Checklist · Maritime

Buying, Operating, and Handling an Accident on a Recreational Boat: A Practical Checklist

46 U.S.C. § 12301

Type
Checklist
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2026-02-22
Topic
Maritime

A step-by-step checklist for buying a boat, operating one lawfully, and handling an accident. Section A covers purchase diligence, including the title and lien problems that make a boat unsellable. Section B covers registration, documentation, and required equipment. Section C covers marine insurance and the warranties that void coverage regardless of causation. Section D covers the operator's legal duties, including the navigation rules that decide fault. Section E is the accident sequence, on the water, in the first day, and in the first weeks. Section F covers limitation of liability and the stipulations that preserve a jury trial. Section G covers salvage, towing, and personal watercraft.

Buying, Operating, and Handling an Accident on a Recreational Boat: A Practical Checklist

Maritime > Recreational Boating and Watercraft | Published 22 February 2026 - Updated 10 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Start here

Three facts govern almost everything below:

  1. Federal maritime law probably applies — Foremost Insurance Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668 put recreational collisions inside admiralty.
  2. The navigation rules decide fault, and "right of way" is not one of them.
  3. Most boats are uninsured, which is why the first practical question after an accident is not liability but collectability.

SECTION A — BUYING

A1. Identity and title

☐ Verify the hull identification number on the hull itself, and confirm it matches every document ☐ Look for evidence of an altered or missing number — a red flag and an independent violation ☐ Confirm title, which is separate from registration in many states. A boat without clean title cannot be sold, financed, or insured ☐ Confirm the seller's authority to convey — co-owners, estates, lienholders, and divorcing spouses ☐ Search for liens. Maritime liens are frequently unrecorded and travel with the vessel; a documented vessel has a federal abstract of title to search ☐ Confirm whether the vessel is federally documented or state-numbered — largely mutually exclusive, and displaying the wrong thing is a citation. The numbering framework is at 46 U.S.C. § 12301

A2. Condition

☐ Commission a survey — hull, engine, systems, and a sea trial. Insurance frequently requires one anyway ☐ Ask about prior sinkings, accidents, and salvage. A previously sunk and rebuilt boat is a different asset ☐ Confirm the capacity plate figures, and take them seriously — overloading is a leading contributor to fatal accidents ☐ Confirm the required safety equipment is aboard and current ☐ Engine hours, service records, and the date of the last major service ☐ Trailer condition, title, and registration, which is a separate asset with separate paperwork

A3. Closing

☐ Bind insurance before delivery, and read the navigational limits, lay-up warranty, and named-operator provisions before signing ☐ Written bill of sale identifying the vessel by hull number ☐ Confirm registration or documentation transfer requirements and deadlines ☐ Confirm sales or use tax obligations, which vary and are frequently overlooked ☐ Confirm slip or storage assignment transfers, if applicable

SECTION B — REGISTRATION AND EQUIPMENT

☐ Register or document, as applicable; know which you have and display accordingly ☐ Confirm reciprocity before operating in another state ☐ Carry the required equipment under 46 U.S.C. § 4302, with prohibited acts at 46 U.S.C. § 4307 and penalties at 46 U.S.C. § 4311; the program's scope is at 46 U.S.C. § 4301: ☐ Life jacket for every person aboard, of the right type and size, accessible ☐ Throwable device on larger vessels ☐ Fire extinguishers, charged and current ☐ Visual distress signals, unexpired ☐ Sound-producing device ☐ Navigation lights, working ☐ Ventilation and backfire flame control ☐ Engine cutoff switch link, used while on plane ☐ Check state-specific requirements, which add to the federal list ☐ Complete a boater safety course; required in many states and increasingly for all operators

SECTION C — INSURANCE

☐ Protection and indemnity limit — check it against realistic injury exposure, not against hull value ☐ Hull coverage — agreed value versus actual cash value ☐ Uninsured boater coverage — ⟵ the most valuable optional coverage in this field ☐ Wreck removal, which can exceed the boat's value ☐ Fuel spill liability — discharges into navigable waters carry cleanup and penalty exposure under 33 U.S.C. § 1321 ☐ Towing and assistance coverage ☐ Medical payments

Read these before the season, not after the loss: ☐ Navigational limits ☐ Lay-up warranty ☐ Named-operator restrictions ☐ Charter or commercial use exclusion ☐ Racing exclusion ☐ Maintenance and wear exclusions

⚠️ Two doctrines with no automobile equivalent. Breach of an express marine warranty can void coverage even where unrelated to the loss; and the duty of utmost good faith in the application is stricter than ordinary insurance law. See Insurance Coverage Disputes and Liability Insurance Coverage.

SECTION D — OPERATING

D1. The rules that decide fault

☐ Maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing at all times — the most commonly cited fault ☐ Safe speed — not a posted limit; a speed permitting effective avoidance given visibility, traffic, maneuverability, and sea state ☐ Assess risk of collision — a compass bearing that does not change while the range closes ☐ Crossing: the vessel with the other on her starboard side gives way ☐ Head-on: both turn to starboard ☐ Overtaking: the overtaking vessel keeps clear until finally past and clear ☐ Stand-on duties: hold course and speed; act when the give-way vessel is plainly not acting; act when collision cannot be avoided by the other alone ☐ Restricted visibility: reduce speed, sound signals, engines ready ☐ Lights from sunset to sunrise and in restricted visibility, including the anchor light

⚠️ There is no "right of way." There is a give-way vessel and a stand-on vessel, and both carry duties — which is why both operators are usually found partly at fault.

D2. Legal duties

☐ Do not operate negligently — 46 U.S.C. § 2302, with escalated penalties for gross negligence ☐ Do not operate under the influence. Nearly every state has an implied consent statute with consequences for refusal; compare Traffic Offenses and Impaired Driving ☐ Do not lend the boat carelessly. Negligent entrustment creates liability and destroys limitation ☐ Do not overload; observe the capacity plate ☐ Do not let passengers ride on bows, gunwales, or transoms underway

SECTION E — THE ACCIDENT

E1. On the water

☐ Render assistance. It is a legal duty under 46 U.S.C. § 2303, and the statute provides good-faith immunity for assistance rendered at the scene ☐ Exchange name, address, and vessel identification — also a statutory duty. Failing to do so is the boating equivalent of leaving the scene ☐ Account for everyone in the water before anything else ☐ Do not move the vessels unless safety requires it ☐ Photograph everything — positions, damage, wake, weather, sea state, and the sky for time-of-day evidence ☐ Note compass headings and speeds — the facts the navigation rules turn on ☐ Collect witness names from other boats; they disperse immediately and are unfindable afterward ☐ Preserve chartplotter, GPS, and engine data. Modern systems record track, speed, and engine parameters, and the data is frequently overwritten

E2. The first day

☐ File the required casualty report. The framework is at 46 U.S.C. § 6101, with state requirements layered on — death, disappearance, injury beyond first aid, or property damage above a threshold. Deadlines are short, often immediate for a fatality ☐ Notify the insurer; marine notice provisions are strict ☐ Get a medical evaluation, and make sure the record connects the injury to the incident ☐ Do not give a recorded statement before counsel reviews ☐ Calendar the six-month limitation window at 46 U.S.C. § 30511 — for an owner it is the filing deadline; for a claimant it is when a limitation action is likely to appear

E3. The first weeks

☐ Preserve both vessels. Do not repair or scrap; they are the evidence, and for the owner the post-casualty value that limitation turns on ☐ Obtain the enforcement report, the casualty report, and any toxicology ☐ Retain a marine surveyor; an engineer where mechanical failure is alleged ☐ Decide the forum — admiralty in federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1333, or at law in state court under the saving-to-suitors clause, where the jury is. See Jurisdiction, Venue, and Removal ☐ Identify every potential defendant: operator, owner, host, rental operator, manufacturer, marina ☐ Run the collectability sequence before the liability analysis

E4. Collectability sequence

☐ 1. Is there insurance, on either side? ☐ 2. What is the liability limit? ☐ 3. Is coverage contested — navigational limits, lay-up, named operator, charter use, maintenance? ☐ 4. Is a limitation action coming? ☐ 5. Are there other defendants? ☐ 6. Does your client have uninsured boater coverage? Frequently the only real source of recovery, and frequently forgotten

SECTION F — LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

F1. What it is

☐ Under 46 U.S.C. § 30505, an owner may cap liability at the post-casualty value of the vessel plus pending freight, if the loss occurred without the owner's privity or knowledge. The framework begins at 46 U.S.C. § 30501 ☐ Six months from written notice to file — 46 U.S.C. § 30511 ☐ If the boat sank, the fund is close to zero

F2. Defeating it

☐ Was the owner aboard and operating? Limitation almost never succeeds ☐ What did the owner know about maintenance, capacity, equipment, weather, or the operator's sobriety and competence? ☐ Was the boat entrusted to someone who should not have had it? Negligent entrustment is owner knowledge ☐ Was the action filed within six months?

F3. Preserving a jury trial

☐ A limitation action creates a concursus — all claims in one federal proceeding, other suits enjoined, no jury ☐ Single claimant: stipulate that the federal court will decide limitation and that the claim will not exceed the fund, then proceed in state court ☐ Multiple claimants: the same, by agreement among themselves ☐ These stipulations are the single most important tactical filing in a boating death case. Prepare them before the limitation action is filed

F4. Death claims

☐ For a non-seafarer in territorial waters, Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. v. Calhoun, 516 U.S. 199 preserves state wrongful death and survival remedies ☐ Available damages, loss of society, punitive exposure, and the proper claimants can differ dramatically between regimes — compare before choosing ☐ See Wrongful Death and Survival Actions

SECTION G — SALVAGE, TOWING, AND PERSONAL WATERCRAFT

G1. Before accepting help

☐ Ask whether the service is offered as salvage or as towage, and get the answer in writing. A photograph of a text message is enough ☐ Salvage requires marine peril, a voluntary service, and success — and produces an award measured by value saved, degree of peril, skill, and risk, secured by a maritime lien on the vessel ☐ Towage is a contracted service at an agreed rate ☐ Grounding on a falling tide in rising wind is peril; running out of fuel on flat water in daylight is not ☐ Assistance accepted in silence during an emergency is the classic salvage claim

G2. Personal watercraft

☐ Confirm operator age and education requirements — stricter in most states, and many require a safety certificate ☐ No nighttime operation in most states ☐ Engine cutoff lanyard attached and used ☐ Observe wake and proximity rules — distances from shore, docks, swimmers, and vessels ☐ Observe capacity and reboarding limits ☐ Rental operators: document instruction, inspect equipment per rental, screen renters, and confirm the policy covers rental use, which recreational policies exclude. A pre-injury waiver may be unenforceable — see Recreational Injuries and Assumption of Risk

SECTION H — THE TEN-LINE VERSION

☐ 1. Verify the hull number, the title, and the liens before buying. ☐ 2. Survey it, and bind insurance before delivery. ☐ 3. Read the policy's warranties — breach can void coverage regardless of causation. ☐ 4. Carry the required equipment and use the engine cutoff link. ☐ 5. Learn the navigation rules; there is no right of way. ☐ 6. Never lend the boat carelessly — entrustment creates liability and destroys limitation. ☐ 7. After an accident: assist, identify, photograph, preserve the electronics. ☐ 8. File the casualty report on time. ☐ 9. Calendar the six-month limitation window from the first written notice. ☐ 10. Ask early who is insured — in this field, collectability decides more cases than liability.

SECTION I — DOCUMENTS TO ASSEMBLE

I1. For a purchase

☐ Bill of sale identifying the vessel by hull identification number ☐ Title, or documentation certificate and abstract of title ☐ Lien searches — state and, for a documented vessel, federal ☐ Registration or documentation records, current and prior ☐ Survey report, with sea trial ☐ Service and maintenance records ☐ Prior insurance loss runs, if obtainable ☐ Capacity plate photograph ☐ Trailer title and registration

I2. For an accident

☐ Casualty report filed under 46 U.S.C. § 6101 and state law ☐ Enforcement agency report and any citations issued under 46 U.S.C. § 2302 ☐ Toxicology, if any ☐ Chartplotter, GPS, and engine data, downloaded before it is overwritten ☐ Photographs — positions, damage, wake, weather, sky ☐ Witness names and contacts from other vessels ☐ Marina, fuel dock, and launch ramp records establishing timing ☐ Both vessels' registration or documentation, and their insurance ☐ Survey reports on both vessels post-casualty ☐ Weather and tide data for the time and place ☐ Any written notice of claim — it starts the 46 U.S.C. § 30511 clock

📌 Two items decide most cases: the electronic track data, and the casualty report. The first is on a short retention clock; the second is the document every later proceeding is built on.

SECTION J — QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK

☐ "Is a lake really covered by maritime law?" Frequently yes. Navigability is a legal conclusion reaching many waters that feel local, and Foremost Insurance Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668 put recreational collisions inside admiralty. Establish it early under 28 U.S.C. § 1333.

☐ "I had the right of way." There is no right of way. There is a give-way vessel and a stand-on vessel, and the stand-on vessel had duties too.

☐ "Do I have to stop and help?" Yes — 46 U.S.C. § 2303, with good-faith immunity for the assistance you render.

☐ "Do I have to report it?" Almost certainly, and quickly. See 46 U.S.C. § 6101 and your state's threshold.

☐ "Can they really cap my recovery at the value of a sunken boat?" They can try, under 46 U.S.C. § 30505. Privity or knowledge usually defeats it, and an owner who was aboard and operating almost never escapes.

☐ "Do I need insurance?" Most states do not require it. That is exactly why you should carry it, with a real liability limit and uninsured boater coverage.

☐ "They towed me — why is there a claim on my boat?" Because it may have been salvage, which produces an award secured by a maritime lien. Ask before accepting help, and get the answer in writing.

☐ "Can my friend drive it?" Yes, and if you lend it badly you own the consequences — negligent entrustment creates liability and destroys limitation.

SECTION K — THE SEASON CHECKLIST

Run this once a year, before the boat goes in.

K1. Paperwork

☐ Registration or documentation current, and the correct one displayed ☐ Reciprocity confirmed for any state you will visit ☐ Insurance renewed, with navigational limits and lay-up dates matched to your actual plans ☐ Named operators updated ☐ Boater safety certificates current for everyone who will operate ☐ Trailer registration and tags current

K2. Equipment

☐ Life jackets — one per person, correct type and size, accessible, in good condition ☐ Child-size jackets for every child who will be aboard ☐ Throwable device present and unobstructed ☐ Fire extinguishers charged, mounted, and within service life ☐ Visual distress signals unexpired — the most commonly cited equipment failure ☐ Sound-producing device ☐ Navigation lights tested, including the anchor light ☐ Engine cutoff switch link present and functional ☐ Ventilation and backfire flame control intact ☐ First aid kit, and a means of communication that works where you go

K3. Condition

☐ Through-hull fittings and hose clamps inspected — the leading cause of a boat sinking at the dock ☐ Bilge pumps and float switches tested ☐ Battery condition and secure mounting ☐ Fuel system inspected for leaks and chafe ☐ Steering and throttle controls ☐ Capacity plate legible

K4. Practices

☐ Brief every passenger on jacket location, cutoff link, and what to do if the operator goes overboard ☐ Set a rule about alcohol before leaving the dock, not after ☐ File a float plan for anything beyond a short local trip ☐ Know where the required documents are aboard, and keep copies ashore ☐ Preserve a habit of maintenance records. They defend a coverage claim, and their absence proves privity in a limitation contest

SECTION L — IF YOU ARE THE OWNER AND SOMEONE WAS HURT

☐ Render assistance and identify yourself, whatever you believe about fault — 46 U.S.C. § 2303 ☐ Do not apologize on the record in a way that concedes fault, and do not argue about it either ☐ File the casualty report accurately; a false or omitted report is a separate problem ☐ Notify the insurer immediately. Marine policies have strict notice provisions and coverage may be contested for reasons unrelated to fault ☐ Preserve the boat. Repairing or scrapping it destroys the evidence and changes the limitation fund ☐ Preserve the electronics before the data is overwritten ☐ Calendar six months from the first written notice of a claim — 46 U.S.C. § 30511 ☐ Assess privity or knowledge honestly before filing a limitation action; one that fails tells the claimant a great deal ☐ Collect the maintenance records, the training and certification records, and any float plan ☐ Do not discuss the incident on social media, with the marina, or with other boaters ☐ Understand that exposure runs on several tracks at once: civil liability, criminal exposure under 46 U.S.C. § 2302, equipment citations under 46 U.S.C. § 4311, and — where fuel discharged — environmental exposure under 33 U.S.C. § 1321

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