By the Chase Leavitt service team · Portland & Ellsworth, ME · Updated November 2026

Who 46 CFR 28 applies to

If your vessel is documented (USCG-numbered, not state-registered), is engaged in commercial fishing, and operates outside the Boundary Line, you fall under 46 CFR 28. That’s most working fishing boats. The smaller categories — uninspected commercial vessels staying inside the Boundary Line — fall under different rules.

The rules in 28 break down by vessel size, operating area, and crew count. The big jump in equipment requirements is the one for vessels operating beyond the Boundary Line in cold water (north of 32° latitude — basically anywhere we work). That’s where the immersion suit requirement kicks in, where the EPIRB is mandatory, and where you need a USCG-approved life raft.

Life raft requirements

For the typical Maine fishing boat working outside the Boundary Line:

• Capacity for 100% of POB. If you carry four crew, the raft has to be sized for at least four. Round up if your capacity isn’t a multiple.
• USCG-approved type. Either an SOLAS raft or a USCG-approved commercial raft. Recreational rafts don’t qualify.
• Annual service. 12 months at a manufacturer-approved facility. We are one.
• Hydrostatic release. Container rafts need a current HRU. The HRU is on its own 24-month clock.

Inspectors look at the service tag. If it’s expired, you’re written up. If it’s missing entirely, you’re written up worse. The cheapest insurance against this is a sticky note in the wheelhouse with the service-due date.

Immersion suits

Cold-water service (north of 32° N) means an approved immersion suit for every person on board. Not “for every regular crew member” — for every person. If you take a passenger out, that person counts.

Each suit gets an annual visual inspection at minimum. We do a full bench inspection (zipper, hood, gloves, bladder, lights, whistle) at our facility — see survival suit service. Crews that use their suits regularly replace gloves and seal foam more often than crews that don’t. That’s not a downside. It means the gear is ready.

EPIRBs and visual signals

For commercial fishing vessels operating beyond the Boundary Line:

• EPIRB Cat I or Cat II. Cat I is float-free; Cat II is manually deployed. Most boats now run Cat I because the regulatory bar keeps moving that direction.
• Battery replacement on the manufacturer’s interval (usually 5 or 10 years from manufacture).
• Registration with NOAA, current to the vessel and a working contact phone.
• Visual distress signals per the Carriage Requirements table — flares, smoke canisters, etc., dated and unexpired.

The single most-missed item in this category is the registration update. Boats sell, captains change phone numbers, and the SARSAT registration sits with the previous owner’s number on file. When the EPIRB activates, that’s who NOAA calls first. Update the registration when you change your phone or buy the boat. It’s free and takes five minutes at beaconregistration.noaa.gov.

PFDs and other survival gear

Every person on board needs an approved PFD. Working fishing vessels typically use Type I (offshore, high buoyancy, the classic orange or red ones) for stowage with each crew bunk, plus Type III work vests crews actually wear on deck. The Coast Guard inspector looks for both: visible stowage of approved PFDs and crew actually wearing flotation while working.

Throwable Type IV (the rings or square cushions) are required at the helm for vessels of certain sizes. Check your specific class.

First aid and miscellaneous

First aid kits, sound-producing device (a whistle, an air horn, or both), navigation lights working, fire extinguishers in date — the list of small items that combine into a “you’ve got your house in order” picture for the inspector. None of these are individually expensive. Failing on three or four of them at once turns a routine boarding into a discussion you don’t want to have.

What to expect from a boarding

When the Coast Guard boards your boat for a 46 CFR 28 inspection — and sometime they will — here’s how it usually goes:

• The boarding officer checks documentation: COD and registration.
• They walk through the safety equipment. Raft service tag, EPIRB battery date, suit count, PFDs.
• Issues get noted. Major issues become a written deficiency with a corrective deadline.
• Most boardings end with a thank-you and “have a good trip.”

The boats that get through clean are not the boats with the newest gear. They’re the boats whose paperwork matches what’s on board. Service tags, certificates, registration — all in the binder, all current.