Editorial Policy

Core standards

• Help readers make practical boating decisions, not just scan generic summaries.
• Make uncertainty visible when current official verification matters.
• Do not present route, weather, insurance, customs, safety, or mechanical guidance as final authority.
• Use official or primary sources when they are the right place to verify current requirements.
• Keep advertising, sponsorship, and external-link convenience separate from editorial judgment.
• Make corrections easy to request and reasonable to act on.

Boating and Great Loop guidance

Great Loop pages are written as planning aids. They can help readers frame a route, compare tradeoffs, and prepare questions, but they are not a substitute for current charts, Local Notices to Mariners, lock schedules, bridge information, marina confirmation, weather forecasts, insurance documents, mechanical inspection, or professional judgment on the water.

Tools and calculators

Calculators, scorecards, worksheets, and decision trees are designed to structure thinking. Their outputs are estimates or prompts, not guarantees. Readers should verify inputs, check current conditions, and apply judgment before acting.

Advertising and affiliate separation

Advertising may appear on the site, but ads do not control guide structure, route cautions, source notes, recommendations, correction handling, or page inclusion in the sitemap. External links are included because they may help readers verify or continue a task, not because they are paid endorsements.

Read the advertising disclosure.

Corrections

If a page is wrong, outdated, unclear, or broken, readers are encouraged to report it. Useful boating pages should be maintainable and correctable, especially when route details, rules, links, or official procedures change.

Report a correction