Sources & Methodology

How We Check

Everything on Boaters Nation — every ramp, fuel dock, hazard and rule — is there because a source backs it. This page is the standard every listing has to clear, in plain English.

No verified source, no pin.

A pin is a claim. When a ramp, fuel dock or restaurant appears on the map, we're claiming it exists, it's where the pin sits, and the details on its card are true. If we can't back a claim with a source we can point to, the pin doesn't go up — and if a claim stops checking out, it comes down.

Details are claims too

Lane counts, fees, hours, fuel types — a detail prints only when a source states it. "Probably" and "usually" don't make it onto a card.

An honest zero beats a padded map

If a water truly has no ramp, no fuel or no hazard worth marking, we record that as verified — we never fill a category with guesses so the map looks fuller.

People's lives can depend on this map, so safety information is always checked before everything else, in this order:

1. Tricky Water & hazards — inlets, shoals, bridges and other dangers, with the warning wording checked against the source. A missing real hazard is the worst mistake we can make.

2. Fuel — the dock is where the pin says, and it actually sells the fuel the card states.

3. Boat ramps — open or closed, and every detail (lanes, fees, hours) backed by a source.

4. Emergency information — the numbers and channels a boater reaches for first.

Then everything else

Bait shops, dock-and-dine, stays, cams and the rest are checked to the same standard — they just wait their turn behind the safety list.

Every listing is checked twice, by two independent passes. The second pass doesn't read the first pass's conclusions — it goes back to the sources and derives the answer again. If the two passes disagree, the listing isn't done.

Nobody signs off their own work

The pass that built a listing is never the pass that certifies it. And a "verified" label from an older sweep counts for nothing until the facts are re-derived — labels age, sources are re-read.

The whole list, not a sample

When we say a region was checked, we mean every pin in it — placement, category, name, phone, closures. Sampling is never dressed up as a full check.

Official sources first. Facts come from a hierarchy, and the higher source wins:

1. Official agencies — state boating and wildlife agencies, NOAA for tides and weather, the U.S. Coast Guard for hazards and rules.

2. The place itself — the business's own listing, site or posted information, for things like hours and phone numbers.

When sources conflict, the claim comes out

If two sources state different lane counts, fees or hours, we don't pick the one we like — the detail comes off the card until one source settles it. What's left is only what a source clearly states.

State rules work the same way

Registration fees, safety-card rules and license prices on the State Rules pages are taken from each state's own official pages, with the checked date printed on the page. If this site ever disagrees with the official source, the official source wins.

A fuel price is only printed where it's re-checked on a set schedule. Prices go stale fast, and a stale price is worse than none — so a price appears only where a standing re-check keeps it current.

Today, that's Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay's fuel prices are swept and re-checked on a daily rhythm, and the date travels with the price. Everywhere else in Boaters Nation, fuel pins tell you the dock sells fuel — and say to call ahead for the price.

Pins never carry prices

The text on a map pin never states a price, in any region. Prices live only in the dated price tables where the re-check rhythm exists.

A region's percentage is the share of its catalogued waters that have been fully cross-checked — counted water by water: every lake, river, bay and harbor in the region, checked and rechecked, or proven to have no boating to list.

An example

New England shows 95.2% — meaning 95.2% of its 586 catalogued waters are fully cross-checked. The rest are named in our working lists as still to close; they are not hidden inside the number.

No denominator, no percentage

A percentage only appears where a complete count of the region's waters exists. Regions still being counted show plain counts instead — places built and pins on the map — never an invented percent.

We don't round up to "done"

95.2% is reported as 95.2%, not as "complete." A region is finished when the count says so, not when it feels close.

Found something wrong? Tell us — every listing card carries a "Report a mistake" link next to its Directions button. The report reaches us with the place's name attached, so we know exactly which pin you mean.

What happens after a report

The listing goes back through the same standard: re-checked against the sources, by a fresh pass. If the fact is wrong, it's fixed. If it can't be re-verified, it comes off the map. A closure gets marked as a closure, not quietly left looking open.

Boaters are the third check

Sources can be wrong, and water changes faster than websites. The people who launch at a ramp every week see what no listing shows — reports from boaters are part of how this map stays honest.

Report a mistake

Boaters Nation is built and run by David & Nancy MacDonald — Tampa Bay Boating LLC, Riverview, Florida. The same family behind Tampa Bay Boating, on the water in Florida since 2020.

A small operation, a written standard

There's no newsroom and no call center — there's a family, a written checking standard (this page), and a map that has to earn its keep every day. That's exactly why the standard is published: you can hold us to it.