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While on the water, you could see many different types of law enforcement officers
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From the police, sheriff, water police, the Coast Guard to conservation officers, fish and wildlife officers, harbor patrol
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and in some places like California, you've got the Department of Boating and Waterways
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Most of the time, you're only going to see them in passing, but there are sometimes when you might get checked
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Usually around major holidays and specific fishing season changes when people are either drinking
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and boating heavily or poaching undersized fish. If you do get stopped, at least in the U.S., they are going to be looking for some specific items
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Just like a traffic stop in your car when you are asked for your license, insurance, and registration
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there are some things that are required to have on the boat at all times
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And since we are just finishing up on our project boat with all of the ones, we are just finishing up on our project boat with all of the wiring and all of the miscellaneous punch list items
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that need to be taken care of before splashing the boat, we need to make sure we stock up
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the boat with the equipment required by law to make sure we are legal before hitting the water
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I'm sure a lot of you will probably know about most of these things, but as we usually try
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to do in all of our videos, we've got some helpful hints to help you out when it comes to
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these items. Making this the perfect time to hit that like button for that wonderful YouTube algorithm
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them and if you're new subscribe to the channel to help us try and get that silver play button
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before the end of the year. Now here in the US every state is different but some states do have
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certain laws about even operating a boat. Like here in Florida where we live if you were born in
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1988 or after you were required to take in past an approved boating safety course to legally
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drive a boat here Then in other states like California basically anyone under the age of 16 has to be supervised by someone over 18 to operate the boat So this is something to keep in mind if you going to be using a boat on vacation or if you just getting into the boating world
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you'll just want to check with the local laws of wherever you are. Something that almost everyone is going to know about
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is that you have to have life jackets on board. The boat has to have one life jacket for every person that is on the boat
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Now, for me, I also like to carry a kid's life jacket as well
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When you have a boat, there are times that you just don't know who you are going to be taking out
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It's like that old saying. It's better to have a friend with a boat than to own one
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So I like to have the kids lifejacket stored away just in case. You can get life jacket sets like this one that has four vests in it and it's vented
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So most people will just throw these into a compartment and forget about them
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Which is nice when you have a larger boat with lots of storage. But when you've got a smaller boat with less storage like our 23 foot Ocean Master
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you don't really want to lose any prime storage real estate on the boat
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which is why I like to have a teatop teabag to put all the vests in
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You can get these anywhere and they are fairly cheap, but it makes for a great way to get the necessary life jackets
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stored away by strapping them up in the teetop and out of the way
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It only takes about 20 minutes to put the tea bag up. Then just stuff the jackets in there and depending on what size boat you have, you can get them in different sizes
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Like this one will store up to six jackets, and I would say to pull off the paper tags that come on the vests
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because they are going to get wet no matter what. Whether it's the moisture in the air, rain, or spray from being on the water, we see it a lot, where you pull the jacks
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It shovels are all moldy and nasty so it best to just pull them off whenever you store them away The next thing that you going to need is going to be what is called a throwable which is basically just a cushion or flotation device that you can throw to someone if they are out in the water
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You are probably picturing the round lifeguard throwables over these recreational square ones
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but either style is fine and legal for you to have on board. I like to stick this up in the tea bag with the other life jackets as well
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That way if you ever have your boat checked, you can just unzip the tea bag and there's the throwable with the life jackets
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Then the next thing that you are required to have on the boat is going to be a fire extinguisher
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There are lots of different types of fire extinguishers that will put out different types of fires
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These types are all designated on the extinguisher, and for boats, you will usually see the B and C class extinguishers
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B class is what is. is required and the fire extinguisher is going to say marine somewhere on it. Usually you
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will find the B and C class together because these are used to put out flammable liquid or gas
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and electrical fires. So you can't just take a red fire extinguisher from your house and call
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it a day that won't fly. You only need to have one class B for boats under 26 feet, then
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on boats from 26 to 40 feet you need to have two B class extinguishers or you can have one
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of the B2 extinguishers, which is just a bigger class B1. But there also has to be an approved fixed system which is usually found in the engine room
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and it will go off automatically when a fire is detected. Then the requirements just go up as you go up in size of boat
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The next item that is required is going to be your visual distress signals, which are your
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flares that you can get in either a gun style that shoots the flare off into the air or the stick style that you hold
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It extremely important that you look at the expiration date of the flare before you buy it I got a friend that bought some flares and they were only a year away from expiring which is pretty disappointing so make sure you look at that date before you buy them
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We also need to have a whistle or an air horn that will make a mechanical audible noise for distress
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And what I like to do is get a waterproof case that we can put all of this stuff in
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which when I went to Home Depot only had these little thin, cases. It's better to find one with a little more space, but in this instance, this will work
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fine after taking out all the dividers, and then we can put our flares and the whistles in
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the case. So they will stay dry, and then if we get stopped, we can just show the throwable
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and the jackets in the tea bag, open the door to the console and show the extinguisher
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and then just hand over this box that has the flares and the whistle in it. The very last thing that we want to stick in our waterproof case, though
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is going to be the boat's registration papers. Though they are required to be on the front and having
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the sticker on the front lets the officers see that the boat's been registered, if they stop you
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they will also still want to see this as well. Something else that isn't as commonly known is that
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they will sometimes look at the hen on the back of the boat. This is what is called the hall
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identification number and that is what is used to register the boat. This plate has to be riveted
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or permanently attached to the back starboard corner of the boat or it has to be etched permanently
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into the gel coat of the transom. You actually can get a ticket if this isn't on here as well. But this is
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usually only something that those of you who are into doing project boats and transoms have to deal
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with though. Now let us know if you've ever had any encounters or checks with the Coast Guard
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or FWC in the comment section below. And if you have to have to do you have to do that. And if you have to do you
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haven't already, subscribe to the channel and visit us at born again boating.com. Check out some of our
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other videos and we look forward to seeing you next week
