The short version
- 46 CFR part 25 has nine subparts covering lights, life preservers, EPIRBs, extinguishers, ventilation and more. None is medical.
- 46 CFR part 26 adds safety orientation, emergency instructions and casualty reporting. It adds no medical duty.
- The rules most often quoted at uninspected operators, 184.710 and 121.710, govern inspected small passenger vessels and do not apply.
- Commercial fishing industry vessels are the exception. 46 CFR 28.210 gives that fleet a contents list and a training duty.
- Casualty reporting, the CG-2692 and logbook entries all survive the absence of a kit rule.
The rules you will be shown govern a different fleet
Search this question and the top results are confident and specific. They are also, in two of the first four cases, the wrong subchapter.
A live capture in August 2026 returned 46 CFR 121.710 at the top and 46 CFR 184.710 in fourth place. Those are the Subchapter K and Subchapter T first aid rules, and they apply to inspected small passenger vessels. An uninspected passenger vessel, a charter fishing boat carrying six or fewer passengers, a dive boat or a small workboat is not covered by either. The rest of the page was an Australian safety supplier, two United States kit vendors, a recreational boating association, a Facebook post and a Coast Guard handout about Subchapter T deficiencies.
| What is quoted | Which fleet it governs | Applies to an uninspected vessel |
|---|---|---|
| 46 CFR 184.710 | Small passenger vessels, Subchapter T, inspected[6] | No |
| 46 CFR 121.710 | Small passenger vessels carrying more than 150 passengers, Subchapter K, inspected[7] | No |
| 46 CFR 28.210 | Commercial fishing industry vessels, mostly uninspected[4] | Yes, if the vessel is in the fishing industry and within the scope at 28.200[5] |
| 46 CFR parts 25 and 26 | Uninspected vessels[1][2] | Yes, and neither contains a medical section |
Part 25 and part 26, subpart by subpart
The rules that actually govern an uninspected vessel are short, and their contents are worth listing precisely, because the value of this article is a negative claim and a negative claim has to be shown rather than asserted.
Part 25 runs to nine subparts: application, navigation lights, life preservers and other lifesaving equipment, emergency position indicating radio beacons, fire extinguishing equipment, backfire flame control, ventilation, cooking and heating and lighting systems, and garbage retention[1]. There is no first aid subpart, no medicine chest section and no medical equipment section anywhere in it.
Part 26 covers application, special operating requirements including safety orientation and emergency instructions, notice and reporting of casualty and voyage records, boarding, exhibition of a Coast Guard credential, and work vests[2]. Safety orientation and emergency instructions are there. Medical response is not.
So the federal position for an uninspected commercial vessel that is not in the fishing industry is that lifesaving, firefighting and signalling are all specified in detail, and medical capability is not mentioned at all.
The one uninspected fleet that does have a rule
Commercial fishing industry vessels are the exception, and they are a large enough part of the uninspected fleet to explain why the answer online is so often muddled. 46 CFR 28.210 imposes a contents driven first aid requirement together with a training obligation[4], and 28.200 sets which vessels subpart C reaches[5].
The practical consequence is that two uninspected vessels of identical size at the same dock can sit in completely different positions. A charter boat taking six anglers offshore has no federal first aid specification. The fishing vessel tied up beside it has a list and a training duty. Neither operator would guess that from the size of the hull. The fishing side is covered in the six federal obligations and, for one state, Alaska compliance.
What still applies when the kit rule does not
The absence of an equipment rule removes a specification. It removes nothing else, and the duties that survive are the ones with real consequences attached.
| Duty | Source | What it means without a kit rule |
|---|---|---|
| Casualty notice | 46 CFR 26.08-1, then part 4[3][8] | You still have to report a qualifying injury, and the threshold turns on what treatment was given |
| Written report | 46 CFR 4.05-10, Form CG-2692 within five days[9] | The report asks what happened medically. Having no kit standard does not excuse having no record |
| Injury notification | 46 CFR 28.90 for fishing vessels[10] | A seven day chain that runs from the injured individual to the employer |
| Logbook entries | 46 USC 11301(b) where an Official Logbook is carried[12] | Illness, injury and the medical treatment given |
Read the second column of that table against the first paragraph of this article. Every one of those duties assumes somebody on board can treat something and write down what they did. The equipment to do it is the one thing nobody specified.
Setting your own standard, and why that is not a licence to skip it
Operators hear “no federal requirement” and reasonably conclude that nothing is expected. The conclusion does not survive the first serious injury, because the question then is not what the regulation demanded but what a reasonable operator in that trade would have carried.
Three reference points are available and all three are published, which makes any of them defensible if you say which one you chose and why. The towing capability standard is written as outcomes rather than as a list, which makes it the easiest to transfer to a small workboat. The fishing contents list is the easiest to audit. The small passenger route is the heaviest and rarely worth borrowing. All three are compared in the vessel class comparison, with the towing version at 140.435[11] set out in the Subchapter M rules. Offshore supply vessels sit in the same position and the reasoning transfers directly, which is covered in the Subchapter L article.
What to write down
- State which subchapter your vessel is under, and that it sets no medical standard. One line. It stops the argument about whether 184.710 applies before it starts.
- Name the standard you have borrowed and the reason. Route, crew size, passenger numbers and how long it actually takes to reach definitive care. That last figure is computed rather than guessed, using the approach in planning by voyage length.
- Inventory the kit and set a restock owner. No rule means no expiry rule either, and expiry is the finding that recurs everywhere. The stocking method is in how to stock a chest.
- Record treatment at item level. The reporting threshold turns on what was administered, which is examined in the beyond first aid article, and the records position in crew medical records.
- Decide who is called when the kit is not enough, and test the number once. The framework is in the evacuation article and the shore side ownership in owner or designated person.
The whole exercise fits on one page and costs an afternoon. It is also the only document that exists between an uninspected operator and a question nobody has a regulation to answer. If you would rather have it written and reviewed by a board certified emergency physician, that is maritime medical consulting, and the programme it belongs to is the six decisions. Everything else is indexed in the guidance library, with the reviewer on the about page.
Common questions
Do uninspected vessels have to carry a first aid kit?
Under federal equipment rules, no. 46 CFR part 25 covers navigation lights, life preservers, EPIRBs, fire extinguishers, backfire flame control, ventilation, cooking and heating systems and garbage retention. It contains no first aid, medicine chest or medical equipment section. Part 26 adds operating requirements and no medical duty either.
Then why do search results quote me 46 CFR 184.710?
Because those rules govern a different fleet. 184.710 is Subchapter T and 121.710 is Subchapter K, both of which apply to inspected small passenger vessels. An uninspected passenger vessel is neither. Quoting them at an uninspected operator is the single most common error on this subject. What those rules actually say is set out in the Subchapter T article.
Which uninspected vessels do have a rule?
Commercial fishing industry vessels. 46 CFR 28.210 imposes a contents driven first aid requirement and a training obligation, with scope set by the applicability rule at 28.200. Most of that fleet is uninspected, which is why the answer to “do uninspected vessels need a kit” is genuinely different depending on what the vessel does. The fishing picture is in the six federal obligations.
If there is no rule, is a kit optional?
The kit is not optional in any practical sense. What is missing is a federal specification, not the need. Reporting duties, employer obligations, insurer terms and simple distance from care all remain. An operator with no written standard is more exposed than one working to a published list, because there is no external benchmark to point at when the question is asked.
What still applies to an uninspected vessel after an injury?
Casualty reporting, in full. 46 CFR 26.08-1 carries the notice and voyage record duty and the substantive thresholds sit in 46 CFR part 4, including the written report on Form CG-2692 within five days. The injury threshold itself is a two part test explained in the beyond first aid article.
What standard should we set instead?
Borrow one and say which. The three United States classes that do have rules are compared in the vessel class comparison, and the towing capability standard at 140.435 transfers well to a small workboat because it is written as outcomes rather than as a list. Offshore supply vessels face the same problem, covered in the Subchapter L article.
Does an uninspected vessel keep medical records?
If it is required to carry an Official Logbook, 46 USC 11301(b) applies and requires an entry for each illness or injury and the medical treatment given. Many small uninspected vessels are not, in which case the record that matters is whatever the operator creates, and that record is what evidences the reporting threshold later. The full position is in crew medical records.
