He also happens to hold a six-pack captain's license, so although he doesn't specialize in maritime law he's familiar with the possibilities. He wrote:

"You raise a good question. The test for whether you need a captain's license is whether the passenger must pay "as a condition if passage." If you are donating the boat ride and not being paid, then from your perspective you are not requiring payment as a condition of passage. However, the passenger presumably had to make a donation or win a silent auction to get the ride. I am pretty sure there are cases discussing this, and there may be some FAQs on the coast guard website about that. Given that you are not getting paid , I wouldn't worry too much about being accused of captaining without a license in this context.

The more important question is the insurance. You want to be absolutely sure you are not exposing yourself to an excluded loss. You should not assume that the standard for whether this is commercial or for hire is the same as the license/no license question. The controlling factor is the definition (if any) of those terms in your policy, and more importantly, the company's interpretation of the wording.

Best course of action is to call your insurance company (not the agent) and ask to speak to an underwriter assigned to your policy. (If you'd rather have the agent do it, fine, but make sure he gets written confirmation from an underwriter.). Be charming and nice, these people deal with many jerks. Explain what you are doing and get a response by e-mail that this is not an excluded activity. I am very confident they will say it's fine since it's charitable and YOU are not being compensated. Print a copy of the confirmation and file it with your policy to protect yourself in the event of a loss.

I did something similar this summer--we had an open house as part of the town's bicentennial weekend bash, and our club offered free boat rides to the first 20 people who signed up. I did not bother clearing it with my ins co since there was no money issue at all-- and I made it clear to my passengers that they were personal guests. You are right that it was a nice way to meet some interesting people."

He also referred me to the following helpful link...