Anytime we are doing something that is a privilege, our rights are limited. Driving a car, operating a watercraft or aircraft, puts us in a position of scrutiny by the authorities. If you don't want your boat boarded for a life jacket check, make it obvious by wearing your life jacket at all times and making sure everyone on board is wearing theirs. The authorities are doing their job for our safety, not just to mess with you and what you think are your rights.
LOL - good one. Let's all hear it now "If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" It might have been a privilege to travel in Nazi Germany, and in Pol Pot's Cambodia, but the day that the government (or any of its statist apolgists) thinks its a privilege to travel in the USA is the day that we've lost.
The government won't stop 25,000,000 illegal Mexicans, but recreational boats present a danget - pull the other one.
God save us from the "if it's not specifically mentioned by name in triplicate in the Constitution, it's not a right, it's a privilege" clowns.
I know my rights, thank you, and the idea that an LEO, probably with the assistance of Federal funds, could board my boat to count life preservers and it NOT be a direct violation of several God given rights is insulting.
Nanny state b.s. may be all the rage, but it's wrong here. You can do that stuff morally if the laws and founding principles are different. But, in America, the nanny state is not allowed by the rules.