I certainly don't blame you - I wasted a ton of time getting to the wrong conclusion on my own...Now I don't trust where I found on USCG saying their regs apply to boat builders and that it's up to the states to set their own regs...

Not that I stand any chance of getting it corrected, so I'm going to b!tch for a second...regs limiting HP really pisses me off - I understand overloading creating an unsafe condition, just as it would a motor vehicle on the road, but there is no limit on HP in a car on the road, or a motorcycle - just a speed limit. If your motor isn't so heavy as to create a flotation safety issue why the hell is the nanny-state coming in to say how much power it can produce??? What does it matter if I'm obeying the speed limit? I can ride a motorcycle with no-helmet on but can't strap a 15hp to a 1236 jon boat?

I realize this isn't the place to get a change made, and the chances of getting the liberal twits in Hartford to back off a restrictive rule they've had in place for years are slim to none with such a small cross section of the population affected by it, but this is ridiculous.

One vote on a non-issue for 99% of the state...I'm sure it will go far (that's not to say I won't try).

Comparing overpowering a car vs a boat is apples and oranges.

The difference between a vessel and a motor vehicle with oversized/overpowered motors can be significant. If you have a car that has a monster motor generally the vehicle will pretty much act the same as with the smaller motor except for speed and acceleration. If you crash it you still stand a fairly good chance of walking away as the vehicles have seat belts, airbags and a lot of sheet metal to absorb collision forces.

Boats are different. In a car you're on pavement or dirt (yeah, I know, ice and snow too) and the vehicle will usually react the same as the outside forces on it are fairly constant with the coefficient of friction from the road surface. In a boat you've got wind force, current, wind driven waves and boat wakes to deal with. All of which can be very unpredictable when you are operating a boat, but you guys already know that. When you crash a boat you can't walk away like you can on land,and boats don't have seat belts or airbags to protect the operator or occupants. Boats are made of plastic, fiberglass or thin aluminum. In too many cases people are ejected into the water and it turns into a fatal boating accident. The boat HP rating is based on marine engineering calculations on the part of the USCG and the boat manufacturers. They've got marine engineers who are a lot smarter and know a lot more about boats than me. Granted, putting a 5hp outboard on a boat rated for 3hp is not that big of a deal. But, if you put a 200hp motor on a boat rated for 75hp it is. The problem comes in when you try to say it's OK for the small HP difference but not the bigger difference. You'll never get a manufacturer to do that, their legal departments won't let them.

Boats can be very unstable with all the outside forces acting on them when on plane and having the extra weight and thrust at the stern can make the boat respond or react much more violently.

Check out this video starting at 1:20:



And this one starting at about 2:10:



Both of the boats involved in the videos were running motors within the capacity ratings for the boats. Would you want to be operating or riding in one of those boats? How about having your family/children on board? Now do you really want to overpower a small boat and take your family out in it?

We're not out to ruin anyone's day by not letting them have fun, it's just that we really hate to have to go knock on someone's door and tell them that their mother/father/husband/wife/sister/brother/son/daughter or all of the above, won't be coming home because they just got killed in a boat accident.

I know everyone thinks it won't happen to them, but it does. My son was riding his motorcycle in Montana last month. He was getting on a highway and merging with traffic at the end of the on ramp, something he's done a thousand times over the past 5 years on his bike. He looked left over his shoulder to make sure there was no traffic coming and when he looked forward again there was a deer standing 50 feet in front of him. He couldn't avoid the deer, hit it and totaled his motorcycle. He was lucky as he was wearing all his riding gear but he still suffered a broken arm and some serious road rash - even with his padded hi-tech riding suit...he never thought it would happen to him either.

But it appears that just for the actual label. That's where it's a little confusing. It is pretty clear that boat manufacturers are required to post the maximum HP on the label and compute said maximum following described methods.....but.....it doesn't appear that there is a federal regulation in place explicitly saying as the owner that you can't exceed it.