An inspection can also be as cursory as hailing an open vessel, observing that the lone occupant/captain has an inflatable PFD on and his engine kill lanyard attached and telling him to have a nice day(guess they figured that everything else would be covered as well). Then enquiring if he caught anything.bilgerat57 wrote:Actually, nobody really knows for a fact that the serial numbers were recorded. Chances are pretty good that they were, but nobodys knows for sure. The USCG is allowed to board any vessel, any time for a safety inspection while that vessel is inside the territorial waters of the USA. That's part of what they do. I don't know how the law is worded that allows them to do this, but they can and do. A 'safety' inspection can be just a cursory look around the boat to be sure everyone has a lifejacket, or it can be a complete nightmare where they have the boat all but disassembled. It really doesn't pay to annoy them too much......
Happened to me four or five years ago in a "no wake" zone in Jacksonville Florida. They never even came totally alongside.