Required and recommended equipment

[river_walleye]

What equipment is required by the Coast Guard for fishing Saginaw Bay? Things like fire extinguisher, flares (and how many), life preservers.
Thanks!!

[Sixshooter]

you are required to have a Life Jacket for EACH individual on board....And it has to be the right size too...So if you have yourself and a child and you have two adult life jackets you will probably at LEAST get a warning.

You must also have a throwalble....such as a seat cushion.

You must have 3 non expired flares....

You must have an audible device of some sort whether it is an air horn, a boat horn, or just a whistle.

I'm not positive on the Fire Extinguisher thing. That may be for boats of a certain lenght? I probably should check into that one a bit more for my own sake.

And don't forget your Navigational Lights have to be in working order during low light periods.

Recommended is a VHF marine radio of some sort.

[IT pimp 2002]

The list is fairly long and I would make dang sure you have all saftey equipment required by law as well as the stuff that should be carried beyond that Like GPS, Marine radio Cell ect.
Try The coast gaurd or your local marine Sherriff for the list and a free safty inspection.

[jpollman]

River walleye,

here's a link to all of the info you'll need.

http://boat-ed.com/mi/handbook/

[The Whale]

The SIZE of the vessel will determine which equipment is required to meet all applicable laws, 16' being the first "requirement" change length. Obviously though, the more safety equipment the better, required or not ! ;)

[Jason Adam]

River walleye,

here's a link to all of the info you'll need.

http://boat-ed.com/mi/handbook/

Go to the link jpollman posted and click on the "Its The Law" icon, then go to "Required Equipment.

As far as suggested. I wouldnt venture onto a big lake without some form of GPS. Even a handheld, non charting, is fine, and will cost less than $100.

I also would setup a fixed VHF radio with 8' antenna. Handhelds are good backup, but the most any HH will tansmit is 5W, most are 2W, compared to 25W on a fixed, plus, VHF is line of sight transmision, so from the water level, a 8" HH antenna is not Xmiting very far.

As far as extras, I have extra PFD's, Flares, compasses and whistles on my PFD's, A handheld GPS, Handheld VHF, strobes, etc... Try to assemble a "ditch bag" with items such as these, so if the ship is going down, everything is in one waterproof, floating bag easily accessable.

Saginaw Bay is a big body of water. Fog rolls in, and things get hairy out there. Also, due to how shallow the bay is, you can get a wicked storm kick up in NO TIME... You need to make a run for the harbor like now. You dont want to be guessing.

[TimT]

Great post Jason!
We're all taking a bit of a gamble when get on the water, and the more prepared you are for an emergency, the better. Many of us have ventured out with barely enough to not get escorted back to the launch, but the more you go out the more you realize how cheap of an insurance policy it is to just be prepared. Sometimes getting out on the water and venturing 10+ miles away from port becomes old hat and we take our safety for granted. I know I could stand to review what's on board and accessible in case of an emergency on my boat.