Dear fellow boating enthusiasts.
To those who are not aware, we in California (and California is often the "trend setter" for
such things) are about to be broadsided by a ridiculous noise law (California Assembly
Bill 1555). This law will drastically affect our mutual favorite sport (to some our
livelihood).
AB 1555 is a probable double whammy, spear headed by our environmentalist friends
and others. One part of the proposal I understand will allow a DB reading slightly over
80 DB (depending on year model) taken from approximately 9' from your boat. Part two
allows for a meter to be set on shore or pier and lets you have a whopping 75 DB level
(no matter what the distance) to be subject to violation/fine. I might add this is not "BS"
guys and girls, this was well documented in May Hot Boat by Bob Brown.
I guess I just came out of the anestethic and realized what was going down. Mr. Brown
told me last week that this Bill will likely pass in "a few months". He also told me it has
the blessings of Mercruiser among others. There is apparently some chance of lobbying
for changes before final passage. How that's done, I'm not sure.
Last week I bought my own decibel meter. Guess what? While discussing this matter
with my wife this morning over coffee, I set the meter off at 76 DB in the Kitchen. My
Son's 2002 Silverado with Flow Masters was 100 + at 9 feet. A "blast" from Megadeath
on Josh's stereo was off the scale at 130+. Water slapping against the boat this weekend
was in the high 70's. The Ranger boat I checked was 82 (with thru hulls). How may out there think their boat could pass such a test.
WE NEED TO FIGHT THIS. I need help. Anyone who has ideas please give me your thoughts and input. I believe we need a Grandfather clause or something, and I sincerely hope for the
sake of the jet and V-drive boats I love that something can be done before it's too late.
We do pay taxes, fees and a hell of a lot more.
Best regards to all. Keep boating safely and have fun. You all deserve it.
Tom Manier Jr.
Jet Boat Performance
www.jetboatperformance.com
jetpump@earthlink.net
PS I'd sure love to have my DB meter in the chambers of the Capital Building while in
session.
I just got off the phone with a friend of mine in the sheriffs office. I asked his take on this and his comment was: If you are running baffles and water and not driving like a drunked idiot, he doesn't really care. You are basically trying to do your part. He also said your actions are gonna make the big difference. Like early morning hot laps when campers are still sleeping etc. Bascially every thing that deals with boating etiquette.
Please see my reply over at Just Jets....Moneypitt
KF, Thats great where your at but a state wide law is going to be enforced differently everywhere we go. It is now. And I'm sure your going to get some Barney Fife who wants to clean up his little jurisdiction and make it safe for all the little kiddies and dainty, shy, frail women cause he's going to run all of us big, bad ***boaters outta town. What then? Pretty soon all we will be able to have on all these sacred lakes and rivers is sailboats, kyacks and canoes with OSHA, Sierra Club, PITA, Greenpeace, Earth First and NOW approved paddles and lifevests. smile_sp
Fellow hot boaters.
They passed a BS law like that here in Idaho about ten years ago. It was brought on because they wanted to keep the noise down in the Hell's Canyon area (Snake River) where loud river boats were running in the narrow canyons. Talk about your "greenies" (kyacker's) trying to ruin our good time. However it effects all waterways. The real problem with theses laws is the interpretation of them and the person running the meter. I put mufflers in my boat and was found legal by one officers at one end of the lake and ilegal with another at the other end of the lake. Needless to say I was very pissed. They tried kicking me off the lake. Now keep in mind this lake does have one house on it and very little camping areas. And this piticular day was cloudy and raining just a little. No one was on the lake but a few of us die hards. When it was all said and done I had to have my attorney help me out of the fix..... I am sure I have had finer moments. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THESE GUYS. Unfortunately the opposition is usually well funded and very vocal. I try to make a yearly trip to Parker just to be able to use my boat in the true spirit of why we own these dying breeds.....
That's all we need here in Cal. is more restrictions when are the sons of bithes going to give us some slack.Here in Red Bluff you can,t even fart in your boat and you get pulled over by Barney Fife! devil burningm
75 dB???
Shit, the V-drive alone makes that much noise.
FR
I've written my Assembly member and Senate member that represents my district. Hope my letters don't fall on deaf ears....
Who's next? C'mon, write your assembly reps!
Here's a link so you can find your reps. Click on the "Find my District" link on the left hand side of the page.
CA State Assembly
Got it....
Going to do some checking of my own at the lake tomorrow, I'm taking a dB meter with me to get an idea of what actually goes on. I'll be checking to see how accurate or consistent I can get it to be and will ask people if they will help me by allowing me to check their boats. I will be explaining the situation and how it will affect them and how they can help.
The marina owmer is already pissed at the way the police are arbitrarily handing out tickets and essentially forcing people away from the lake, not good for business is right. This lake is close to the city and one of a few that are handy to Indy and it sees heavy use, especially on the holiday weekends so I should have plenty of willing participants.
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