SA Boat Safety Equipment: What You Must Carry

The safety gear you are required to carry in South Australia is not one list. It is a grid: where you are going down one side, how long the boat is across the top. Most people know the bit about lifejackets and flares; the four litres of water, the compass and the second extinguisher catch them out. This is the grid as it stands in the current SA Recreational Boating Safety Handbook, which reproduces Schedule 9 of the Harbors and Navigation Regulations, written out in plain language for a Yorke Peninsula trailer boat.

Which waters are you in?

Everything hangs off three categories, and the boundary between them is two nautical miles from the low-water mark.

• Protected waters are all inland waters — rivers, dams, reservoirs — except Lakes Alexandrina and Albert.
• Semi-protected waters are coastal and tidal waters inshore of a line two nautical miles seaward of the low-water mark of the mainland or Kangaroo Island, and the two lakes. The Port River and the Coorong count as semi-protected.
• Unprotected waters are everything beyond that two-mile line.

Two miles arrives quickly. A run out to the deeper grounds off Wallaroo or Port Hughes puts you in unprotected water within minutes of leaving the ramp, and the equipment list changes the moment you cross the line, not when you decide you are “offshore”. Note also that the distance is measured from the mainland or Kangaroo Island only; no other island counts as shore.

Beyond that there are two further thresholds that add gear regardless of boat length: more than three nautical miles from shore, or more than five nautical miles in Gulf St Vincent or Spencer Gulf, and more than ten nautical miles from shore. The gulfs get the extra allowance, which is why a Spencer Gulf boat can run a fair way out before the EPIRB rule applies.

Boats under eight metres: the trailer boat list

In all waters, a boat under eight metres must carry:

• An approved lifejacket for every person on board. The level and whether it must be worn depend on the boat and the water; see below.
• A bucket with a line attached, or a bilge pump. A bucket with a line also serves as the fire bucket, so one bucket covers both.
• One approved fire extinguisher, if the boat has an engine or cooking facilities on board. That is every powered boat.
• An anchor and cable appropriate to the boat and where it operates.
• A waterproof, buoyant torch powered by its own batteries. In protected waters it is required if you operate at night; elsewhere it is required full stop. Carry it regardless.
• Paddles or oars, or another means of propulsion, if the boat is under six metres.

Semi-protected waters add two approved red hand-held flares and two orange smoke signals. That is any coastal boating at all, including a lap of the bay.

Unprotected waters add a compass fitted to the vessel, four litres of fresh water, and a two-way marine radio capable of talking to a station ashore. Beyond three miles from shore, or five in the gulfs, add a registered 406 MHz EPIRB and a V distress sheet. Beyond ten miles, add two rocket parachute flares and a chart of the area.

Boats eight metres and over

Everything above, with the lifejackets at level 100 or above, two approved fire extinguishers instead of one, a lifebuoy with a line attached in all waters, and a second anchor in unprotected waters, which can be carried as a spare if the boat is under twelve metres. Over fifteen metres, add a second lifebuoy and a life raft.

Lifejackets: the wearing rules

Carrying them is the easy half. Since the start of 2025 the jacket must meet AS 4758; the older standards that used to be accepted no longer are, and a jacket that is faded, stiff or has a seized inflator is not approved in any useful sense. Inflatable jackets must be serviced every twelve months or to the maker's schedule.

The wearing rules come from the handbook's third chapter, and the ones that matter to most trailer boats are these. On a motor boat of 4.8 metres or less, everyone on board wears a lifejacket at all times when underway or at anchor. On a boat from 4.8 to 12 metres, children twelve and under wear one at all times in an open area of the boat, and everyone wears one in circumstances of heightened risk: operating alone, or only with children; between sunset and sunrise; when the boat is disabled; crossing a bar; in restricted visibility; or under a Bureau of Meteorology gale, storm or severe weather warning. In unprotected waters the jacket worn in those situations must be level 100 or above. Anyone being towed wears a level 50 or 50S at all times, and on a personal watercraft the rider wears a level 50 or 50S at all times and may not operate in unprotected waters.

The lifejackets we carry are all current-standard, and we can size them for the crew, which matters: a jacket that is the wrong size for the person wearing it does not meet the requirement either.

The details that get missed

• Flares expire three years from the date of manufacture and may not be kept beyond it. Expired flares go to a SafeWork SA disposal point, not the bin. Our flare packs are dated on the pack; check yours before the season, not when the inspector does.
• The EPIRB must be registered with AMSA. Registration is compulsory and free, and evidence of it should be on the boat. A 406 MHz beacon transmits for at least 48 hours once activated, which is exactly why they want to know whose it is.
• The extinguisher has a size. It must meet AS 1841 and be maintained to AS 1851, which includes six-monthly checks, and the minimum size scales with the fuel on board: 0.9 kg for up to 115 litres, 2 kg to 350 litres, 4.5 kg to 695 litres. Most trailer boats need the small one; a cruiser with twin tanks does not.
• The compass must be fitted to the vessel in unprotected waters, not floating in the glovebox. A bracket-mount compass takes ten minutes.
• The torch must float. A waterproof torch that sinks does not satisfy the requirement.

Canoes, kayaks and rowboats have their own shorter list, and sailing boats have variations; if that is you, check the handbook directly.

Where to check your own boat

This guide is our reading of the handbook and the regulations as published; the handbook itself and the Marine Safety SA online equipment tool are the authority, and the rules change from time to time. Put your boat length and where you go into their tool and it will give you the exact list, and keep a copy on the boat.

The gear itself — jackets, flares, extinguishers, buckets, torches, V sheets and EPIRBs — is in our marine safety equipment collection, and the radio side of it is in our GME marine radio collection. If you are not sure whether what is on the boat now still passes, bring it in to Kadina and we will go through it, or ring 0412 532 984.