Don't be a boating rookie, learn the ropes from us! Teaching the boating lifestyle.

2020 has left us with little choice on where to vacation and what to do. Therefore, lots of people have resorted to RV/Camper's and buying their first boat to spend their summers on the water with their families and friends. Here's some great first-time boat owner advice. Boats don't have breaks! 

To those of us who have been boating for decades, operation of a boat may come easy, and knowledge of boating etiquette and laws are common knowledge. But the same is not the case for the first-time boat buyers that have purchased boats this year.

In fact, boating can be downright scary and intimidating to the amateur or novice. There are a lot of complexities: how to trailer the boat, how to launch from a ramp, how to drive the boat, how to use all the features of the boat, how to navigate the waterways, how to pull into a dock. I could go on and on with a list of things that new buyers fear and need to be trained on.

Arming You the Customers with the Resources You Need:

Discoverboating.com is a great place to start when you are looking for information on insurance, towing and trailering, storing your boat, maintenance, safety, and most of all boat etiquette on the water ways. 

Expert advice can be found on the BoatUS website, here is the link to the boat and tow vehicles, https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/boats-and-tow-vehicles, one of the best place to find information you will need. Or if you are a DIY person they also have tons of great information on their DIY page. https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/how-to-diy.

Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation: RBFF provides resources on where to fish and boat, how to obtain a fishing license, resources for young anglers and much, much more.

Boaters education:https://www.agfc.com/en/education/first-steps-outdoors/boatered/

Sea Tow: While many of Sea Tow’s blogs focus on the organization and membership, there are also plenty that non-Sea Tow members may find useful, including those on safety, maintenance and other boating tips.

Water Sports Industry Association: If you will be participating in water sports aboard your boat, WSIA has resources I would like to share with you, including materials from the Wake Responsibly campaign.

U.S. Coast Guard: The Coast Guard offers recreational boaters a number of resources with a focus on safety.

Boating Magazines: Keep an eye out for helpful articles that you may appreciate. Magazines, like Boating magazine and Salt Water Sportsman, are constantly producing new content for consumers, much of which is informational. Rely on these resources to keep yourself in the know.

Arkansas Marine is just a small family owned and operated boat dealership. We like to help teach our customers the boating lifestyle that we know and love so much. Selling boats isn't just our job it is our passion, one that we have enjoyed for years and hope you enjoy for years to come. Arkansas Marine also likes to give our customers a full walk around when you first purchase going over all the in’s and outs of the individual boat you bought. We even include a break-in sheet detailing how to break-in your motor properly. We hope you will ask any and all questions, if you have any questions after they thoroughly go over the boat and how to operate it properly. Because we always say “The only dumb question is the ones that go unasked.” We know that the relationship doesn’t end when the sales papers are signed or even after you leave the lot, we are here to help you learn all there is to know about the boating lifestyle so we encourage our customers to always call and ask for our help anytime. If there are other resources that aren’t found here, just send us a quick email and one of our helpful staff will get you an answer as quickly as possible. 

Thank you so much for your loyalty and the wonderful relationship we hope to always have.

Sincerely,

Ashley Hudson (and the help of the Arkansas Marine team)