Beware Fellow Boaters

[ziggy]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

Quote:
Have heard through the grapevine that with tax revenue and budgets not increasing officers have been instructed to "write their salary's worth of tickets this year".
That's a great idea!!! I was just talking to the better half about this very thing last week. The local, county, and state governments could rake in enough to double cover their budget shortfalls for the next five years if they would just start enforcing the law around here. Of course they may have to hire an extra cop or two at each level, but it would more than pay for itself.

I am so sick of people running stop signs/stop lights, making illegal turns, tailgating, speeding, illegally parking, failing to yield the right of way (i.e. cutting you off, pulling out right in front of you, etc.). Having a the police enforce traffic laws would be a welcome addition to their everyday duties around here and the revenue that would be recognized would be amazing. Then to have the water police enforcing the boating traffic laws would add even more to the amount of money taken in.

yep, that's a great idea. we could/should have a police state keeping us all safe from ourselves... man, it'd be so much safer.... of course while all police are out making sure we all have our nav. lights working in the daytime, the real criminals (violent types, ya know, murderers, rapist and thieves) will be somewhere else doing there particular crime against regular citizens...... maybe we could even get the third degree from the police 2 or three times for ea. outing and get fines multiple times for the same offense, that'd really bring in the revenue...

 

[Expidia]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

Not to play up the devils advocate role here but . . . I don't think there are enough patrols out here. I occassionally see them pulled up next to each other yukking it up while baoters go by them in a no wake zone throwing off wakes . . . they don't do their jobs enough.

A few years ago they pulled me over and found I had "auto" type flares and they were expired. They also showed me that even though I had a fire extinguisher it had to be banged around a little to shake up the inside in order for it to be usable and I didn't have a distress flag. I appreciated them inspecting me. They give you a sticker so you can show it to the next inspector so they don't have to inspect you again. Maybe it's do to cutbacks, but these inspections are few and far between. Maybe they are being paid to just cruise up and down the waters because that's all I see them doing most of the time.

I see people riding with kids or adults hanging of the bow while flying by me all the time. If more boaters got tickets for this word would get around and maybe we'd save a few more people from getting chewed up by the prop or killed.

Just last week a go fast boat passed me about 25 feet from my boat on the narrow part of the river going about 40 and throwing a huge wake . . . exactly the same time a sheriff was going the other direction. He looked back, but did nothing as I was flailing my hands in the air trying to get his attention. Ya, he looked right at us and did absolutely nothing about it

I run some big waters, Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Hudson River.

I rarely see these guys doing their jobs and it gets worse every year. Seems years ago you would never get on the water without a fishing license. I do 150 hours plus on the water each year and have never been asked to show my license. Been stopped maybe 2 times for an inspection in 5 years.

Just my opinion from experience but most of these guys simply are not DOING THEIR JOBS out there on the waters I frequent!

 

[skargo]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

expidia you missed the point. It does not matter where you live,make sure
your safety equ. is up to par. As far as my boat being in the back yard,wrong
I take care of my toys.Maybe yours is in your backyard chained to a tree,but
not mine. I own three boats,when not in use they are kept in a 28ft by 48ft
garage with heat and air.I have great insurance on all of my belongings.So if
they get stolen,so be it,just buy more.

Wow, you're cool

 

[Expidia]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

expidia you missed the point. It does not matter where you live,make sure
your safety equ. is up to par. As far as my boat being in the back yard,wrong
I take care of my toys.Maybe yours is in your backyard chained to a tree,but
not mine. I own three boats,when not in use they are kept in a 28ft by 48ft
garage with heat and air.I have great insurance on all of my belongings.So if
they get stolen,so be it,just buy more.

.

I was just kidding with you for being afraid to tell us where you live. The point is you tell us about the lake you got stopped on and then don't tell us what lake it was or what part of the country you are talking about.

I've never heard of a kill switch being looked at in a mandatory inspection. What good is a working kill switch if you don't have it hooked to your arm or clothing. It should be a law but it isn't in New York so I was interested in where you ran into this issue.

If posters don't have the courtesy to let us know where they hail from I don't think any of us should respond to their posts, but hey, maybe that's just me.

I know you were just trying to give us a heads up but different states have different regulationst . . . so it was a mute statement.

Now where was it you said you parked your "3" boats . . . I could use some accessories

My boat is just sitting in my driveway, but I have my Wife chained to a tree!

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

Tell your friend to double check the fire extinguisher rules in your state. If he has a boat with an outboard engine and the fuel tank(s) are not in an enclosed space, he probably does not need to have an extinguisher. While we would all hope that the officers would know what the rules are, often times they don't.

For those that do have them, watch for insect nests in the nozzle. Critters like mud dauber wasps love to pack them up with nesting materials.

On the matter of courtesy inspection stickers, the reason why the USCG Aux won't issue a citation is because they can't - they have no enforcement authority. That said, they provide a very good and useful service. Don't think that having one of their stickers will get you out of an inspection by the regular CG, or a state/local enforcement officer, though. While they very often won't ask to see anything other than a fishing licanse and your PFDs, they can and often do require a full inspection.

 

[P 0 P E Y E]

Re: Beware Fellow Boaters

I read it as Beware OF fellow boaters

If your ducks are in a row you are cool when it comes to LEO.
They are the good guys protecting us cool boaters from the Joey Bag O Donuts who drinks and drives,