Disclaimer & Safety Notice

Boat Guru provides AI diagnostic guidance only. It is not a certified marine mechanic service, emergency response service, vessel survey, or safe-to-operate certification. It is not professional advice and is not a substitute for a qualified marine mechanic.

What this service is

A general reference and brainstorming tool. We use large language models grounded in publicly available marine repair knowledge to help you narrow down likely causes and next steps for engine, electrical, fuel, and drive-system problems on recreational boats.

What this service is not

• It is not a licensed or certified marine mechanic.
• It is not an emergency response, dispatch, or towing service.
• It is not a vessel survey or seaworthiness inspection.
• It does not certify any repair or vessel as safe to operate.
• It does not have direct access to your vessel, your engine's actual condition, or service bulletins specific to your hull and serial number.
• It can be wrong. AI responses can be confidently incorrect.

Safety-critical work — get a professional

Always verify safety-critical work with a qualified marine mechanic.

• Safety-critical issues require stronger escalation than ordinary troubleshooting.
• The named high-risk categories are fuel leaks or fuel vapors; fire, smoke, or fire-suppression issues; electrical shorts, battery faults, or burning wiring; steering, throttle, shift, or control loss; carbon monoxide alarms, exhaust intrusion, or poisoning symptoms; sinking, flooding, bilge, through-hull, or buoyancy problems; underway safety issues.
• For active emergencies, get people safe and contact the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF channel 16, local emergency services, or a towing provider before using AI guidance.
• Escalate to a qualified marine mechanic when a case is dangerous, uncertain, model-sensitive, serial-sensitive, source-missing, or outside the user's verified context.
• This is general AI guidance, not professional advice. For safety-critical repairs, stop and verify with a qualified marine mechanic before proceeding.

Emergencies

If you are on the water and dealing with a fire, fuel leak, sinking, carbon-monoxide concern, or any other emergency: get off the boat, call the U.S. Coast Guard (Channel 16 VHF) or SeaTow / TowBoatUS, and follow their instructions. Do not consult this service.

Sources and manuals

• Boat Guru may cite manuals, OEM pages, forum anecdotes, and other sources, but citation does not mean the source is cleared for public redistribution.
• Manual PDF downloads are not offered publicly unless the source rights are explicitly cleared for that use.
• Private user-uploaded manuals stay private to the uploading account and do not create public sharing or redistribution rights.
• Unknown, citation/link-only, and blocked sources must not be republished as large excerpts or downloadable files.

Shared links and handoffs

• Shared diagnostic links should be treated as public read-only summaries.
• Public shared links strip account details, contact details, precise location, HIN, registration or documentation numbers, trailer VIN or plate, full engine serial numbers, raw transcripts, raw images, attachments, EXIF, support notes, billing details, and unrelated personal text by default.
• Mechanic handoff reports may include contact details, exact location, full serial numbers, or identifying photos only after an explicit user action for that specific handoff.

Limitation of liability

You assume full responsibility for any work you perform on your vessel, whether or not it was informed by guidance from this service. Marine Mechanic GPT, its operators, and its underlying model providers disclaim all liability for property damage, personal injury, financial loss, or any other consequence arising from use of the service.

By using this service you acknowledge that you understand AI-generated repair guidance carries inherent risk and that you will exercise your own judgment, consult qualified professionals where appropriate, and comply with all applicable laws and manufacturer recommendations.

Questions

See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, or contact support if you have questions about this disclaimer.