What does the capacity plate indicate on a boat? Maximum weight and/or the number of people that the boat can cary safely. Turn off the engine, fan, or electrical equipment and close all windows, ports, doors, and other openings to prevent fumes from entering the boat.

Federal law requires single-hull boats less than 20 feet in length to have a capacity plate. (However, PWC and sailboat manufacturers are not required to attach a capacity plate.) Always follow the recommended capacity found in the owner’s manual and on the manufacturer’s warning decal.

Flashing amber light means approach the lock at a safe speed and under full control. Flashing green light means enter the lock. When using locks, boaters should: Have fenders and at least 100 feet of rope to use in securing your boat inside the lock.

What color is a marker that indicates safe water on all sides? You see a white marker with black vertical stripes.

What is the best way to retrieve an anchor? Pull the anchor straight up. Pull the rope from the stern. Drive the boat quickly toward shore, and pull on the anchor line as you go.

Be sure the anchor line is strong and long enough to anchor your boat. A good rule of thumb is that the length of the line should be at least seven to ten times the depth of the water where you are setting anchor.

What is the Best Way to Avoid Overloading Your Boat – Boat Capacity Rules Explained

1. Stay Below Your Boat’s Max Weight Capacity.
2. Do Not Take Extra Passengers on Board.
3. Distribute Weight Evenly.
4. Avoid Transporting Heavy Loads in Bad Weather.
5. Do Not Overpower Your Boat.

What should you do if you fall overboard into cold water? Reduce speed to the minimum needed to stay on course. Visibility is restricted due to fog.

Try to reboard your paddlecraft or anything else still floating. Get as much of your body out of the water as possible. Remember that you will start to lose strength if you stay in the water for more than a few minutes, so get yourself and everyone else out of the water as quickly as possible.

If you see yourself about to fall in, if possible, cover your face with your hands. This may sound strange, but quickly becoming immersed in icy water can cause “Torso Reflex,” or a sudden involuntary intake of breath. Covering your mouth is an attempt to avoid gulping water into your lungs when this happens.

Stage 1: Initial “cold shock” occurs in the first 3-5 minutes of immersion in cold water. Sudden immersion into cold water can cause immediate, involuntary gasping; hyperventilation; panic; and vertigo—all of which can result in water inhalation and drowning.

Generally, a person can survive in 41-degree F (5-degree C) water for 10, 15 or 20 minutes before the muscles get weak, you lose coordination and strength, which happens because the blood moves away from the extremities and toward the center, or core, of the body.

First-aid tips

• Be gentle. When you’re helping a person with hypothermia, handle him or her gently.
• Move the person out of the cold.
• Remove wet clothing.
• Cover the person with blankets.
• Insulate the person’s body from the cold ground.
• Monitor breathing.
• Provide warm beverages.
• Use warm, dry compresses.

If your body temperature starts to climb and you’re unable to cool yourself through sweating, you’re experiencing heat stress. Heat stress can lead to serious complications, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. In addition to feeling uncomfortably hot, you may also experience: dizziness.

Prevention of Hypothermia Persons trapped in a blizzard should sleep with caution. You have a lower metabolic rate when you sleep so you produce less body heat. Some sleep is necessary, but do not remain idle and sleeping for long periods of time.

Do not rewarm the person too quickly, such as with a heating lamp or hot bath. Don’t attempt to warm the arms and legs. Heating or massaging the limbs of someone in this condition can stress the heart and lungs.

Unless absolutely necessary, the person should not walk on frostbitten toes or feet. Do not rewarm the skin until you can keep it warm. Warming and then re-exposing the frostbitten area to cold air can cause worse damage. Gently warm the area in warm water (not hot) or with wet heat until the skin appears red and warm.

Rapid rewarming may be associated with afterdrop, which results when warm blood shunts to the periphery and cold blood to the core due to vasodilation. Monitoring both skin and core temperature is recommended to avoid this phenomenon.

Ventricular fibrillation in a cold patient is a desperate event. Generally, defibrillation is ineffective at hypothermic core temperatures and when equipment for heroic attempts at resuscitation is unavailable.

Severe hypothermia is life-threatening Under this temperature, a person will be very cold to touch, unresponsive, rigid, not breathing, have no pulse, and their pupils will be fixed (they will not respond to light changes). They will appear to be dead, but they may not be.

Hypothermia Symptoms

• Shivering.
• Slow breathing.
• Drowsiness.
• Mood changes.
• Irritability.
• Poor coordination.
• Confusion.
• Slurred speech.

If the patient fails to respond to the initial defibrillation attempt or initial drug therapy, defer subsequent defibrillation attempts or additional boluses of medication until the core temperature rises above 30°C (86°F).

The average normal body temperature is generally accepted as 98.6°F (37°C). Some studies have shown that the “normal” body temperature can have a wide range, from 97°F (36.1°C) to 99°F (37.2°C). A temperature over 100.4°F (38°C) most often means you have a fever caused by an infection or illness.

Hypothermia is an unusual aetiology for cardiac arrest, particularly in acute inpatient settings, but must not be excluded from consideration as a potentially-reversible cause. As with other causes, if it is unnoticed or poorly managed, poorer outcomes result.

Forced warm air systems are preferable. The core temperature of patients rewarmed using either active external or active internal rewarming techniques generally increases at a rate of at least 2°C/hour. More hypothermic patients tend to rewarm at a faster rate [11].