RedactedNarrative: In January 2019, operator purchased a boat for the first time in his life. Shortly after making the purchase, he then took an online course to obtain his boating license. On 2 February 2019, he took the boat out with his family and a friend to Wheeler Lake. The trip was his first time boating on Wheeler Lake, a flood control lake that loses five to six foot of water during the winter months.  At approximately 1506hrs, while traveling near Finley Island, the boat struck a submerged object on the river bottom. The boat was traveling at approximately thirty miles per hour when it hit the object, breaking the outdrive apart from the transom. The boat struck the object at a location near Finley Island, a submerged island that has three different channels (primary, secondary, and alternate) for navigating around. A new boater to this area could become quickly confused to the location of the channel and wander into shallow water.  Contributing factors to this accident are operator inexperience and a lack of area lake familiarization. A friend estimated the repair cost near $1900.00 and higher.