www.iFourWinns.com

Not this water cop crap again!!!!

Fire ext and battery caps sounds reasonable to me. I'm sure it was reasonable to them as well. I doubt they would have given a large fine to a reasonable boat owner. It took me until I was 30 years old to figure out that if I was courtious, respectful, and above all humorous I walked away with a warning worst case. That's in a boat or car.

It's all in the attitude my friend!!! If you get all wound up and up tight you will loose. Whether your wife is standing there in a bikinni or not. It's a man thing and they have the upper hand when you "cop" an attitude. Plus I was a trooper for awhile so I know how it goes.

Been there - done that. I could fill a shoe box with the tickets I had before I wised up.

Go ahead let me have it!!!

Chill out next time and see what happens. I don't even know you but I can just see you all bowed up!

IMO the general Cop hater attitude sucks, just be glad cops, Police, Deputies, Troppers, etc are willing to serve. OK I'm done for now

Our local cops dock on my dock. So, I've gotten to know them. Last wind storm we got caught out on the lake we saw a 18 footer ski boat dragging its anchor and headed in the rocks. So, I hailed them on the VHF and they came out and got it before it was a mess (whcih saved them a heap of time).

They always leave me alone and wave me on no matter what I am up to. But then again I do beleive in obeying the no wake zone and other boating courtesies..... But get me on open water and its 60+ MPH here I come.... (gotta keep up wiht my buds HTM boat)

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Optimus Prime
Now: 2007 Horizon 260, (2007/08 brochure boat)
Previous: 1995 Sea Ray Signature Select 220
Tow: '07 Avalanche LTZ
Seattle and Chelan, WA

I'm really torn about all this. Up here we have Marine Patrol. I could be mistaken because I'm fairly new to boating, but as far as I know they need a reason to stop you. They can make one up mind you, but they at least need one. I also don't know of Marine Patrol ever boarding your boat. I was stopped last year and they just had me hold up my life vests and took a look around from her own boat.

I really can't understand anyone being able to board your boat for no reason...cop or no cop. If they want to educate people they should do it at the ramp BEFORE you put the boat in the water. They could do their inspections then leave you alone. If you have your boat in a slip or a mooring they could require twice a year inspections or something like that. This whole thing smells like revenue generation.

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2010 H190 4.3VP
Tow Vehicle:
2007 F150
Previous boats:
2009 H180 3.0VP
1996 Horizon QX 3.0VP

No, they need no probable cause to stop you. Admiralty law allows great leeway in 'inspecting' vessels for safety. This gets argued over time and again, but it's still the law. Now, local law enforcement has been known to abuse this. For any number of reasons, insert your pet conspiracy theory here.

Thus my usual response of not whinging on a forum but taking it up with their superiors. As with any situation dealing with employees, make problems for the 'boss' and the crap will flow downhill. It's pointless to engage the actual cop during the incident. Take it quietly and then go raise a stink after the fact. Be polite, but be persistent and be thorough.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Oh Yea! don't get me wrong the $162 ticket is BS. That is not teaching it is abuse! I hope everything works out for the best when you get to talk with the Chief.

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Troy
2008 Centurion Avalanche
1994 Four Winns Horizon 180 SE 5.0L OMC Cobra (Sold)
2002 Ford F150 Harley Davidson Edition (http://www.nhtoc.com) 378 hp & 465 tq at rear wheels
2008 Honda Accord EX-L w/Nav

Here on our lake we do a water patrol agent that takes it a little too far, I've actually been stopped twice in 1 day for a "saftey check". The second time I did have a few comments for the guy and after he relized his dup. we have never been stopped since. That was in the horizon, and yes runabouts and go fast get treated much differently than cruisers.
It was like as soon as we bought the 328, we were instantly "grown up" and responsible. My budies in the go fasts get stopped every other weekend, but the patrol boats will circle around where the cruisers raft up and realize that we aren't gong anywhere or we can at least wait them out.
It is sometimes nice being caught early in the day being completely innocent. suckers...

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Lakebum
2006 378 Vista
Nashville, TN
Current
04 Hustler Cheetah
06 Seadoo sportster 150
Past
06 378 vista
328 vista
240 horizon
21' glastron
20' celebrity

Requiring both neg & pos terminals to be covered is news to me. I understood that it is a requirement for a USCG safety sticker, but thought that the law requires only the pos terminals to be covered. Did anybody's FW have negative terminal covers from the factory?, mine didn't.

In any case, covering negative terminals is now 'on my list'.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Good point. I know my FW only had Pos term covered from the factory.

_________________
1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

Where does one find the Battery Cap Law? Looking through the California Regs, I don't see any reference, so I'm wondering if I'm just missing it or need to look elsewhere...?

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I tried to find it in our regulation manual as well and its in there, but very vague on what you need. This is why I was so mad about it. Its in our manual, but doesn't specificly say what they wrote me the ticket for so I am going to be taking it to court.

_________________
1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

What's the verbiage that you did find in the regs?

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Maybe he was looking at something different than the Wisconsin Boating Safety Regulations.
It does not sound vague to me. From page 19 of the book.


http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/es/enfor ... ngRegs.pdf
Good luck fighting it.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I admit I was quilty of not having them, but I did put them on right in front of the officer and still got the ticket.

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1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

The good news is that the DNR will not be patrolling the lakes as much now that hunting season has started. You can keep track of the DNR's weekly activity by logging onto their respective website. For Georgia it is:

http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/ ... nforcement

You can see that for the week of August 30 - September 5, the DNR was in the dove fields and not on the lakes at all. Also, reading about all the BWI's and alcohol related accidents during the summer months deters me from excessively drinking and boating and becoming one of the statistics.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Can't argue against it being a good idea. I've seen what happens if something shorts across battery terminals. DO NOT try it just for fun. Hell, some people have lost fingers when a wrench shorted through rings and the terminals. Damn near arc welds. Any stray metal dropped across them will not only make a hellacious spark but will heat up DAMNED fast. Neither are good things to have happen in an engine compartment.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista