Life jackets and required equipment: the rules of the boat

2026 rules, matching U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The Handbook of Michigan Boating Laws carries the legal text.

The life jacket law, plainly

1. Every boat — including every canoe, kayak, and paddleboard — needs a USCG-approved life jacket for each person aboard. It must be properly sized and readily accessible. Zipped in a hatch under the cooler doesn’t count.
2. Children under 6 must WEAR one (Type I or II) on any open deck while underway. This is the most-enforced rule on the water.
3. Everyone on a PWC, and anyone being towed (skis, tubes, wakeboards), must WEAR one. Inflatables don’t qualify for those uses.
4. Boats 16 feet and longer also carry a throwable Type IV. (Canoes and kayaks are exempt from that add-on.) Small craft under 16 feet and all canoes and kayaks may technically substitute a throwable per person — but on the Great Lakes, wearables are required. The porch advice is simpler: just have real jackets.

The types, translated. Type I is the big offshore jacket. Type II turns many unconscious wearers face-up — that’s why it’s the kids’ requirement. Type III is the comfortable vest everyone actually wears. Type IV is the throwable cushion. Type V covers special-use gear (some inflatables) that only counts as worn and per its label. Buy kids’ jackets by weight and chest size, then do the snug-lift test: lift the jacket at the shoulders. If it slides past the ears, it’s too big.

And the sermon, kept short. Cold water steals swimming ability in minutes. Most of the people Michigan loses each year would have lived in a jacket. Big water, spring, fall, kids: wear it.

The equipment checklist

What the law expects, by boat class — and what the free USCG Auxiliary courtesy inspection checks (genuinely worth booking):

• Fire extinguishers on motorboats, per size class.
• A sound device — a whistle clipped to your PFD satisfies it on a kayak.
• Navigation lights after dark.
• Visual distress signals on the Great Lakes.
• Ventilation and backfire arrestors on inboards.
• A capacity plate, respected. Overloading is ticketable — and it’s the classic small-boat capsizing story.
• The federal kill-switch law: use the engine cut-off lanyard on planing boats under 26 feet. No drama, just clip it.

Towing and alcohol

Towing sports need an observer aboard or a wide-angle mirror, a jacket on every towed person, and daylight — done an hour after sunset. Boating under the influence is 0.08 BAC, with zero tolerance under 21. Penalties mirror drunk driving, license consequences included, and implied consent applies on the water. The lake doesn’t have lane lines, and the sheriff’s marine patrol doesn’t grade on a curve.

The signpost

The official rules live at Michigan.gov/Boating. Start with Boating and paddling in Michigan, explained.