure checklist
makes sure important items don’t get missed and you don’t assume the other turned off the water pump breaker or turned on the battery charger. Using checklists also has unforeseen benefits: The more you follow them, the more you benefit.The more you follow a routine process in the same order, the more you understand its faults and failings, allowing you to make improvements. It’s easy to see the benefit when developing a checklist and when you first begin using them, but the real benefit comes into play when you continue using them even though you feel like you don’t have to anymore.That’s when they keep you from forgetting something important. m l
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