Before you head out on your personal watercraft it is essential to perform a pre-ride inspection. Depending on the brand of your watercraft will determine what you need to check,  so for this reason we recommend you familiarise yourself with your owners manual.

If you don’t have an owners manual you maybe able to find one for download online somewhere or contact your local shop.

Remove your seat or hood and have a good look for any oil or fuel leaks, also have a quick look at all your hoses and wires, make sure they all still look in good condition and than none of them are rubbing anywhere they shouldn’t be.

Next up check your battery, make sure it is securely in place, and that the terminals are clean and tight. If they show any signs of corrosion you can use a wire brush to clean them and then give them a spray of a marine lubricant like CRC Marine 66.

After this check the engine oil, depending on your make and model there are few different ways of doing this, some require the watercraft to be at operating temperature and some require the watercraft to be cold, so if you are not sure I would recommend a phone call to your local dealer to determine what you need to do for your specific ski. Do remember to have your ski sitting flat, so if you have a trailer without a jocky-wheel you will want to connect it onto your tow bar or lift it off the ground to make sure the watercraft is level.

If you own a Sea-doo that has the closed-loop cooling you will need to check the level of your coolant water, this is easily done by checking the water level on the reservoir.

Check to make sure all the controls are all operating correctly, throttle isn’t sticking or jamming, reverse lever is moving freely and steering is also moving freely.

And don’t be the person at the boat ramp that forgets to put your drain plugs in, sounds stupid I know, but this is more common that what you would think.

Start the ski and then stop the engine by pulling the lanyard, this makes sure if you get into trouble the ski will stop when required and will also make sure the battery has significant power.

We would also recommend having a quick look round the exterior of your watercraft to make sure everything looks ok and nothing is out of place. Check your pump/impeller , intake grate and the overall condition of your hull.