Readying Your Boat for the Season

SUPERIOR, WISC. — The Minnesota Fishing opener is this Saturday…and that means there will be a lot of boats on the lakes across the state. Pat Brink talked with a boat repair shop about what boat owners are doing to be ready to hit the lakes.

The warmer temperatures along with sunny skies over the calm blue waters is a siren call to boat owners.

They want to get their boat out of storage and onto their favorite lake as soon as possible. This year with the late ice outs it’s been a little more difficult to be completely ready.

A clean boat makes for a happy boat owner says Jon Gregg, the manager of Julian Boatworks. Gregg said, “On pretty much all boats you should give it a cleaning, a nice wax job and it really cleans up. It shows you where water is coming in or you could see pretty near anything, any problems that might start coming when you first put your boat out.”

When you are giving your boat that good looking over, be sure to pay particular attention to the transom

“A fishing boat you should really check your transom where your motor is mounted, any bolts that go through, any fish finders, and depth finders that are mounted. Any holes that are not sealed right,” Gregg said. “The wood can rot away, it gets kind of tricky, they get wet and we replace a lot of them.”

If you’re not really sure how to take care of your boat or if something’s wrong, Gregg says to call someone and ask questions, and they’ll be able to help.

“We do a little bit of engine work from time to time. We try to stay away from bigger boats, but a little tune-up, winterizing in the winter, and an oil change. We can always do that, yeah we can go through anything and pretty much get you back on the water or we’ll steer you in the right direction of someone who can.”

However, if you’re just now starting to check your boat over, be prepared to wait a while if you need repairs, Gregg says Julian Boatworks is really busy as are the other boat repair shops in town.