All worksheets / Motorboating
Edition 2026Active Merit Badge
Motorboating
Official Requirements & Fillable Workbook · 2026 Edition
Motorboating combines mechanical knowledge with on-the-water boat control under Scouting America Safety Afloat. You must pass the BSA swimmer test before handling a boat. Requirement 5 is the practical driving test: leaving a dock, trimming the engine, maneuvering through a slalom course, and performing emergency man-overboard recoveries.
Key Requirements Covered:
- Boating Laws, PFDs & Registration
- Engine Systems, Fuel Safety & Inspection
- Navigation Rules of the Road & Docking
- High-Speed Handling & Emergency Recovery
6Printable Pages
5Requirements
2026Reqs Revised
What is on the worksheet: Motorboating Requirements
Every requirement for the Motorboating merit badge, word for word as published, with room to write under each one on the printed worksheet.
1Hazards, First Aid, and Safety Afloat
Do the following:
- a Discuss with your counselor the following hazards you might encounter while motorboating: flammable fuel; carbon monoxide; propellers; collisions; falls overboard; capsize; or running aground. Explain what you should do to anticipate, prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
- b Explain first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while motorboating, including hypothermia, heat reactions, dehydration, motion sickness, bug bites, blisters.
- c Discuss the Scouting America Safety Afloat policy. Tell how it applies to motorboating activities.
2Swimmer Test and Flotation Devices
Do the following:
- a Before doing requirement 5, successfully complete the Scouting America swimmer test.Note: See the Swimming merit badge pamphlet for details about the Scouting America swimmer test.
- b Name the different types of personal flotation devices (PFDs), and explain when each type should be used. Show how to choose and properly fit a PFD.
3Motors, Fuel, and Servicing
Do the following:
- a Explain inboard, outboard, and inboard/outboard motors, and the uses and advantages of each.
- b Explain the safety procedures and precautions involving handling fuel and engine servicing, and equipment storage and placement.
- c Explain how to winterize a boat motor and tell why this procedure is necessary.
- d Explain the safety procedures and precautions involving swimmers and skiers in the water, passenger positions underway, and boat wakes.
4Safety and First Aid
Show you know safety guidelines for motorboating by doing the following:
- a Review how each item of the Scouting America Safety Afloat policy applies, including checking the weather prior to and during time on the water, confirming all required equipment is present and functional, and following a float plan.
- b Explain the rules or laws that apply to recreational boating in your area or state. Have a permit to operate a motorboat, if required by the laws of your state. Discuss how you would find information regarding the boating laws in different states.
- c Discuss how hazards of weather and heavy water conditions can affect safety and performance in motorboating.
- d Promise that you will follow Scouting America Safety Afloat guidelines. Explain the meaning of each point.
- e Explain and show the correct use of equipment required by both state and federal regulations to be carried aboard a motorboat.
- f Explain federal and state rules for a ventilation system, and tell why these rules are required.
- g Explain the use of lights (sight signals) and sound signals on motorboats.
- h Discuss the common types of anchors used in motorboating and under what conditions each would be preferred. Explain proper anchoring techniques.
5Handling the Boat Under Way
With your counselor or other adults on board, demonstrate proper boat-handling procedures and skills by doing the following:
- a Board and assist others in boarding. Confirm that all passengers on board are wearing properly fitted life jackets.
- b Fuel the boat and complete a safety check.
- c If equipped, attach the engine cut-off switch link and safely start the motor. Get underway from dockside or from a beach launch.
- d Run a course for at least a mile, showing procedures for overtaking and passing slower vessels, yielding right-of-way, passing oncoming traffic, making turns, reversing direction, and using navigation aids.
- e Stop and secure the boat in position on the open water using anchors. Raise and stow the anchor and get underway.
- f Land or dock the boat, disembark, and assist others in doing the same.
- g Moor, dock, or beach the boat and secure all gear.
- h Demonstrate knots used in boating: cleating hitch, bowline, clove hitch, anchor bend, and sheet bend.
Two dates, two different things
Requirements Revision vs. Worksheet Date
Scouting America last revised the Motorboating requirements in 2026. That is the badge, not this sheet — an older year does not mean the worksheet is out of date.
Verbatim Fidelity & Verification
This worksheet was checked against https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/motorboating/ in Aug 2026 and reproduces the requirements word for word. Both dates are printed on the sheet, so a copy in a binder can always be placed in time.
Requirement text is © Scouting America, reproduced verbatim. The worksheet layout and design are original to this project.
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