Nc Boat Trailering Read!!

[offshore]

Hello Everyone,
As everyone know the Boat Trailering issue has been a
hot topic as of late. I have talked to a few people this weekend
and all is not lost for those of us who trailer boats on a regular
bases. Apparently the boating and recreational fishing industry
has been making contact with the legislators in North Carolina
to try to come up with a solution to this problem. Boat dealers
have the most to loose because of the weight and width
requirements that have been imposed over the last couple of months.
Things may change and from what I have heard changes can be made
if everyone works together. We need to contact our legislators and
express or concerns to get things done. I would suggest that we all take
a few minutes to write a short letter and send it to our lawmakers as
well as the Attorney Generals office to make a change. Below are a few
links to the legislators and AGs office. I don’t believe anything can be done
till march but this gives us the time to write and let others know about the
problem at hand. I know the pressure is on for changes to be made and
if everyone takes the time to e-mail their concerns to the following links
things will happen. Remember it is not just the large boats in question.
There are many 20-25 ft trailer boats that are affected as well. The way
the law is written now if you extend the mirrors of F250 all the way out
you could be considered a wide load because they extend out to make the
overall width of my vehicle almost 10ft!!! Go figure!!
Please take the time to write you legislators…
Tight Lines, Mark

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascript...Item.pl?nID=27

http://www.ncdoj.com/default_contact...tionid=general

[HeadHunt]

I agree Mark and I will send the letters off. I'll be the a$$ from the other side of the state raising hell.

For everyone else, I have a good friend that owns the liscense tag office here. He also is a Captain with the Sherrif's Dept. here (deputy's have no authority over this issue, but he has contacts). For years, he has assured me that towing your personal boat for recreation exempts you from the weight requirement, the same as campers/fith wheelers. He has made at least a dozen calls to Raliegh for me and no two agency's can get on the same page. The enforcement arm says we must all pay for our weight. Other departments say we are excempt.

The AG definately needs to here our voice.

One more thing. The way I figure, almost every guy that tows a boat is over the 9000 lb. limit. An F-150 with a bay boat and gear will push the scales.

Thanks,
Alan

[Playin' Hooky]

I will be glad to contact the AG. Contacting my state senator Eleanor Kinnaird is a waste of time since she is a tree hugger, tax, and spend liberal. I am sure she would support any tax on the so called "rich." I have never go anywhere with her. Representative W. A. (Winkie) Wilkins is my house rep and he may be in our court possibly.

I really would like to stop having to buy 17k lbs. tags.

[offshore]

On the link you can click on the link that lets you send a e-mail to everyone in the house. I sent my letter to everyone. It sure cannot hurt to let everyone know the problems that are occuring from this issue....Mark

[Playin' Hooky]

There is an article in NC Sportsman (page 41) on this topic. There is some clarity of the laws in this article. NC is doing a great job at trying to run off the tournament fishermen.

[jonafare]

Mark,

I have had correspondence with my represemtative, Mr. Jimmy Love, and he has forwarded my email to officials that would be involved. He says ity may take some time but he will get back to me.

Frank

[Garett]

Now I'm not a 100% certain of the conditions her in this case, nor am I 100% certain of the conditions in this next case I'm about to mention, but I think the problem lies on the backs of the automotive/ trailer manufactures.

My brother lives in Alberta, Canada and he regularly drives to B.C. with his new F150 and new camper in the back of the box. Well he "was" regularly going to B.C. until he found out the hard way he was overloaded! Yup he got fined and he had to drop the trailer off at the back of a weigh station and have it shipped back home. So Craig's found out, the trailer's weight is heavier then the manufacture says it is...apparently with the F150 just about out of gas, not a single thing in the truck or in the trailer and with no passengers or driver in the truck the unit is about 120 lbs overweight! Now how's that right?

So Craig tells me, the dealership says the truck will have zero issues with the weight of the camper unit and the camper's dealership says their unit is 100% legal on the back of a new F150. Craig has now sold the camper unit and is riding out the lease on the truck....he'll buy a camper van next.

[Playin' Hooky]

I just got off the phone with Capt. Nichols of NCHP Motor Carrier Enforcement I was referred to him via my State House Rep. We had a good discussion about the tournament fishermen problem as well as the locals problems. In the last 12 months statewide his department has wrote less than 5 tickets for overwide. Most of those tickets were given to tournament fishermen that fish for a living and have sponsors on their vessels. He was also concerned about how this effects the tourist industry but the law cannot be enforced for one and not enforced for others. According to what I got out of our discussion the locals are not a target unless the boat is being towed in a unsafe manor. Safety is his main concern. He mentioned to me that a local at the coast was ticketed last year for towing a 16k boat with a F150 to a ramp. That driver deserved a ticket in my opinion. The Sunday issue will probably get looked at by the state house. The current law is very old and needs to be updated. He did not disagree with me on that subject.

Bottom line is that Capt. Nichols seemed VERY fair to me. He has a job to do. The job is enforce the law.

Maybe a new bill can be introduced to amend the current laws. That is the way to fix this problem.


BTW, If you tow a boat, camper, flatbed and it weighs over 10k you are required by NC law to have a class A endorsement on your license. I will be going next week to get mine.

EDIT:

This is the e-mail I received from Capt. Nichols after our conversation earlier today. He is a pretty straight up guy in my opinion:

Mr. *********, It was a pleasure talking with you today on the phone regarding the problems that is occurring with North Carolina boaters. It appears that one of the biggest concerns among boaters is the fact that boats trailers that are over 102” (8 feet’6 inches) cannot operate on Sundays due to permit restrictions. However, there is another restriction that is applicable to the permit requirement that is under the Administrative Code with NCDOT. This restricts the movement of permitted vehicles to the following:



Permitted vehicles cannot travel on the following holidays from noon on the weekday before the holiday until noon on the weekday after the holiday: New Years day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.



This is due to the fact that the boat trailer is considered a property hauling vehicle and not a recreation vehicle by general statute. When I discussed the issues at hand with Representative Wilkins today he assured me that he would be researching this matter with NCDOT. The State

Highway Patrol is currently providing this information to North Carolina boating marinas, and manufactures in an attempt to educate and raise compliance. I hope this has helped provide you with additional information as it relates to permitted vehicles. If you have any questions or concerns in regards to this email, please contact me or one of my staff members at our office.



Have a great weekend,

Captain W. M. Nichols

North Carolina State Highway Patrol

I would hope my State House Rep will possibly introduce a bill to get the Sunday/Holiday issue straightened out. The ball is in the politicians court now.

I had a good conversation with Capt Nichols. He does his job well in my opinion.

[offshore]

The thing that bugs me about the whole deal is this. You can Buy a boat. Pay all the the taxes the state and counties require. Sales tax, County tax, Taxes on the trailer taxes on all the gear Taxes on the gas for the truck ETC and you can't get your boat to the ramp before sunrise or pull it home after sunset or on Sunday and some holidays!!! That is a bunch of CRAP period!! And the HP can say whatever they want but when you target boats after a fishing tournament someone is not telling the truth in the artical above........Mark

[Playin' Hooky]

If your boat has sponsorship names on the side of it they look at as a business vehicle. Those and un-safe vehicles get targeted first. The Holiday/Sunday laws may be addressed later this year. The NCHP is bound to enforce the laws as written even when the law enforcement officer disagrees with the law. My state house rep is aware of the tourism issue and has it on his agenda.