How to File a Float Plan: What to Include, Who Gets It and What They Do If You're Late

Fill in the parts that rarely change and save the file (or keep it in the app):

• Boat: name and hailing port, registration or documentation number, HIN, year, make and model, length, type, hull and trim colors, and anything that stands out (tower, T-top, canvas color, name on the transom)
• Engines and fuel: type, number of engines, fuel capacity
• Communications: VHF and the channels you monitor, your DSC MMSI number, cell and satellite phone numbers
• Navigation and safety gear: GPS, radar, charts, flares and other distress signals, EPIRB or PLB ID numbers, liferaft or dinghy
• Operator: name, address, phone, age, and whether you know this boat and this area

The Coast Guard recommends including one. A photo taken from the side, showing colors and features, helps searchers from the air and from other boats. Update it after new canvas, paint or graphics.

• Everyone aboard: names, ages, phone numbers and any medical needs (the form has a note field for each person)
• Route: departure point, destination, planned stops and roughly when you'll be at each one
• Vehicle and trailer: make, model, license plate and where they're parked. A truck still at the ramp tells searchers you launched.
• Purpose of the trip: fishing a named reef, cruising to a marina, overnight at anchor. It tells searchers where you're likely to be.

This is the most important line on the plan. Write down two times:

• When you expect to be back (or to check in)
• The deadline: the time after which your contact should start making calls if they haven't heard from you

Leave a sensible buffer for normal delays, like a slow ramp or a late bite, but not so much that a real emergency goes hours without help. On a cold-water or offshore trip, keep the buffer short. Spell it out: "If you haven't heard from me by 7 p.m., follow the guide on the last page."

Float Plan Central suggests a neighbor, friend or relative who knows you. The person should:

• Be reachable the whole time you're out, with their phone on
• Agree to the job ahead of time and know what the deadline means
• Not be aboard with you

A marina office or a dockmaster can work too, but only if they agree to it and will actually be there at your deadline. Don't just leave it on the windshield.

The form has a "Rescue Authority" line. Fill in the number for the Coast Guard station or sector that covers your area, and the local sheriff or marine patrol on lakes and rivers. Look these up before you go, so your contact doesn't have to search under stress. 911 always works as a fallback.

Float Plan Central recommends emailing the completed plan. Then send a short text so your contact knows it's there. If you print it, hand it over in person. Tell your guests who has it; the Coast Guard encourages passengers to ask the operator whether a float plan was left.

If you change destination, stay out longer, or duck into a different harbor because of weather, tell your contact right away and give them a new deadline. A plan that says "Smith Shoal" doesn't help if you're actually 30 miles up the coast. Our weather guide suggests writing your bail-out harbors on the plan too.

The USCG form's instructions are clear: when you're home safe, tell the person holding the plan. Float Plan Central says you must do this for every person you sent it to. If they've already reported you overdue, you must also tell every rescue agency they called that you're safe. Searchers may be on the water looking for you.

Give your contact these steps (they follow the Boating Emergency Guide on the last page of the USCG form):

1. Wait until the agreed deadline. Starting calls too early can trigger a search you don't need. But if they learn you're in trouble (a distress text, a call, a report of a capsized boat), they call the Coast Guard right away.
2. Try to reach you, then the other contacts on the plan, and ask whether anyone has heard from you and when.
3. Still nothing? Call the rescue authority on the plan: the Coast Guard station or sector, or 911 or the sheriff on inland water. Say they're reporting a boat overdue on a float plan, and follow the dispatcher's instructions.
4. Give only facts from the plan. The guide warns: don't guess. Wrong information can send searchers to the wrong place and lose time. Key facts: how long you're overdue, the boat description, departure point and destination, people aboard, radios and phones, and the vehicle at the ramp.
5. Keep the phone free so rescuers can call back with questions.

A float plan narrows the search area, but it can't call for help. A DSC VHF with an MMSI and GPS connected, a registered EPIRB or PLB, or a satellite messenger can alert rescuers in minutes instead of hours. Put the beacon ID numbers on the plan so rescuers can match an alert to your boat.

Make the beacon registration work like a standing float plan. NOAA's beacon registry asks for emergency contacts, and its FAQ explains that the "Additional Data" section is passed to search and rescue crews if the beacon goes off. Use it to describe the boat (type, colors), list your home marina and the areas you usually fish or cruise. Name the same people who hold your trip plans as emergency contacts, so the call from rescuers reaches someone who knows where you went. You can update the registration online any time, and it must be renewed every 2 years.