In Reply to: Personal boats and liability posted by Eric S on March 06, 2007 at 18:50:40:

As a private boat owner myself, I think it is a great question.
I agree, that you can be sued for almost any reason. I also believe that having a waiver signed would help you in a court of law. What Scott said is also true, "gross negligence" would probably be the death for us. With this in mind, we need to make sure that all the proper saftey gear is aboard and working properly. Not only for the boat, like fire ext., CGA life vests, flairs, ect. ect, but gear for diving, like properly set anchor lines, drift lines, dive flags, safety bottles, ect. There are so many issues that need to be addressed, you might as well get your six pack license and charter your boat. There are many times I have had peolple on my boat without really thinking about if they would acctually sue me if a problem arose. I think to play it safe, I won't be taking someone out if they are not a close personal friend. Even then, if something bad happend, you could be sued by a family member.