In this video I go through the basics of driving an outboard-powered runabout, or tinnie as we call them here: judging your speed, leaving and coming back to a pontoon, manoeuvring in a confined space, keeping to a channel and driving between moorings. I also show how to use a deck line to spring on or off a pontoon when the weather turns bad, which it does by the end of the video. If you're new to boating it's a good place to start, but even if you've been at it a while you might pick up something new.

How the outboard is trimmed makes a big difference to how the boat handles. To get up on the plane and run well the motor wants to be trimmed up, but for stopping and reversing it wants to be trimmed right down.