The equipment list, by boat length and type

Meet Aisha. She's forty-five, and on Saturday she'll fish from her four point eight metre aluminium boat with a tiller outboard, then paddle her sit-on-top kayak. She has a pile of gear and a list from online, and suspects it was written for somebody else's boat.

So here's the question. What must Aisha carry, and why is it different for each boat?

It's in the Small Vessel Regulations, and it starts with length, measured on the hull from front to back. The brackets are six metres or under, over six up to nine, over nine up to twelve, and bigger.

For a power boat six metres or under, here's the full list. A lifejacket or personal flotation device of the right size for each person. A reboarding device, like a ladder, if the climb back aboard is more than half a metre. A buoyant heaving line at least fifteen metres long. And a watertight flashlight or three flares, no more than one of them a smoke signal.

Then a paddle or oar, or an anchor with at least fifteen metres of rope, chain or cable. A bailer or manual bilge pump. A sound-signalling device, like a whistle with no pea, or a horn. Navigation lights if you're out after sunset, before sunrise, or in fog or heavy rain. And a magnetic compass, unless the boat is eight metres or under and stays within sight of navigation marks.

Last, a five B C fire extinguisher, the kind for fuel and electrical fires, but only if the boat has an inboard engine, a fixed fuel tank of any size, or a stove, heater or fridge that burns fuel. Aisha has a portable tank and no stove, so she doesn't need one. And everything you carry has to work and be within easy reach.

Flares expire four years after the manufacture date stamped on each one. Hand flares burn red in your hand, rocket and multi-star flares send red lights skyward, and smoke signals make orange smoke by day. On a river, canal or lake where you can never be more than one nautical mile from shore, just under two kilometres, you don't need flares. You still need the flashlight.

On the water. Picture it: the gear is aboard, but the flashlight is under the cooler and the heaving line is a knot in a bucket. The law says ready for immediate use, and Transport Canada's guide lists a two hundred dollar fine for gear in poor order or out of reach.

Let's change one fact. Aisha's brother brings his seven-metre boat. Over six metres, he needs the flashlight and six flares, a lifebuoy on a fifteen-metre buoyant line can replace the heaving line, and every power boat needs the extinguisher. Over nine metres, it's twelve flares, a heaving line and a lifebuoy, thirty metres of anchor line, a bigger extinguisher, and navigation lights whatever the hour.

Personal watercraft and paddle craft get short lists, but only if everyone wears a lifejacket. A personal watercraft needs a sound-signalling device, the flashlight or three flares, a compass out of sight of navigation marks, and lights after dark or in poor visibility. Her sealed-hull sit-on-top kayak needs just a sound-signalling device, plus a watertight flashlight at those times. If she only carries her lifejacket, the longer paddle-craft list comes back.

The mistake boaters make is packing from a generic list. The right list depends on length, type, and whether you wear your lifejacket or just carry it.

Here's the rule, in one breath. Know your boat's length and type, carry what the law lists for it, keep it working and within reach, and check your flare dates.

This week, check your gear against the list for your boat's length, and read the date on every flare. Next time, weather, charts and the trip plan.