say u go out into the ocean and u have a piece of crap boat.. u break down and coast guard has to come out and haul u in can they charge u for that ? reason i ask is cause a guy i know just happened to be on a boat that this happened to. and he said the owner got a big fine..

I think that many rescue entities now have at least the option to recover costs. Some of it might have to do with how well prepared you were. I would think that if one goes out poorly prepared then one should expect t to pay for rescue.