Make a List, Check It Twice

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but if something is yours, people shouldn't take it. Nevertheless, a boater in my area was recently fishing 100 miles plus offshore before he discovered his easily accessible five-man life raft was gone. Someone had broken into the boat and stole it earlier in the week. Putting aside the $5,000-plus replacement cost for a minute, this boater and his crew could have been at serious risk as a result of not having that life raft onboard, especially 100 miles from nowhere.

While this raft is likely gone forever (except for the million-to-one shot by checking for-sale items on Craigslist and Ebay), it's worth noting that before you leave the dock making a routine checklist of must-have onboard items, is a just a good idea.