Boatcheckin is built around the documentation small-passenger-vessel operators are expected to produce under US federal maritime rules, Florida state charter regulations, and electronic signature law. This page maps each statute to the specific records the software helps you capture, hash, and retain.
References are descriptive. Not interpretive. Not legal advice. The statutes, regulations, and standards on this page are cited because they describe the records a Boatcheckin operator is typically expected to keep, not because Boatcheckin attests that any individual operator is compliant with them. Compliance belongs to the operator.
Each section pairs a plain-English summary of what a statute requires with a clear description of how Boatcheckin supports the corresponding recordkeeping. That mapping is not an opinion on how the statute applies to your operation. For that, consult a licensed attorney familiar with your jurisdiction, vessel class, and charter type.
Statutes are subject to amendment. The original text, on the issuing body’s website, is always authoritative. If we appear to describe a statute in a way that conflicts with its current text, the current text is correct. Please email hello@boatcheckin.com so we can correct this page.
The federal baseline for small passenger vessel operations, including the safety instruction and manifest requirements that govern most inspected charters. Applies to operators under US Coast Guard jurisdiction carrying passengers for hire.
Small passenger vessel operators are required to provide each passenger with a safety orientation before getting underway. The orientation covers life preserver stowage and use, emergency exits, fire extinguishers, distress signals, and the location of emergency equipment, along with the actions passengers are expected to take in an emergency.
The master is responsible for ensuring this instruction occurs on every voyage, for every passenger aboard. A verbal briefing at the dock is effective in the moment but difficult to document after the fact. The record of what was said, to whom, and when is what creates a defensible position after an incident.
Small passenger vessels carrying six or more passengers are typically expected to maintain a passenger list for every trip, including names, date, and voyage identifier. Specific requirements vary by vessel class, route, and Captain of the Port jurisdiction, but the underlying obligation is consistent: the operator must be able to produce a record of who was aboard on a given voyage.
This obligation matters most in post-incident review. Coast Guard investigators, insurers, and emergency responders rely on accurate manifests to reconstruct a voyage. A manifest that cannot be produced promptly is not treated differently from a manifest that does not exist.
The licensed captain, whether an OUPV (Six-Pack) or a Master, holds ultimate authority and responsibility for the vessel, passengers, crew, and operation. No software, no booking platform, and no third party displaces that authority. Go/no-go calls, route decisions, and the decision to put lines off the dock remain the captain’s, and the captain’s alone.
Florida applies state-specific requirements on top of federal maritime rules, administered primarily by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Charter and livery operators face additional obligations under F.S. §327.54.
Florida Statutes Chapter 327 is the state’s primary vessel safety law, administered by FWC. It covers registration, required safety equipment, operator conduct, and under §327.395 the Boating Safety Identification Card requirement for most operators of vessels of 10 horsepower or greater. Guests who take the helm of a chartered bareboat are often subject to this requirement.
Florida livery operators — businesses that rent or charter vessels — are required under F.S. §327.54 to provide renters with specific pre-operation instruction: operation of the vessel, required safety equipment, local hazards, and applicable state laws. Livery operators must also satisfy recordkeeping requirements on the identity of renters, relevant certifications, and rental terms.
Subsequent Florida legislation, including changes under SB 606 of the 2022 session and related amendments, has continued to refine these requirements. Operators are expected to stay current with amendments. Boatcheckin stays aligned to the recordkeeping pattern the statute describes, and this page is reviewed when material amendments occur.
Florida, like most states, restricts who may sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance, requiring appointment as a licensed agent. Referral arrangements between unlicensed parties and licensed agents are permitted only under specific conditions, including that referral compensation not be contingent on policy purchase.
Electronic waivers and attestations are legally equivalent to ink-signed ones when the record establishes the signer’s identity, intent, consent to use electronic form, and integrity of the document. Boatcheckin is designed to produce records that meet each of those tests.
The ESIGN Act, signed into federal law in 2000, establishes that electronic signatures and electronic records have the same legal validity as ink signatures and paper records for most interstate commerce transactions, provided the signer consented to electronic form, the identity of the signer can be attributed, and the record is retained in a form that accurately reflects the agreement.
Waivers, release-of-liability agreements, and safety acknowledgments signed through Boatcheckin fall within ESIGN’s scope for the vast majority of charter transactions.
Intent: The signer performs an affirmative signature act — a drawn or typed signature, tied to the specific waiver text they saw.
Consent to electronic form: The guest is shown electronic-records consent language at the start of the flow and confirms acceptance before proceeding.
Attribution: Signature is recorded with timestamp, IP, user agent, and a link to the OTP-verified guest identity.
Record integrity: The completed waiver is SHA-256 hashed at signing. Any post-hoc modification is detectable, and the hash is retained alongside the document for the full retention window.
Florida’s adoption of UETA, codified at F.S. §668.50, is the state-law counterpart to federal ESIGN. It provides the same foundational rule — that an electronic record or signature cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic — and adds Florida-specific provisions on record retention, original documents, and admissibility as evidence.
UETA applies to transactions between parties who have agreed to conduct them electronically, which in charter operations is established by the guest’s explicit consent at the start of the trip flow.
Because Boatcheckin operates guest-facing flows across jurisdictions and channels, privacy and consent law applies at the layer of each individual guest, not the operator’s state alone.
The TCPA governs commercial SMS, MMS, and automated voice messages to US phone numbers. Express written consent is required for most marketing messages. Transactional and operational messages related to a confirmed service, such as a trip confirmation, are treated differently but still require consent in most interpretations.
The CAN-SPAM Act sets federal standards for commercial email: clear identification of the sender, accurate subject lines, a physical postal address, and a functional unsubscribe mechanism honored within ten business days.
Guests from California have rights under the CCPA: access, deletion, and opt-out from sale of personal information. Guests from the European Economic Area and the UK have broader rights under the GDPR: lawful basis, access, rectification, erasure, portability, and restriction. Because charter operators in Florida regularly serve guests from both regions, these rights can apply per-guest even when the vessel never leaves state waters.
A standards page that does not include this section is overpromising. These are the lines we do not cross, stated directly.
Using Boatcheckin does not make an operator compliant with any statute. We support the documentation that compliance requires. We do not attest to it on your behalf. No badge or page on this site substitutes for a review of your operation by a competent attorney.
Every statute on this page has edge cases, jurisdictional variations, vessel-class distinctions, and court-interpreted nuances that a marketing page cannot responsibly cover. Your attorney can. We describe the statutes plainly. We do not apply them to your specific operation.
Waiver language is specific to the operator, the state, the vessel class, and the activity type. Boatcheckin captures and hashes the text you provide. It does not generate it, review it, or stand behind its enforceability in any jurisdiction. A starter template is scaffolding, not counsel.
No record replaces the go/no-go call. No checklist certifies sea conditions. No software takes responsibility for what happens on the water. Boatcheckin documents what the captain decided. The captain decided it.
Free for solo captains and charter operators with up to three boats. No credit card required.