Page 170 - Cityview_Jan_Feb_2014

2014 Downtown Knoxville boatshow

How to Care For

Your Brand-New Boat

by chris Linden
time, be prepared to change the impel-
ler pump, and drain water trapped

You have a brand-new boat. How do inside the engine.
you keep it looking pristine? The best “These motors are water-cooled, so

care starts at the end of its first season, it’s just sucking water out of the lake
typically around october or November.
to cool the engine,” says Jones. “If you

“As we head to the winter, people don’t drain it, then when it gets cold
keep it in the marina or a garage,” says outside, that water’s going to freeze

Ryan Jones, sales manager at American and damage the motor.”
Boat Center in Knoxville. “Whatever For winterization, it’s best to see a Ronnie Metcalfe, service manager

you do, keep it out of the elements. certified technician, says Jones. Many for Sea Ray of Knoxville, also encour-
Another way you can do it is to shrink- are trained specifically by that manufac- ages routine maintenance on the boat’s

wrap the boat. It’s a way we highly turer, so they understand the equipment supporting equipment. For example,
recommend if you’re leaving it outside. intimately. Some newer models actually most boat trailers come with complex

We wrap it in this plastic cover and alert users when it’s time for a tune-up.
braking systems, similar to those in
then we heat it up. It basically vacuum “A boat is always sitting in the water, your car. They, too, need the occasional

seals your boat.”
exposed to the elements,” says Jones. checkup and greasing.
It’s also essential to tune-up the “It’s like if you drive a convertible car “Almost all of the trailers now come

engine. Jones recommends a regular and you always keep it outside with with a buddy bearing, and it allows you
lube, oil, and filter every 100 hours, or the top down. It’s going to get trashed to use grease with a grease gun without

at the end of each season. At the same
pretty quickly.”
actually tearing the bearings out of the
trailer,” says Metcalfe. “And it also has an

indicator of how much grease is in there.”

Souped-Up Technology

Today’s boats come with an impres-

sive collection of low-maintenance
technology. Metcalfe says he’s most

impressed with new Sea Ray navigation
systems such as Axius, which makes

boating virtually foolproof.
“It’s all computer-controlled, it’s run

by a joystick—just like you’d have on a
videogame—and you can actually drive

the boat with the joystick,” says Met-
calfe. “Whichever direction you point

the joystick, it’ll go. It automatically
shifts and throttles for you.”

He’s equally impressed with the
Zeus system, which uses twin stern-

drive pods. It’s an add-on to larger
boats, and comes with an impressive

gPS guidance.

24 DowntownKnoxvilleboatshow.com march 6-9, 2014