Mandatory Items to Carry in your Sailboat

Depending on the size of your vessel, there are certain legal requirements for equipment that you carry on board. As you may assume, as the length increases, so do the required items to be carried.

Yachts are separated into four categories depending on their length:

Class A: Boats less than 16 feet long
Class 1: Boats 16 feet long but less than 26 feet long
Class 2: Boats 26 feet long but less than 40 feet long
Class 3: Boats 40 feet long but less than 65 feet long

Each class builds upon the next in complexity of the items that must be carried on board.

Class A

Class A Boats are less than 16 feet long and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. (Children under 13 must wear their PFD at all times.)

One B-I Fire Extinguisher 

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

If you are under 7m (22.9ft) in length and are strictly oar or sail powered, a flashlight is all you need to carry to count as your navigation lights.

If you are operating your vessel in inland waters, such as rivers or bays, where the distance from shore to shore does not exceed 2 miles, you do not need to carry visual distress signals by day.

Class I

Class I boats are longer than 16 feet but less than 26 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. (Children under 13 must wear their PFD at all times if the boat is under 21 feet in length)

Throwable Type IV PFD

One B-I Fire Extinguisher 

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

CLASS II

Class II boats are longer than 26 feet but less than 40 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. 

Throwable Type IV PFD

Fire Extinguishers (any of the below combinations)

Two B-I Fire Extinguishers

One B-II Fire Extinguisher

One B-I Fire Extinguisher and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

Non-motorized vessels with no cabins or closed compartments (open boats) that can store combustibles do not need to carry fire extinguishers and the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

Diesel motors do not require a blower, but passive ventilation is needed.

CLASS III

Class III boats are longer than 40 feet but less than 65 feet in length and must carry:

Certificate of Boating Safety Education (for the captain) (Unless you were born before July 1, 1972)

Certificate of Vessel Numbers

Registration Decal Displayed

PFD (Life jacket) for each person on board the vessel. 

Throwable Type IV PFD

Fire Extinguishers (any of the below combinations)

Three B-I Fire Extinguishers

One B-II and one B-I Fire Extinguisher

Two B-I Fire Extinguishers and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

One B-II Fire Extinguisher and one fixed mounted fire extinguisher system

Backfire Flame Arrestor mounted on each gasoline motor

Ventilation system (1 blower per motor) (should be run for 4 min prior to starting motors)

Muffler

Horn, Whistle, or Bell

Visual Distress Signals (any of the below combinations)

3 Handheld red flares

1 Handheld red flare and 2 parachute red flares

1 Handheld orange smoke and 2 floating orange smoke for day, and 1 electric distress light for night

Navigation lights

Red and Green bow light, White stern light, White steaming light 1m higher than red and green bow lights

As always, there are exceptions to the rules:

On non-motorized vessels with no cabins, the captain does not need to have a Certificate of Boating Safety Education.

Diesel Motors do not require a blower, but passive ventilation is needed.

---

A handy checklist is available to make sure you have everything you need on board

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/boating/Documents/Required_Equipment_Checklist.pdf

I also recommend reading through the USCG documentation on vessel requirements 

http://www.uscgboating.org/images/420.PDF

A Good Lock

When security is important to you, locking everything up becomes a necessity. Most pad locks will not survive for long in the marine environment and will need to be replaced due to corrosion issues. 

I never gave the pad lock on my boat much thought, as it was there when I bought the boat and it is used everyday without issue. I saw an article a few days ago about "Searching for the perfect boat lock" and that's when it struck me how lucky I am to not worry about such things.

I don't know how old my lock is, but it was exposed to the elements for 3 years while the boat sat for sale, waiting for me to find her. There was no cover over the lock and it was exposed to rain, sun, winters, and summers. When I bought the boat, I turned the key and the lock opened up without a hitch; just as it has done everyday since.

I am not saying that this is the "best lock in the world", simply that this is a good lock that works day in and day out.

The lock is made by Abus, and is not readily available. When I had copies of its key made, the locksmith had to call around to see who had blanks for this key. I have seen these locks for sale from time to time at West Marine and small locksmith shops.

Abus does make "Marine Padlocks" that have all sorts of seals to keep moisture at bay, but this simple No 55/40 seems to work just fine. If you are having lock issues, consider an Abus lock. 

Building the Trusses

The roof line on the tiny house will have two different roof sections. The "Great Room" will have short walls and a steep roof pitch to help shed snow weight. The lofted bed section will pop up and the roof will have less of a pitch as a result. This means that the end trusses will have different different pitches. The great room will have short walls (5'4" or 64") while the lofted bed section will have much taller walls (7'4" or 88"). The roof will be pitched at the necessary angle to bring the peak up to 13'. 

I could have done the math to calculate the pitch of the roof, but instead I simply assembled the main support, and then set a beam on the section to spile the angle onto the beam. The angle was then cut with a saw and finished with hand tools. 

The main beam was set to the proper length and attached to the top of the walls frame. Then a board was set on the top of the frame and the edge of the wall. The angle was copied onto the beam and then cut off accordingly. The frame was then finished off with hand tools.

The beams between the middle and end were measured and cut in place. After everything was fitted, all the boards were nailed together. The difference between the two pitches is grossly apparent. The short roof will sit over the lofted bed, while the steeper pitch will sit over the rest of the house.

The rest of the trusses will be built and cut in place once the walls are up. The trusses will be attached to the ridge beam and rest on the tops of the walls. They will be held in place by hurricane anchors and nails.

Sailing a Tom Colvin Gaff Rigged Schooner

Tom Colvin was a naval architect who is revered for his extremely sea worthy steel sailboats. A friend of mine invited me along to take a look at one that has been sitting in the water for the past 6 years with no maintenance. The motor was dead and the rigging had been neglected, but at her heart, she is a sailboat who wants to explore!

With no motor, we sculled her out of her slip and almost made it out of the marina when the wind picked up. The headwind sent us right back into the marina and we changed course for a near by pier. After tying up, we ran a warp line from the schooner to the finger pier at the end of the marina (approximately 200 feet away) and secured the bitter end to a mooring cleat. Then we began pulling the boat by the warp line until we cleared the gap and came alongside the finger pier. The wind was directly on our nose, so we walked the boat all the way around the marina until we in a more favorable location. The wind was now on our beam and we would be simply push off the edge with plenty of seaway to get the sails up, kind of like jumping off a cliff with a glider.

We raised the staysail and foresail as we readied for launch. Once free of the pier, we raised the mainsail and jib and began our shakedown cruise under full sail! 

Gaff rigged schooners are an entirely different animal from any modern day rig. They carry immense amounts of sail area close to the water to avoid excessive heeling. The sails are spread out fore-aft instead of up-down. Since the sails are shorter, the masts are also shorter and rigging loads are lesser. This translates into much less tension on the stays allowing them to be easily rigged with wooden deadeyes and lashings. These large broad sails also require extra control lines which offer endless adjustability.

On a normal triangular sail, there are three corners (head, tack, clew) where on a gaff rig, there are four corners with their own names (head, throat, tack, clew). These extra control lines add extra complexity to sail trimming, but endless possibilities are available to you. Twist is entirely up to you as you can sheet in the end of the gaff to cup the sail or sheet it out to spill excess wind. 

We sailed around the inner harbor for a while, tacking and jibing our way up the river. Then the time came for me to return to shore, as I had an afternoon appointment that I needed to attend. The plan was to beam reach over to the pier and glide up alongside it, dropping sails and coming to a stop. What really happened is we lost our wind as we approached, lost our speed and started drifting to leeward putting us on a collision course with the fuel pier. 

We turned downwind to lessen the impact and to try to bring the boat broadside to the pier. The main concern was the 8 foot bowsprit taking out the fuel pumps! As we came in for the collision, two of us jumped ship with docklines to cleat them quickly and bring the boat to a halt. 

Thankfully, no damage occurred because The bobstay absorbed most of the impact and the steel hull was unphased by the collision! This was the conclusion of my journey aboard this wonderful steel schooner, but just the beginning for my friends who are looking to acquire her.

They are planning to circumnavigate the Northern Circle, sailing North of Canada, Alaska, and Russia. A steel hull will be a dream come true when dealing with icy waters, and a gaff rigged schooner will be wonderful during high latitude gales. 

I look forward to seeing their story progress through the years!

Bargain Bulk Buys on a Boat?

People on land love to shop at stores where you can purchase goods in massive bulk quantities. My mom shops at Costco all the time and is always storing cases of foods and other items. This is fine if you live in a house with small rooms called pantries. 

On a boat, space is a luxury! There simply isn't enough space to store such large bulk purchases all the time. We usually purchase items in much smaller quantities more frequently.

Instead of having a case of spaghetti sauce in a cabinet, we have a single extra jar. For items that we don't use as often, we might not have a spare on board. When we run out, we run out until we get to another store to purchase a replacement.

This leads us to be more aware of what we have on board the boat, since we recently put it there. If we had stashed the case of spaghetti sauce away last year, we would have probably forgotten about it hidden away in a cabinet. Since we frequently use them and replenish them, we are very aware of what we have and where it is.

This lifestyle is fine, until you come across a really great deal!

I was at West Marine one day when they told me that they were having a crazy sale on bottom paint. I plan to haul Wisdom and Windpuff this fall to paint their bottoms, and will be needing a lot of paint. If I buy it in the fall, it will cost me a lot of money. If I buy it now, I will save a lot of money but will need to store the cans until the fall. So begins the liveaboard dilemma! 

As you can see, I decided to buy the paint and stash it away in a locker until the fall.

Maddie wanted to paint pretty labels on the outside of the doors indicating what we stored inside the cabinet when she first moved in with me. I advised her not to do that because the storage in the boat is very dynamic. What we store in the lockers changes with the seasons as well as with a whim.

This locker used to hold canned meats and beans. Now it holds bottom paint! A little reorganizing helped shuffle the stored items around and make room for this one time great deal. If we bought everything in bulk, we would not have been able to accommodate such a large, spur of the moment purchase.