Posted by Tom W Clark on 05/08/08 - 9:09 PM
#7
wrangler wrote:
Boston Whaler and all the other boat builders had to go by the USCG Code of Federal Regulations about overpowering. It states 100 for a reason.
The boat was unsafe at any motor above it.
Your insurance will become invalid, you just gave the company an out, by overpowering.
It is illegal, any marine patrol or USCG will stop you and thats a voyage termination, it ends where they find you.
Please go by the Whaler specs. The law is written in blood, someone had to get hurt or killed to make a law, someone elses, but do not let it be yours.
wranlger,
You are totally wrong about much of what you have written. I do not think of the 16/17 foot Whalers as unsafe with 115 HP motors. Indeed, many of them are powered with motors of that size or even more.
A boaters owner's insurance will NOT necessarily become invalid if the boat is overpowered. Many insurance companies insure overpowered boats. Sometimes you must pay an extra premium, sometimes not.
It is NOT necessarily illegal to overpower a boat. There certainly is NOT any federal law against it though a few states expressly prohibit it.
Any marine patrol or USCG will NOT necessarily stop and terminate your voyage if you are overpowered. Indeed many overpowered boats are stopped for safety inspections with no notice or concern of the overpowered condition.
The federal law regarding the maximum horsepower ratings of boats is most certainly NOT written in blood. The rules by which boats are assigned maximum horsepower ratings are there to promote safety but are not any sort of reaction to a great loss of life. That is absurd.
Edited by Tom W Clark on 05/08/08 - 9:10 PM