Re: U. S. Coastguard capacity tag
Thornious...The statute you are refering to is for DEALERS, MANUFACTURES, and RENTAL AGENTS for obvious reasons. And has been taken out of context by the original poster. You as an OWNER may do what you please with your boat in THIS state if it does not have the "appearence" of being dangerous and ridiculously overpowered. In addition, removal of the C.G.P. by you as the owner for for modifications is fully permitted in this state. The boat simply becomes "home built". There are no REAL Coast Guard horspower restrictions to any boat other than those "plated" on a production boat based on the manufactures engineering criteria for "certification" purposes by the Coast Guard. The coast guard has formula guidelines for builders to follow but they are NOT law for HP ratings. BUT all of this is moot because differnt states have different laws concerning capacity plates. You will probably find that most ALL states have loophole for the owner to legally modify their boat. I do recall not to long ago....there was one manufacture that rated their production boats "Unlimitted" in the outboard HP rating. Where does this fit in?<br /><br />Here's a simple question to ask: What determines being "overpowered" other than the manufactures plate? Answers:50 MPH? 75MPH? 100MPH? 17' boat? 21" boat? Flotation only? Performance envelope beyond your skill level? Performance beyond what you think others should have based on your skill level?<br /><br />Overpowering is an open ended disscussion and doing it depends on many different criteria.........A Mercury 60 Hp on a stock Lowe 12 V hull that weighs 100 lbs is flat out dangerous. Obviously, there is not enough flotation in the boat to support it nor is the hull designed for the transom weight or to go that fast.......this would be considered "grossly" overpowered in this state. But you could put a 25 Hp on the boat with no problem and never be bothered.......the statement here is "I (owner) modified the boat"....which means its now a "home built boat".<br /> AS swith ANY modification to a boat all the factors of load capacity transom integrity, hull type, balance, ect should be taken into consideration.
