Gene Kearns wrote:
On 20 Jan 2007 18:33:23 -0800, Frogwatch penned the following well
considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:


As soon as I got out of my truck, this older guy walks up in a sorta
blue uniform that said U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and asked if I
wanted a free "courtesy safety inspection". Being proud of my boat and
knowing she is in excellent shape and sorta wanting to show her off I
said "OK". He did say he was not empowered to issue any tickets for
anything.

Well, it is free and is voluntary. Feel free to say, "No," if you
wish.... and I probably would have said, "Not No, but HELL NO," if his
intent was to stick anything on my boat that couldn't be scraped off
of glass...

My boat was still on the trailer so I wonder about his authority and in
reality NOBODY would refuse to get such an inspection.

The only "authority" he has is to offer is volunteered time and
knowledge.

After all, if I
refused he coulda radioed to someone on the water to give me a ticket
for something.

Not likely..... unless you were a catastrophic accident waiting to
happen...

Mostly the inspection was insignificant and didnt tell
me anything at all but he made a big deal about paperwork. He wanted
to see my title and since I dont think anybody has such a right except
for law enforcement types and he had no cause to ask I was sorta
put-off. Even worse, he was confused by the lack of a vessel ID number
on a home-built boat and fact that the title did not look like a
standard one.

That's kindova non-standard scenario for these guys.... again,
remember they aren't paid to do this and, depending on the local USCG,
they may not be the best trained for odd stuff.

Locally, the USCGA fellows are more intent on insuring that you have
the appropriate safety gear aboard... fire extinguishers, personal
flotation devices, flares, etc... undoubtedly their marching orders
from the USCG.

Regionally, your USCG may be more interested in paperwork, hence
different marching orders.

He gave me a sticker that he insisted on putting on my new paint saying
I had been inspected and said something about this preventing me from
getting stopped by the CG (Really?)

Well, I wouldn't go quite that far, but I've never been stopped by the
USCG for inspection of equipment. I think a current sticker may send
them on to the next boat that doesn't have one...

What really got me was he
paperwork he filled out with my name, vessell ID stuff and other
things; what the hell is all that for?

I think the major thing is that it covers *his* butt for affixing the
decal for due cause. It proves he actually did the inspection, rather
than giving stickers out like candy.

It was all very friendly and it was not till I got home later that it
began to gnaw at me that it seemed very weird to be forced to do this.

Forget it.....

I can't figure out what the big deal is. The USCGAux has a specific
area they want the sticker attached to. On my boat it is on the port
side windshield. I normally would get pulled over once a year, normally
in the early spring, just to do a safety inspection of the boat. Since
I have the sticker I have never been pulled over. I would assume some
of the inspectors can be pricks, especially if the person they offered
the free service to is being a prick, but all USCGAux. I have been
involved with have been very pleasant.

If someone wants a free inspection, w/o a sticker, I can't imagine any
inspector saying no. You just would not get one of the main benefits,
which is the USCD or DNR will not pull you over for a random safety
inspection.