DA Aquamaster:
It is also a good idea to limit the passengers to no more than 6 unless your freind has a masters certificate. It keeps it cleaner, especially if anyone is providing cash to cover the boat's operating expenses. This could potentially be construed as compensation in court and could cause problems for the amatuer captain after an accident if more than 6 people were aboard.
Nonsense.
First, federal law CLEARLY defines what constitutes "compensation"; passengers on a recreational vessel
may voluntarily contribute to the direct costs of the voyage, including donations of fuel, food, beverages and other expenses. This was written into the federal code after a number of Congresscritters noted that their
own vessels were being operated illegally since the former definitions prohibited ANY exchange of ANYTHING unless the master had a USCG license. What you
cannot do is set a "fee" to be paid for carriage - that is a "for hire" operation. So if you and ten friends go out on your boat, they all bring food and drink which you all consume, when you get back you announce to the group how much fuel you burned, and they get out their wallets and hand you money (their discretion to do so or not), you're in the clear unless what you receive GROSSLY exceeds the cost of the fuel (and oil, if 2-stroke motor(s)) burned.
Realize that "the direct costs of the voyage" GREATLY exceed the fuel consumed on ANY boat.
Where you would be likely on the "wrong side of the line" is if you collected the funds BEFORE the voyage. It would be EASY to argue that such an arrangement was a carriage-for-hire situation (e.g. the pax had "bought a ticket".) The key is the voluntary nature of the contribution and its reasonable correspondance to the cost of operation; your enforcement has to be limited to not inviting the person on the next trip.
Second,
it does not matter how many people are on board, provided you are within the vessel's capacity (if it has a capacity plate - yacht certified vessels DO NOT. Typically, vessels under 26' have a capacity plate, larger ones typically do not.) If you are
over capacity then there is an issue if you get boarded or there is an incident; the USCG can get very unhappy about this. The presence of one or twenty people on board is not relavent to the classification of the vessel. If you are carrying people for hire, irrespective of the number you need a Captain's License (OUPV for up to six revenue passengers, Masters for more) AND for more than six the vessel typically must be inspected and certified for that number of pax as well. If you are NOT carrying pax for hire then you must have the legal equipment on board for each person (e.g. a lifejacket appropriate for their body size and your destination) and the vessel must have its minimum equipment (distress signals, fire extinguishers, etc) but that's it from a legal perspective.
The owner would be wise to have appropriate insurance, including possibly an excess liability policy (a "personal umbrella"), just in case, and DO NOT break the rules on "for hire" operation (since that will typically void your insurance!)
On a 22' boat carrying more than six DIVERS will be impossible with tanks and gear while remaining within the capacity plate. Not a snowball's chance in hades on that one. A diver is about one and a half "persons" for purposes of computing capacity, assuming they show up with two tanks and standard gear; remember that the capacity plate shows BOTH a person AND weight load, and you cannot safely exceed EITHER.
For ANY boat used for diving I'd want O2 on board, but that's me.
All boats need a means of reboarding. Dive boats need one that won't tear out or be damaged by a diver, in full gear, using it.
