RCE wrote:

I have searched Google looking for the original rec.boats charter without
success. To your knowledge, is there one?

I posted *all* existing rec.boats hierarchy charters a couple days ago.
Advice if you want me to repost.

I think a review of the charter, if it exists, should be a prerequisite
to voting for or against changing it to a moderated newsgroup.

There is a lot of info in usenet regarding changing a nonmoderated NG to
a moderated one. It really varies little from forming a new NG. Advise
if you want one of these cites reposted here.

The only document I found related to the early formation of rec.boats was
this FAQ:

http://www.gulf-stream.net/recboats/recboatsFAQ.html

And he spoke to the originator of rec.boats (John Hughes?) when he
developed that site.

--
Skipper