UNITED STATES POWER SQUADRONS^®
DISTRICT 20

USPS ®, working in partnership with the United States Coast Guard and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, provides free vessel safety checks for any small boat.

A Vessel Safety Check is a courtesy examination of your boat (Vessel) to verify the presence and condition of certain Safety Equipment required by State and the Federal regulations. The Vessel Examiner is a trained specialist and is a member or the US Power Squadrons or the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. They will also make certain recommendations and discuss certain safety issues that will make you a safer boater.

This is not boarding or a law enforcement issue. No citations will be given as a result of this encounter. We will supply you with a copy of our evaluation so that you may follow some of the suggestions given. Vessels that pass will be able to display our distinctive VSC decal. This does not exempt you from law enforcement boarding, but helps you be prepared so that if a boarding does occur it will be a positive encounter.

Some of the items we check in a Vesssel Safetry Check are;

• Proper display of numbers
• Registration/Documentation
• Personal Flotation Devices; Life Jackets
• Visual Distress Signals
• Fire extinguishers
• Ventilation
• Backfire flame control
• Sound producing devices
• Navigation lights
• State requirements
• Overall vessel condition

15 reasons why a vessel might not pass a safety inspection

If you are interested in this service, fill out the form below and click on the submit button. A USPS Vessel Examiner will contact you to arrange a safety check.

If your browser is not set up to send e-mail messages from forms, you may get a failure message when you click on the submit button.  Also, if you are using the AOL browser, the  form data will not be sent.  In either of these cases, just e-mail the information requested below to: Mike Ludtke