Red Ranger is a documented vessel; she's mostly set for international travel. According to Skipper Bob's Bahamas Bound, we need a bunch of paperwork before we can sail foreign.

• US Customs Decal https://dtops.cbp.dhs.gov/ Be sure to order after September 1^st for the coming year. Insurance requires us to stay North of Florida until November 1^st, so the date works out well. Apparently, sailors affix this to their mast. Since we have two, I think the mizzen is appropriate for this. The sticker is easy and painless: pay the fee, get the sticker.

• Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) Local Boater Option (LBO) Registration http://www.cbp.gov This appears to allow us to clear customs via a phone call. We have to be prepared for an in-person interview, but Customs may waive the in-person if we're properly registered. This is less easy. You need to appear in person with your passport, submit to fingerprinting, and then file your float plan with CBP so they can clear you out and back in with just a phone call.

• Copy of Documentation. Almost easy. It's a very, very busy-looking document. The official copy involves a lot of blue ink. A lot. Even a black-and-white scan yields a gray document that drains your little printer's ink reservoirs.

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• Crew Manifest (three copies!). Since there's only the two of us, this seems like a waste of paper. But. The Bahamian government wants this, so we'll provide it.

• Copy of VHF Station License. This appears to be the FCC form 605.

• Equipment Inventory with serial numbers. Hull, Engine, Dinghy, Outboard, Bikes, Computers.

Beyond Paperwork

There's more, of course.

We need a few break-fix supplies and spares. The list starts with this as the absolute minimum.

• Flares.

• Oil, Filters. The ICW is about 1000 miles long. That means 200 hours of engine use to FL, which means an oil change. And, similarly, getting back to Deltaville is another 200 hours and an oil change. We should probably plan on one oil change in the Bahamas.

• Zincs (shaft and heat exchanger). This is easy. It's a 1¼" shaft zinc and a ½"×2" pencil zinc.

• Water Filter is suggested. But, our SHURFlo filter (see Activity or Accomplishment?) is good for at least a year.

• Raw Water Impeller. Jabsco 1210-0001.

• Other pump rebuild kits. This includes the main bilge (Jabsco 36400-0000), the pressure freshwater (Jabsco 36950-2000), and the macerator (Jabsco 18590-0010). And there's Mr. Lehman's fuel pump, also. I may actually have parts for this. But they may be 30 years old.

We can, of course, go "overboard" and attempt to bring a spare of everything. Really, there are some things we can live without. And there are some things we can work around.

We have a complete spare set of cooling hoses. And a complete spare set of injectors and injector pipes.

This is almost everything. What's left? Information and Communication.

Information Sources

We have the essential charts for our Standard Horizon. We can (and will) download the latest NOAA raster charts for our computers and phones.

But that's not everything.

• WX Works Weather Fax from XM radio. We need to upgrade our entertainment system in order to support XM radio. This will be fun. A BlueTooth interface for the iPhones would be nice.

• Explorer Chartbooks (all 3). Some folks suggest Imray charts instead.

• BTC Phone. It's probably easier (and cheaper) to get a Bahamas Telephone Company phone than to mess with international calling on an iPhone.

I think we're almost ready to go somewhere.