ok im a first time boat owner and would like to learn proper safety and boating manners any one know of a good site i can learn on so i dont see myself on an angry topic on tff thank you and im sorry in advance to the people i may "tick off" please dont cuss me educate me

You will be able to gain a ton of info on this site, but select you choice of wording a little better and stay away from words that can contrued as cussing or a close match to it. Otherwise you will run the risk of getting "moderated" more often than you may like. LOL Enjoy! (I will edit your post)

thank you and sorry about that

You can get a lot of information on the Parks and Wildlife site. I think they have a boater education link or class you can sign up for as well.

www.tpwd.state.tx.us

Welcome fsufan, keep posting and asking questions on this forum. You will find the majority of the people willing to give you whatever information you seek. If you ask specific questions, they are much easier to answer, like:
size of boat and horsepower needed
how to handle rough water
how to launch a boat at a busy boat ramp
and many more. I am not an expert on this topic, but many on this forum have vast experience and will share knowledge with you.

fsufan....I would say the #1 think that I don't like that happens at the boat dock is when someone backs down the ramp and gets their boat ready to launch ie plug in, motor toter off, putting drinks and ice in cooler and so on. All of these things need to be done before you back your boat down the ramp. If you come to Lake Meredith on the weekends you will see what I mean. As far as operating your boat just be curtious. Don't cut people off or do anything to them that you would not like. Come to Lake Meredith during the week and there will only be a few boats on the water. Hope this helps and if you see a silver and red Ranger out there stop and say hello!

Amen Ranger393V! Amen!

There are usually prep areas set aside at most boat ramps for pre-launch and post-load activities. People should use them and leave the ramp open.

Kevin

FSU,

Contact your local coast guard auxillary group and do a couple of ride alongs with them.

They will normally be more than happy to welcome you. And you will get FIRST hand knowledge of what people are doing wrong by seeing it first hand.

fact that you ask means you probly won't do anything too bad - like the man says, move away from the ramp to prep. Then once on the ramp, take the time you need to do it right, just don't daudle.

Get yourself into a routine & don't vary from it - for me, I have a strict rule that once I have a transom tie-down in my hand, I can *not* set it down till the drain plug is in.

Get a set of muffs so you can start the engine before you leave the house, just to make sure it'll run.

gotta say as a long time TFFer and a first time (well the jon boat don't count) boat owner I'm glad to see this asked. I've been reading up and I may go take that boater education class. I spend so much time on the bank I see a lot of the problems and I think I can avoid them. But being a rookie at launching I hope I don't make a fool out of myself the first few times. Never launched more than a 12 foot jon.

thanks guy sfound every thing i needed and more

Take the boater education course offered by Parks and Wildlife. Taking it got me a discount on insurance for the boat as well. The coast guard auxilary like Mike mentioned would be great as well.

here is a article on boat ramping-its not too indepth but will have some info for you..
ramp..

fsufan, if you want we can get together one of these days and you can come with us to the lake so you can kind of get a feel for loading/unloading etc. If you are interested send me a pm.

This is a good site
http://boat-ed.com/tx/