Last Updated on July 31, 2020 by Amit Abhishek
The best way to avoid overloading your boat is to not load it beyond a certain limit. It is not important because the U.S federal law wants you to load within a limit. But also because you want to keep yourself and your loved ones safe in the water. A boat can only handle a certain amount of weight being stable; beyond that, it becomes unstable and may capsize.
A boat is designed to carry a set number of passenger; weight of cargo and its own machinery safely under varying condition. For example, a boat a carry comparatively more weight safely at slow speed under calm weather; than at high speed under heavy currents and bad weather conditions.
Going for a boat ride is really refreshing as you see and interacts with the mother nature. Other than that we enjoy fishing, throwing parties, day cruising and other recreational activity on boat. So when we are spending such a quality time on the boat it’s important we play safe and be prepared for any event in the form of essential boat accessories.
While in most instance we all follow the best practices to avoid overloading our boats. But there are always some who either overload their boats or overpower it with high power motors; making it go unstable at high speed and thus increase the risks of accidents. No one should do that but its not inertly their fault as they are just not aware!
7 Best Way To Avoid Overloading Your Boat
1 ) Follow The Capacity Plate To Avoid Overloading
Almost all major boats have this instruction plate called capacity plate placed at the helm or at the boat stern. This metal plate generally indicate critical boat parameters like; maximum speed, maximum capacity, engine horsepower, passenger capacity and other technical details such as model number, batch and serial no etc.
The U.S coast guard makes it mandatory for a boat manufacturer to install such capacity plate at the helm; for all boats less than 20 feet long. Failing to follow these limitations not just makes your boat unstable and difficult to control but also in violation of federal laws in many of the U.S states.
Before any boat trip make sure you know and follow the maximum passenger and weight limit specified on your capacity plate. Be aware the total weight capacity of a boat is irrespective of total passenger it can carry and weight of its machinery. So under no circumstance exceed any of the limits; passenger or weight to avoid overloading your boat.
2 ) Check Your Boat Manual
Large boats usually don’t have a capacity plate to follow they came with user manual. This ideally contains information like the basic layout of your boat; electronic information, information about the boat engine and safe loading capacity. Not just you will find the loading compartments on a boat but also how much load each one can hold.
Some manufacturer also provide separate safety manual for their boat regarding safe practices operating and loading the boat. These documents generally deals with topics such as; your responsibility on boat, boating equipment, passengers and general safety checks before and after boating trip.
From your boat owners manual, you can easily find about the specification of your boat such as; L.O.A, freeboard, draft, bridge clearance, cabin height, tank capacity, keel length, and much more useful information. The most important of them all you can find capacity plate information at the start of your manual; even when your boat doesn’t have a physical capacity plate installed at helm position.
3 ) Mind The Water’s
Your boat is not safe just because it’s loaded well beyond the limit but due to its overall stability in water. Yes, the amount of weight you add to the boat affects its stability but its not the only thing affecting it. As a rule of thumb, a boat or watercraft is more stable in sea water than in fresh water lakes or in rivers.
It is so because the salt concentration in sea water helps the boat to float and become stable by increasing water density. Meaning you can add weight on your boat to its limit and still feel much safe and secure. This is the same reason why on some boats you find different load limits for fresh and sea water.
Furthermore, your boat stability also gets affected by the weather condition. For example, you are less safe with your boat loaded to its limit in rough seas than under normal sunny conditions. Your boat is most stable and safe under calm weather condition and it is on which all the capacity plate readings are based on.
Bonus: I find this Boat Owner’s Manual on internet, which I though you might like to consider reading.
4 ) Ensuring Overall Stability To Avoid Overloading
There is reason to why you find your cargo and sitting space spread evenly across the boat. Irrespective of its size you will find all boats to have dedicated space in front, middle and back to different purposes. This is done strategically to evenly distribute weight along the total length of the keel.
An unbalanced load across the length of your boat will result in it to lean to one side or another. While a slight lean is normal and even happen while maneuvering. But if you feel your boat lean too much to a side it’s not safe to go far in water. You can improve the overall stability of your boat by redistributing weight and putting heavier item close to the center.
Similarly, if you want to keep your boat stable even at high speed and sharp turns; you should definitely install hydrofoil n your boat’s outboard. This not just helps boost boat performance, efficiency but also level your ride at high speed; forcing the bow to go down and stern to rise a little improving overall boating experience and safety.
Recommended: SE Sport High Performance Hydrofoil ( Check Price On Amazon )
5 ) Do Not Overpower Your Boat
We all like the speed at least at some point of time and there is nothing wrong in trying to check your limits and your vessels. But sometimes people go too far with this concept; adding high power motors to boats than it can handle. As you go far higher in acceleration and speed your boat become more and more unstable.
Now if these destabilizing forces are well withing the limit checked by the balancing boat overall stability; you are safe and can enjoy the fruits of speed thrill. But there is a limit to what your boat can neutralize these forces; dependent largely on the length and width of the vessel. So, since your boat size is fixed the upper limit of acceleration and speed it can handle is fixed.
This is mostly why all capacity plates have the maximum horse power mentioned for that boat. But when you overpower your boat with large power motors; you only make it’s difficult for yourself to control the boat at top speed and during acceleration. If not checked or taken precaution the boat will dangerously lean-to side or lift off from bow causing high-speed boat accidents.
Bonus: If you do not believe check what can really happen on this youtube video.
6 ) Came Up With Your Own Passenger Limit
You may not be lucky enough to have that capacity plate installed at the wheel or somewhere near the helm. Many boats don’t come with them and you can’t have boat manual all the time with you to refer. This is when it came handy that you at least know the length and width of your vessel and can come with your own passenger limit using formula.
The well-known method to come with a safe passenger limit for your boat is to first find the area of the boat using length x width. Then divide the area that you get by 14-16. Use 14 for calm sea water, 15 for calm fresh water and 16, if there are mild winds or you, have planned to test your speed (High-speed day cruising ).
Now you may wonder what about our kids? Yes, when you get to the value round off to the closest integer for example 6.89 will become 7 and 6.23 will become 6. Now while calculating the number of passengers count each adult male or female as 1 and each child to be 0.5 or half the adult passenger.
7 ) Plan Your Voyage or Trip
The best way to avoid overloading our boat is to make plans for our trip. Many a time we take in too much stuff and people along with us because we do not plan according to boat capacity. Even more, doing things at the last time not allow us to distribute weight evenly on the boat and also carry nonessential helpful accessories.
Many times if we just plan our boating trip we end up to avoid overloading as we get the time to realize and prioritize our need. Otherwise even I find myself many a time taking too much or too little with me on a boat. Not just that planning your trip helps maintain a safe distance from shore and have all essential boat accessories.
While planning for your boat trip follow the instructions mentioned in owners manual to avoid overloading or capacity plate installed at boat helm. While making the final call categorize things based on need and weight and store them accordingly on a boat. Furthermore rather than sitting together all time try to take a different position if possible.
Also Read:
- Essential Boating Accessories Which Every Sailor Should Have
- What Are Different Boat Types? | A Guide On Types Of Boats
- A Beginers Guide On How To Drive A Boat
- Winterize Your Boat Motor (Inboard / Outboard) | Easy Guide