The Ten comandments of boating with wife and family. What should they be?-gctid343410

[yachtman]

onthelake wrote:


1st. As other have said, spend time on the boat without her. Tell her your getting it ready for her inspection and you want to make your best presentation. Invest the

time figuring everything out and where stuff is or goes.

2nd. Make sure the plumbing (head) is working and working well. That means testing it, inspecting the lines. Ensure she doesn't put anything down there that doesn't belong

3rd. Also as suggested, take the boat out several times without her, and with someone that knows cruisers, not bowriders.

4th. Remember, once she's aboard, she is the admiral, your just the captain. Don't push limits when she is not confortable and find out what those limits are. Sit at the dock for a few trips to the boat (this will kill you I know). Go through your routines. Let her discover the boat and how to make it a 2nd home.

5th. On your first outing together, go slow and don't go far. Keep it short and end the day right.

This was drug over from another thread and I thought it would be interesting to get together the thoughts of others regarding boating with the wife and family and what we should make sure we do for them to enjoy the boating experience.

Post your commandments here so we all can do a better job.

One of my comandmesnts is go slow and be safe. They are all precious cargo

[Guest]

thou shalt not run into rocks, docks and other boats....



:arr arr

[2850Bounty]

Ditto, Mike!

Carried over from the A lil late in the game...2750 Victoria thread:

that verbose guy Rick wrote:
On a serious note, and I think that I can speak for the group here.... what's going to make the difference is a good operating and comfortable boat for the Mrs.

Perhaps do your shake-down run with just you and several experienced boater buddies.

Make sure that she's free of bugs, and that all workds well according to Hoyle waaaaay before you take your wife out with you!

Wives tend to like some of the home comforts.... perhaps hot/cold water, a working head, cabin heat is a +, nice seating, a place to stow their stuff, and so on.

If you don't win the Mrs over in the beginning........ you'll be in trouble!

[ksanders]

Thou shalt provide heat

Thou shalt provide toilet facilities

Thou shalt not encounter waves that put the admrial in fear

[Guest]

Thou shall NEVER raise thy voice even thou thy spouse has totally ignored your explicit instructions regarding her responsibilities while docking the boat!

[yachtman]

TerribleTom4085 wrote:
Thou shall NEVER raise thy voice even thou thy spouse has totally ignored your explicit instructions regarding her responsibilities while docking the boat!

This is an interesting one. To avoid unreasonable conflict. I have learned to launch cast away and dock all ny my self even my old 3988.

Its just not worth the stress. Unless they want to be included in those things I do it alone. Only I understand me in the split second some thing needs to be some fast and I plan for it.

[Guest]

Make sure there is lots of white russians for her to drink then you can blame everything on her

[Guest]

seapuppy wrote:
thou shalt not run into rocks, docks and other boats....



:arr arr

Thou Shalt NOT have ANY ELECTRONIC GIZMOS, TOYS, GAMES, oh and Cell Phones anywhere Near The Helm rod

and my Better Half's Famous Question . . . . . .

Are You Going Tooooooooooooooooo Fast & Can You Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

[706jim]

If your wife thinks its too rough to go out in the boat, respect her wishes and don't go.

Don't laugh if she gets seasick.

Do your part to keep the boat clean. It's a small space and you should help out as much as possible with keeping things in their place.

Avoid screaming at her when docking. I've seen too many instances where this happens and hurt feelings (and abandonment) are the result.

If you DO encounter rough weather, your job is to stay calm and inspire confidence to her.

Give her some positive feedback from time to time. My wife is an excellent navigator and I tell her so!

[Guest]

This thread is a good idea!

Seriously, keeping the admiral engaged and pro-boating is critically important. Could we spend this much time and money on recreation if they were against it? i think not... Some of our best friends are boating friends and we think that is because they have a good respectful fun relationship with each other as we do.

:worth

[cwiert]

My wife loves the boat and boating just as much as I do. It can be challenging at times though with little ones on board. We have a 3 and 4 year old, so one of our commandments would be to always give each other some alone time on the boat. I'm happy to take the kids on a dinghy ride and let the admiral have a little sunbathing time or time to read a book.

Boating is much more fun when both parties are "on board" , so to speak. Pun intended.

[Machog]

Plus one on TT4085's comments.

Never raise your voice (unless someone you know is going to die). We got bi channel two way radio's, its made a huge difference, not just in volume, but in attitude.

Be as proficient as possible in docking the boat single handed. My 4087 blows around like a leaf in any wind, but even without thrusters I'm OK 90% of the time. Its really great to have the admiral the other 10% when it goes all wrong.

Also like the warm comfortable, tidy comments. I'll add one more reliable. Take the time and money to get the boat serviced, check everything before you leave on a trip. One engine failure, one navigation failure could alter the rest of your boating life.

Machog

[yachtman]

Do take time and spend with the wife and or kids and not mess with the boat the entire time.

[Guest]

This is an interesting thread.

I know for me, my wife likes to help, but you have to be realistic about what she can, can't and isn't capable of doing. If its a moderately calm day and i'm backing into the slip, sure I'll ask her to grab a line and hope off to hold us steady. If its windy, get someone at the dock to give you a hand or be ready to handle it yourself. At our marina, everyone helps everyone while docking and its paid off 100x over on windy days.

If the weather or conditions make her uncomfortable - she's likely right. Uncomfortable generally means that it's uncommon, or abnormal conditions out. If she's seen you handle the boat 20 times in 5+ foot waves, she probably wouldn't care.

Most important to me is "relax". I like boating, not arguing - I can do that anywhere. We use our boat a lot, sometimes we drive it, sometimes we just sit at the marina and enjoy it with the stereo going and the wine flowing.

My "10" commandments would likely be more like 5

1. Have fun, relax

2. If you can help, please do; if you can't PLEASE say so

3. Bring Ice

4. No freaking out, it wont solve anything (see 1.)

5. If you see something you think the captain should know about, speak up. Its no good to say after the fact.

[Jeffw]

When I have people on the boat for the first time, I explain that the first rule is to have fun! Then I find out who can't swim, advise where the life jackets are stored, and offer one to whoever wants one. Then I advise that whoever (usually me) is driving, is in command, and that all people should remain seated and NOT move around unless the driver is informed and approves. Then I remind them of Rule #1 and we get underway...