2013 report transferred from the Cruising Information Community site:

Report on US Coast Guard inspection of a non US flagged vessel (with thanks to Steph and Stu from S/Y Matador)

The CG was like a large RIB with polystyrene foam for sides. They indicated that they were going to come alongside and put 2 guys aboard, told us to keep our course and speed.

First they asked if we had weapons on board.

No 1 sat in the cockpit and did papers, asking questions. No 2 wanted to be below and was told to look around, with his little list in a book.

First job 'for their own safety ' they wanted us to show them the bilge area and the engine compartment so they can see we are not sinking or on fire.

They were content with a quick peek in the side of the engine bay. He asked if we had a fixed fire extinguisher in the engine room (we do, automatic)

They wanted boat papers, passports, phone number.

They wanted to see the following:
Personal flotation devices for number of people on board
A throw-able flotation device.
A sound making device - he wanted to hear it too. We have a pump up air
horn which we know is not USCG approved, but it seemed to satisfy them.
A copy of the collision prevention regs
Other fire extinguishers - they said it did not matter if they were not US approved, because we are not a US flagged boat.
Asked if we had an oil policy notice and a garbage policy notice - home made seem to suffice. He looked at the but didn 't read them.
He asked if we had a standard Y valve arrangement on the holding tank and wanted to see it. A cable tie securing the Y valve closed is what is required in order to prevent accidental emptying of the holding tanks.
He asked what training or qualifications we had. They didn 't ask for proof.
He kept asking if we had access to the internet, not necessarily at sea. Not
sure what the relevance of that was.

He then gave us a yellow copy of his form to keep, which shows that we were inspected and did not have any violations or warnings.

From the yellow paper there is a list of possible violations:
Numbering
Certificate
Document/Official Number
Personal Flotation device
Sound Producing device
Bell
Fire extinguisher
Backfire flame control
Ventilation
Marine Sanitation Devices
Installed Toilet and no MSD Installed
Pollution placard not posted
Garbage placard not posted
Waste management plan vsls>40 '
FCC SSL Not posted/available
Operation without FCC SSL
Nav/Anchor lights (Sunrise-sunset only)
Visual distress signals (Sunrise-sunset only) Negligent Operation
Intoxicated Operation
Unsafe conditions creating especially hazardous conditions
Overloaded Fuel leak
Accumulation of fuel in bilges.