You can sail a boat, row a boat, steer a boat, or take a boat out. However, notice the meaning of the words. You can't sail a rowboat, because it doesn't have a "sail". Nor can you row a sailboat. Look up the verbs "sail", "row" , and "steer" in your dictionary to get the meanings right.

It depends, You can drive, sail, row or steer a boat. On bigger ships the person in charge of steering the boat is called "Helmsman", when steering he is "at the helm". You can also say "take the boat", meaning that you use it as a means of getting somewhere (as in "take the bus"). As Linguafan has stated, you can often deduct what verb to use from the kind of boat used, but there are exceptions as well. As far as I know, you can sail a boat without sails, and "to set sail" is an expression often used on big ships regardless of the method of propulsion (both sailboats and motor-driven ships). "Row" on the other hand, i believe is only used in its original meaning.

sail a boat cowboy...

row a boat or sail a boat

i say get a boat :P