Boat Ready
Boat Ready support
Last updated 15 September 2026.
Boat Ready answers one question about one boat: does it carry what federal law requires? You describe the boat, and you get the carriage list for that exact boat with the rule behind every line.
Why an item appeared, or did not
Nothing in the list is general advice. Every line is produced by the boat you described: length overall, how many people are aboard, how it is driven, whether you run inland or coastal, and the handful of toggles underneath. Change one of those and the list changes with it.
The toggles that move the most are enclosed engine or fuel space, fixed fire system, canoe or kayak, installed toilet and used after dark. If a line you expected is missing, that is usually the first place to look.
Why my boat needs no fire extinguisher
This is the commonest question, and the exemption is narrower than people remember. It needs all three things at once: under 26 feet, outboard powered, and no enclosed space where fuel or vapour can collect. Miss any one of those and the requirement comes back.
Above that, the bands come straight from the manual table, which reads "under 26", "26 to 40" and "40 to 65". A boat of exactly 26 feet therefore sits in the second band, not the first. Over 65 feet the app says so rather than guessing, because that length is outside the recreational carriage table altogether.
Why every answer ends with a line about your state
Boat Ready covers federal carriage requirements only. States routinely require more: an extinguisher where the federal rule does not, a different age for children's life jackets, a boating safety certificate. The app cannot know your state's rules, so it says so on every result rather than letting a short clean list read as "I am compliant". Check your state boating agency.
Where the rules come from
Every line carries its CFR citation and the page of the Vessel Safety Check Manual, COMDTINST M16796.8A, that it was transcribed from. Nothing is written from memory and nothing is inferred, so you can check the source rather than taking the app's word for anything.
What Boat Ready is not
- It is not an inspection and it is not legal advice. It is a reference tool.
- It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the United States Coast Guard or the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
- It covers recreational vessels. It does not cover state rules, and it does not tell you whether the gear aboard is in date or serviceable.
It works with no signal
There is no account, no sign-in screen and no server. Nothing is uploaded and nothing syncs, and the app answers with the phone in airplane mode, because the question gets asked at a dock or on the water rather than at a desk.
Saved boats and the unlock
Checking a boat is free, now and always. Anyone can describe a boat and get the full list with citations. What the purchase buys is the workflow: saving the boats you look after, ticking items off as you check them, and keeping that state between sessions.
It is one payment, not a subscription, so there is nothing to cancel and nothing that renews. The current price is shown on the unlock button inside the app, which reads it from the App Store for your country.
Restoring a purchase
On a new phone or after a reinstall, tap Restore a previous purchase on the My boats tab. It is visible whether or not the app thinks it is unlocked. If it reports nothing to restore, check that you are signed in with the same Apple Account that bought it, because that is the cause almost every time.
Refunds
Apple is the merchant of record, so refunds are requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue one.
Your data
Saved boats and their checklists are written to storage on your own device and go no further. There is no account to delete because there is no account: deleting a boat removes it and its checklist from the phone, and deleting the app removes everything it held.
Contact
One person reads that, so a reply may take a few days.
Boat Ready is published by Jeffrey L Carrier.