It's a pain in the ass but I'd recommend switching out to Coast Guard (federal)
documentation if you can. Countries that deal with a lot of US boats know about the state licensing scheme, but the farther you get from the
USA the more having your federal documentation in order can be handy. On the plus side it's free and easy to re-register every year.
I'd also have:
- Several crew lists. Each crew
member, nationality, their position, passport number, date of birth, and full name. This can really ease clearing into some countries as it shows that you're prepared and gives officials a lot of the information they need in one shot.
- Signed list of your last
ports of call.
- Logbook, filled out well and up to date.
- Any sailing or nautical certifications you have, photocopied.
- Copies of everyone's passport.
- Any insurance you carry, photocopied.
-
Radio equipment list.
- Photocopies of the boat's dimensions, including
draft. Some places (this might be hard to believe) don't run into deep
draft vessels a lot; they just have flat bottom
fishing boats. So it helps to show them a picture of what your vessel looks like (including the keel).
That's a pretty overkill list and is really for world cruising. To help out, I'd recommend picking up Jimmy Cornell's
books:
Amazon.com: World Cruising Routes: Jimmy Cornell: Books