Sea Grant Specialist discusses how to prepare your boat for the season as part of Your News Now's "Discover Better Boating" Series

Syracuse, NY, April 23, 2011 - Welcome to Discover Better Boating, a new series that we hope will provide New York boaters with helpful information to better enjoy your boating season.

"We are excited to travel through the Great Lakes region to talk with the diverse types of groups and individuals about clean and safe boating and the opportunity they have to make a positive impact on the spread of aquatic invasive species by following easy-to-implement practices," said campaign developer and New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White.

One focus of the series will be clean and safe boating - how boaters, anglers and other water recreation users can prevent and slow the spread of aquatic invasive species in New York waters.

This month, experts will tell you everything you need to know to get your boat ready to launch. So, on behalf of New York Sea Grant's partners in this endeavor - the Boating Industries Association and Syracuse, NY-based Your News Now (YNN) - let's talk about preparing your boat. Joining NYSG's Dave White is Wayne Carroll at Brewerton Boatyard.

Q: A boater first has to decide if they will do the work themselves or use a marine mechanic, if a boater chooses to use a mechanic what are some things they should look for?
A: First thing he wants to do is go to a dealer or a mechanic that is familiar with the engine that he has on his boat whether it be Mercrusier or Volvo Penta there's a lot of dealers out there that just do boats.

Q: Great advice, but if a boater likes to prepare their boat themselves, lets first focus on the electric system.
A: You want to make sure the battery is in good condition by that I mean have it load tested, the age of the battery is going to be a factor as well, the older the battery the less life it's going to have. Also, when you install it you want to clean the terminals and seal them.

Q: How about hoses?
A: You want to make sure there's no cracking, make sure there's no leaking and also make sure the clamps are tight," said Carroll.

Following the April 23rd debut, the Discover Better Boating segments will run on YNN stations every third Saturday through October.

The YNN channel, based in Syracuse, telecasts two separate program feeds, one to Central/Northern New York; one to the Southern Tier. YNN is available to nearly 600,000 cable subscribers across a 25-county, 15,000 square mile area.