Checklists

Every list, one page

All 8 checklists and the emergency procedures, expanded. Printing this gives you the whole set.

Versionv53 2026-09-15

Pre-departure

When At the slip, before every trip

Almost everything that ruins a day announces itself here first. This is the only list where you have a dock, a phone signal and no time pressure.

Before you step aboard

  • How Open /conditions/8-2/ for home water and the area you are crossing into. Look at the wind trace, not just the peak number — 12 kt building through the afternoon is a different trip from 12 kt at dawn easing off.

    Watch for A Small Craft Advisory anywhere on your route, or a barometer that has dropped more than about 3 mb in 3 hours.

  • How Who you are, the boat, where you are going, your route, who is aboard, and when to worry. "When to worry" is the part people leave out — give an actual time at which they should start calling.

  • How Slack water at the gate is not the same as slack at Everett. Work out when you want to BE somewhere, then back-calculate departure. Wind against tide is what builds the short steep chop that makes a 3288 uncomfortable.

    Watch for An ebb against a westerly in Admiralty Inlet. That is the classic local trap.

Engine room round

  • How Boat level, engine cold or at least five minutes after shutdown so oil has drained back. Pull the dipstick, wipe it, reseat it fully, pull again and read. Record the level rather than just ticking it — a slow loss is only visible as a trend.

    Watch for Milky or coffee-colored oil means water is getting in. A diesel smell in the oil means fuel is. Either one ends the trip before it starts.

  • How Same procedure. Compare the two — engines that have run the same hours should be losing oil at a similar rate, and a divergence is information.

  • How Check the header tank when COLD. Never open a hot pressure cap.

    Watch for Oil sheen on the coolant, or a rising level, points at a heat exchanger or head gasket.

  • How Follow the manual for whether it is read hot, cold, running or stopped — gearboxes differ and getting it wrong gives a false reading.

  • How Close the seacock, open the lid, lift the basket, clear weed and jellyfish, check the O-ring is seated and undamaged, close the lid, REOPEN THE SEACOCK. The last step is the one that gets forgotten, and a closed seacock cooks an impeller in minutes.

    Watch for Eelgrass after a blow, jellyfish in late summer.

  • How About half an inch of deflection at the longest unsupported span, pressed with a thumb. Look underneath the pulleys.

    Watch for Black dust below a pulley means the belt is slipping. Glazed shiny belt faces mean the same.

  • How Feel the shaft log. It should be cool or barely warm after a run, and drip two or three times a minute underway, not run a stream.

    Watch for Hot after running means it is too tight. Salt crust means it has been weeping.

  • How Look, do not just listen for the pump. Note how much water is there compared with last time.

    Watch for A sheen means oil or fuel. Water that tastes salty is coming from outside the boat and you do not leave until you know where.

  • How Look at the clear bowl on each primary filter for water or black sludge. Drain off any water into a jar, not the bilge.

    Watch for Water in the bowl after a fuel-up means you took on bad fuel. Sludge after a rough passage means the tank got stirred up.

  • How Check resting voltage before anything is running, and confirm the switches are where you want them for departure.

  • How A rag or a tool left on an engine becomes a projectile or a fire. Look before you close the hatch.

Safety gear

  • How One per person, the right size for the person wearing it, accessible not buried. Children's sizes actually fit the children aboard today.

    Watch for Inflatables: check the cylinder is tight and the green indicator shows armed.

  • How Type IV, on deck and reachable in one motion — not in a locker under the cushions.

  • How Check each gauge is in the green and the pin is intact. Invert and shake dry-chemical units so the powder does not cake. Confirm the count and rating against current USCG requirements for your length.

  • How Flares expire 42 months from manufacture. Check the date now, not when you need them.

  • How Power on, squelch set, check 16. For a real check use channel 9 or a working channel and ask for a radio check — never call for one on 16. Confirm your DSC MMSI is programmed and the GPS is feeding it, because that is what turns a distress button into a position.

    Watch for If DSC has no position feed, a distress call tells the Coast Guard someone is in trouble but not where.

  • How Check battery expiry and that registration is current with NOAA.

  • How Lift each float switch by hand and confirm the pump runs and water actually leaves the boat. A pump that hums but moves nothing is worse than none, because you will believe in it.

  • How Test before dark, not after. Include the anchor light and the steaming light.

    Watch for If there is any chance of returning after sunset, this is a critical item, not a nice-to-have.

Deck and topsides

  • How Rig the lines you will need for arrival before you leave, not while approaching a strange dock in a crosswind.

  • How Anything that can take green water over the bow gets dogged down. Include the foredeck hatch.

  • How Open the fridge, the lockers and the cupboards in your mind at 20 degrees of roll. Anything that would come out, stow now.

  • How Breaker off at the pedestal first, then unplug. Stow the cord so it cannot go over the side into a prop.

Navigation and systems

  • How Electronics fail on the day the weather is bad. An offline chart on a phone counts, if the phone is charged and you have actually downloaded the tiles.

    Watch for "I have it on my phone" is only true if the data is cached, which it will not be out of signal.

  • How Know whether your sounder reads depth below keel or below transducer. The difference is the whole margin.

  • How Third out, third back, third in reserve. Read the gauge and check it against your logged burn rate — gauges on a 40-year-old boat are a suggestion.

  • How Your log lives on the phone until it finds signal. A flat phone is a lost log as well as a lost backup.

Engine start

When At the slip, after the pre-departure round

The first thirty seconds after a diesel fires tell you most of what you need to know about the next eight hours.

Before cranking

  • How Diesel does not produce the explosive vapor gasoline does, so this is about clearing any fumes and confirming airflow rather than avoiding a bang. If there is any smell of fuel, find it before you start.

  • How This is the item that pays for the whole list. Confirm by hand on the handle, not from memory.

  • How Lines, the shore power cord, the dinghy painter, a swimmer, an otter. Look.

Starting and the first two minutes

  • How Go and look over the transom within the first 30 seconds. You want a steady flow, not a dribble.

    Watch for No water means shut that engine down NOW. An impeller dies in well under a minute dry, and then the pieces go into the heat exchanger.

  • How It should come up almost immediately and hold. Note the reading at idle so you have a baseline to compare against underway.

  • How Voltage should rise above resting within a minute.

  • How A puff at start is normal. Steady color after warm-up is not.

    Watch for Black = too much fuel or overloaded. Blue = burning oil. White = unburnt fuel or water in a cylinder.

  • How Stand in the cockpit and just listen to both engines for thirty seconds. You know what they sound like. New noises are cheaper to investigate at the dock.

Getting underway

When Leaving the slip

Last checks

  • How Where the PFDs are, where the extinguishers are, how to call for help on the VHF, and what you want them to do with the lines. Do this even with people who have been aboard before.

    Watch for If they have never driven the boat, show them how to stop it and how to press the DSC distress button. That is the whole lesson if you go over the side.

  • How Look at flags, other boats' fenders, and the water around pilings before you cast off. Plan which way the bow will blow.

  • How Say it out loud. Usually last off is whichever line is holding you against the wind or current.

  • How Time, engine hours both sides, log reading, fuel. This is the baseline for every number the log will later tell you.

Hourly round (underway)

When Every hour underway, and after any change of conditions

A log kept hourly is a navigation backup: lose the electronics and your last position, course and speed lets you dead-reckon. It is also the only way you will ever know your real fuel burn.

Position and progress

  • How The app takes it from the phone's GPS with one tap. If there is no fix, enter it from the plotter — and if there is no plotter either, write down the bearing and distance to something you can see. A rough position beats a blank.

Engines

  • How You are looking for a change from the number you wrote an hour ago, not for a magic value. A climb of ten degrees with everything else the same is the start of a problem.

    Watch for A steady climb means flow is dropping: impeller, strainer, or a plastic bag on the intake.

  • How Vibration that was not there, a note that has changed. Write it down even if it turns out to be nothing — the log is where a pattern becomes visible.

Weather observed

  • How What you SEE, not what was forecast. Whitecaps start around 12 kt; spindrift and streaks start around 20. Recording observed against forecast is how the forecast becomes useful to you specifically.

  • How Height trough to crest, and period. Short and steep is worse than tall and long.

  • How The number matters less than the direction and the rate. A fall of 3 mb in 3 hours is worth acting on; 5 mb is a get-home-now signal.

  • How Estimate by what you can and cannot see — a known landmark at a known distance. If it is dropping, slow down, sound signals, radar on, and get everyone visible.

Approach and docking

When Ten minutes out

Plan before you are committed

  • How They are often different from out in the channel. Watch flags, moored boats and the water at pilings.

    Watch for Current sets you sideways without your speed through the water changing. Judge against a fixed object ashore, not against the water.

  • How Which side to, which line first, where to stand. Nobody jumps. Ever. Stepping is fine, jumping breaks legs.

  • How Know where you go if the approach is wrong. Going around and trying again costs nothing but pride; forcing a bad approach costs gelcoat or worse.

  • How The oldest rule there is. A 3288 carries way; use the twins against each other to hold position and let the boat settle.

Securing the boat

When After tying up

Shutdown

  • How A few minutes at idle lets temperatures even out. Especially worth it after a hard run.

  • How Anything below the waterline that does not need to be open. This is what stops a failed hose sinking her at the dock.

  • How Plug in at the boat first, then switch on at the pedestal. Confirm the charger is actually charging before you walk away.

  • How Check the tide table for the biggest swing while you are away. Lines set at high water can hang a boat at low water, and lines set at low water can let her wander at high.

    Watch for A spring range in Everett can be over 11 feet. Set for the extreme, not for now.

  • How Do this before you leave the boat, while you still remember what happened. Note anything to fix — that list becomes the maintenance record.

Anchoring

When Overnight or lunch hook

Choosing and setting

  • How Scope is calculated on depth at HIGH water plus your bow height, not the depth you see now. Anchoring at low water on short scope is how boats drag at 0300.

  • How 7:1 for overnight, 5:1 if crowded and settled, 10:1 if it is going to blow. Rode length divided by (depth at high water + bow roller height above water).

  • How Mud and sand hold. Rock, kelp and shell often do not.

  • How Walk a full circle around the boat mentally at full rode. Include what happens when the current reverses at slack and everyone swings differently — boats on chain swing differently from boats on rope.

  • How Let it settle, then astern gently until the rode comes taut and the boat stops. Increase power and hold. Watch a beam transit ashore — if it moves, you are dragging.

  • How Two objects ashore in line. Cheaper and more reliable than any alarm, and it works with the power off.

  • How Takes the shock load off the windlass and stops the chain from snatching.

Fueling

When At the fuel dock

Also where the log earns its keep: gallons against engine hours is the only honest burn rate.

Before, during, after

  • How Keeps fumes out of the accommodation and the bilge.

  • How Read the deck plate. They are close together and a diesel fill into the water tank is a very expensive afternoon.

  • How Take the numbers at the pump, not from memory afterward. Fill to the same point every time — usually to the neck — or the burn rate you calculate is noise.

  • How Any sheen on the water must be reported. Have the pad and a plan before you need them.

How to send a Mayday

VHF Channel 16, high power (25 W)

Press and HOLD the red DSC distress button for 5 seconds first if fitted. That sends your identity and position automatically, then follow up by voice.

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY
THIS IS <YOUR VESSEL NAME> (say it three times)
MAYDAY <YOUR VESSEL NAME>
MY POSITION IS <lat/long, or bearing and distance from a known place>
<what is wrong> — e.g. WE ARE TAKING ON WATER
<number of people aboard>
<what you need> — e.g. WE REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE
<YOUR VESSEL NAME> is a <length, color and type of your boat>
OVER
  • Say the position twice. It is the single most important thing you will transmit.
  • PAN-PAN instead of MAYDAY when it is urgent but life is not in immediate danger — a dead engine in a shipping lane, for instance.
  • Do not stop transmitting because nobody answers. Another vessel may hear you even if the Coast Guard cannot.

Man overboard

SHOUT. THROW. POINT.

  1. Shout "MAN OVERBOARD" and which sideEveryone aboard needs to know in the first second.
  2. Throw flotation immediately, even if they are a strong swimmerIt marks the spot as well as supporting them. Throw more than one thing.
  3. Assign ONE person to point and do nothing elseA head in the water disappears within seconds at 100 yards. The pointer does not look away, does not help, does not touch a line. This is the job that saves the person.
  4. Press MOB on the plotter, and the DSC distress button if aloneMarks the position and starts the clock.
  5. Turn toward the side they went overSwings the stern and the propellers AWAY from them. This is the whole reason the rule exists.
  6. Come back and approach slowly from downwind and downcurrentYou want to drift onto them, not be blown past.
  7. ENGINES IN NEUTRAL, then OFF, before they come alongsideA turning propeller near a person in the water is how a rescue becomes a fatality. Non-negotiable.
  8. Get a line on them before trying to liftAttach first. If you lose your grip, you have not lost them.
  9. Recover horizontally if they have been in the water a whileCold water drops blood pressure; lifting someone vertical can stop their heart. Puget Sound is around 50°F all year.
  10. If not recovered in the first pass, MaydayDo not spend twenty minutes proving you can do it alone.

Here Puget Sound water sits roughly 46–55°F year round. Useful movement is gone in 10–15 minutes, and cold shock in the first minute is what drowns people. Treat every immersion as urgent regardless of how strong a swimmer they are.

Fire

If it is in the engine room, DO NOT OPEN THE HATCH.

  1. Cut the fuel and stop the enginesRemoves what is feeding it.
  2. Cut electrical power to the area if you can reach the switch safely
  3. For an engine room fire, discharge through the fire port, not the hatchOpening the hatch gives the fire all the air it wants, right in your face. If there is no fire port, crack it only as far as the nozzle.
  4. Aim at the BASE of the flames, sweep side to sideHitting the flame tips does nothing.
  5. Get everyone into PFDs and onto deck, upwindDo this in parallel, not after.
  6. Mayday earlyYou can always cancel. A boat fire goes from small to unsurvivable in minutes, and fiberglass smoke is toxic.
  7. Prepare to abandon: liferaft or dinghy, EPIRB, phone in a bag
  8. If it is out, do not reopen and walk awayFires reignite. Keep a charged extinguisher on it and get towed in.

Flooding / taking on water

Find where it is coming in. Everything else is second.

  1. All bilge pumps on, manual pump manned
  2. Find the sourceMost flooding is a failed hose, a stuffing box, or a seacock — not a hole. Check the shaft logs, every below-waterline hose and every seacock first.
  3. Close the seacock if the source is a through-hull
  4. Plug what you canA soft wooden plug hammered into a failed through-hull works. One should be tied at every seacock.
  5. Head for shallow waterGrounding her in ten feet is recoverable. Sinking in 400 feet of Possession Sound is not.
  6. Mayday with your positionEarly. Before the electrics go under.
  7. PFDs on everyone, now
  8. Use engine raw water intake as an emergency pump only if you understand the riskIt moves a lot of water but will destroy the engine if it ingests debris. Last resort.

Engine failure

You have two engines. One will usually get you home.

  1. Assess where you are drifting firstBefore diagnosing anything, work out if you have sea room and how long you have. A shipping lane or a lee shore changes the whole problem.
  2. Anchor if you are being set somewhere badStops the clock while you work.
  3. Check the obvious: fuel level, filter bowls, raw water strainer, beltsIn that order. Most single-engine failures are fuel starvation or cooling.
  4. Overheat alarm? Shut it down and do not restartRunning an overheating diesel destroys it. Check the impeller and strainer once it cools.
  5. Fuel filter blocked? Swap to the other filter if you have a duplexKnow how to do this BEFORE you need it, in the dark, in a seaway.
  6. Running on one engine: expect it to steer badlyAsymmetric thrust. Compensate with rudder and expect wide turns toward the dead side. Practice this on a calm day.
  7. PAN-PAN if you are in a lane or near a hazardUrgent, not distress. Tells commercial traffic you are not maneuvering normally.

Grounding

Stop the engines. Check for water BEFORE trying to get off.

  1. Engines to neutral and stopProtects the props and stops the raw water intakes sucking sand and silt.
  2. Check the bilge for waterIf she is holed, coming off the ground is what sinks you. The bottom may be the only thing keeping the water out.
  3. Check everyone aboard is unhurt
  4. Check the tide: rising or falling?This decides everything. Rising, and waiting may float you off for free. Falling, and you have minutes, not hours — with an 11-foot range you can end up high and dry.
  5. Do not gun it asternDrives the boat further on, wrecks props and shafts, and blocks the intakes.
  6. Reduce draft and heel her if refloating is realisticMove weight; a heeled boat draws less. Kedge an anchor out into deep water.
  7. Call for a tow rather than damage herTowBoatUS / Vessel Assist on VHF 16. A tow is cheaper than a running gear rebuild.
  8. Once off, check the bilge again and watch the stuffing boxesDamage often shows up only once you are underway.

Fog / reduced visibility

Slow to a speed you can stop in.

  1. Slow downThe rule is a safe speed for conditions. In fog that is usually slower than feels necessary.
  2. Everyone in PFDs, lookout posted forward with no other job
  3. Navigation lights on
  4. Sound signals: one prolonged blast every 2 minutes under wayTwo prolonged if stopped and making no way.
  5. Radar on if fitted; AIS watchedAIS shows you commercial traffic. It does NOT show you the small boat that is about to ruin your day.
  6. Get out of the shipping lanesAdmiralty Inlet carries ferries and ships that cannot see you and cannot stop. Cross lanes at right angles, promptly.
  7. Fix your position frequently and write it downIf the electronics quit in fog you need a recent known point to work from.

General good practice, not a substitute for the owner's manual, USCG requirements, or your own judgment. Verify equipment requirements against the current USCG rules for a vessel of this length. General practice. Your training, your boat and the situation in front of you override anything written here. Take a hands-on safety course; reading is not the same as having done it. Not a substitute for training. These are one boater’s lists, published because they may be useful — not a standard, and not advice for your vessel.