Here recently, the State of California has decided to require boat owners to have a license. I think its
just one more way to gouge people out of their money.
Here recently, the State of California has decided to require boat owners to have a license. I think its
just one more way to gouge people out of their money.
"Show me the water, I will fish."
We all know drivers' licenses for vehicles fixed bad drivers....
Not boat owners, but boat operators need a safety course completed if the boat is over 10hp. Old people are grandfathered in.
Not surprising
2008 BULLET 21XD 2007 Merc 300xs
We have a Motorcycle license that is required to drive them, it is designated on your drivers license. No boating license but I know there are several boaters that could use the course if required.
Several years ago I had my two sons take the USCG boaters safety course, I took it with them. Helps with insurance but more importantly there are things learned.
Will CA be issuing a separate license or is it designated on your drivers license?
Rad Brewer
Yup need a boating license here. Old people are grandfathered in I forget the year cut off. From what I remember it is super easy to get a very cheap to get. I think the rule is as long as someone on the vessel has a boating license anyone can drive it. I've never been checked for having one or not. Only been checked for life vests, fishing license, and that kept fish are legal size (salt water)
2020 Ford F150 Raptor (90,000 miles)
2021 Nitro Z19 200 ProXS. Ultrex 112 Helix 12 helix 8
In Ontario, you need a boat license, for anything with over a 9.9 engine, the boat has to be registered as well.
Doesn’t surprise me at all, had to take a test online for Colorado PW on gender identification to be able to get a mountain lion tag.
In Ohio, anyone born after 1988 must obtain a boater license.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
If born before 1984 in MO no requirement to drive a boat but boater Ed requirement is a joke and gouge for sure. Both my kids did it. Us Old People know what to do!
https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/MS...EduLawFAQ.html
Last edited by LateralLine; 01-12-2024 at 02:32 PM.
Yet you can rent a boat or a PWC with only signing a waiver.Originally Posted by FrancoCialone
1997 Ranger 692VS
2014 Mercury 175 Pro XS 2B111166
We don't have to have a license, but everyone has to complete a boaters safety course before they are allowed to drive a boat here in TN.
Had to have a boat license in NJ for as long as i can remember. It says "boat" on your motor vehicle drivers license. Boat used to be just an upcharge. More recently a boaters course card is needed to renew your license.
Michigan has gradually implemented a boater's licensing law over the past few decades. I know I took the class four times between middle school and high school. It was part of the PE curriculum and was free. You only need to take the course once, and it is good for life. I can't see why anyone would complain about having an educational requirement to operate a boat, particularly when the laws in Michigan have grandfathered many people in, and the laws are largely aimed at making only younger people take the class. If I was a parent with a boat, I would certainly want my child to pass the course before even thinking about letting them operate my boat without me being present.
I have till next January to get mine. But they don’t require rental boat drivers to have one.
Alabama requires an endorsement. It does not add to the cost of getting a new license but it may have cost a few bucks to take the exam. I don’t remember. That was probably 25 years ago. Yes it has been the law for that long.
Guess what? It does not fix the dumbassery on the lakes and rivers.
What if you don't have a drivers license, for whatever reason? If DL is revoked , how does that affect the boat license?
You can get one without a normal vehicle endorsement. Not sure about a revoked DL. I would assume that you would lose both.
Need one in NY as well. I like it, doesn’t keep the idiots from drinking and boating but it does make it harder for just anyone to rent a boat.
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
As of this year it 60 and younger. Next year everyone is required to have one.
Reply With Quote