NH Boat license/regulations for minors ?
 

Can someone give me information regarding NH boating license regulations in regards to minors. My grandson is 10 yrs old and I have let him drive my boat at times, since he was 8, but strictly under my supervision.

I have taught him about the boating laws, etiquette, and navigation aids, and even docking. I can honestly say, he probably knows more about boat handling, safety, and is more responsible than many of the week-end yahoos
I see racing around the water-ways.

I myself, spent summers on Winni, during the 70's, and starting boating (on my own) when I was around 12. Back then, there was no such thing as being licensed.

What is the official NH law regarding minors operating boats. I personally have my license through the U.S.C.G., so I'm exempt from the NH license laws. Can he operate the family boat without any license requirements, under my supervision? I don't want to a sermon or fine from the Marine Patrol, should I get stopped.

Thanks for any information you can provide!

ages
 

I believe you will find minimum age for operating a boat under supervision is 12 yrs old. A boater Safety Certificate can not be issued until after their 16th birthday though they can take the Safety Course when they are 15 and if they pass it will be issued after their 16 birthday.

He can operate a boat so long as there is an adult on-board that holds a safe boating certificate.

If the boat is 25 horsepower or less he can operate the boat with or without passengers.

It seems incredible but there is no age limit for boats 25 horsepower or less.

operating age
 

Bear Islander is right with that info.

Also - He may not operate a "ski craft" alone, even if it's under 25 hp.

Operating age.... still confused ???
 

I'm still confused on the legal age a minor can operate a boat, under supervision of an adult who holds a NH Boating Safety Certificate ?

Aquadeziac, has indicated the the minor has to be a minimum of 12 yrs old ?

Can someone give me clarification, or quote section/verse from the official regulation or law on the books.

Thanks again all !

Rsa 270:30
 

TITLE XXII
NAVIGATION; HARBORS; COAST SURVEY
CHAPTER 270
SUPERVISION OF NAVIGATION; REGISTRATION OF BOATS AND MOTORS; COMMON CARRIERS BY WATER
Operation of Boats
Section 270:30
270:30 Minimum Age for Operation. – No person under 16 years of age shall operate a motorized vessel having power in excess of 25 horsepower on the public waters of this state unless the person is accompanied by a person 18 years of age or older who has a valid safe boater education certificate, and such person shall be liable for personal injury or property damage which may result from such operation. Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a violation.
Source. 1963, 138:1. 1985, 347:3. 1988, 56:1, eff. June 6, 1988. 2000, 52:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2002. 2002, 272:1, eff. May 18, 2002.

I stand corrected. Here is the exact reading of the Law:


# A vessel powered by more than 25 horsepower (other than a “ski craft”) may be operated by:

* A person under 16 years of age only if he or she is accompanied by a person 18 years old or older who has a valid Safe Boater Education Certificate. The accompanying person is responsible for any injury or damage caused during operation of the vessel.
* A person 16 years of age or older only if he or she has obtained a Safe Boater Education Certificate as required by the schedule below.

10 is okay
 

Bigdog,

As long as you have your boating certificate on you (i.e. in your pocket), your grandson can drive the boat while you are with him. I let my 10-year old drive my boat often and he's quite good. I stand close by and help him to watch for boat traffic. I want to make sure that when he's 16, and taking the boat out by himself, he's had a lot of boating experience under his belt. This is a great time to teach them because they are still young enough to respect the rules and scared enough not to do anything too stupid.

Good for you. What a great experience you are giving your grandson.:) :) :)

Boat operating age restriction
 

Thanks to everyone for their responses, much appreciated !
That's what make this web forum great, that we can all share information.

I think the key words in Section 270:30 is "unless the person is accompanied by a person 18 years of age or older who has a valid safe boater education certificate". That cover's him and myself for his age. I'm going to print that Regulation out and keep it with my boat registration, just in case the M.P. should want to discuss the matter !

Yes, I will continue his boating education, and to allow my grandson to operate the boat under my supervision. Listen....after 40 years boating myself
I'm always learning something new, usually because the regulations are constanly changing.

I forgot to mention, he's also has been at the helm on the ocean, during several boating excurions in Narragansette Bay R.I. I couldn't be a prouder grandfather. When he is of age, he will definitely take the safe boating certificate course.

Thanks again folks... See you on the water next Spring !

license requirement
 

Bigdog, while you have a USCG license, and I got one of them when I was 14, I suggest you and your grandson take the NH Safe Boating, as they will help teach the laws and rules of the road. their are some differences and those differences could cost some bucks. And of coarse just as soon as you think you got the laws down, they will change them.

When I was young, the rules were laid down by my father, but we had to read that rule book for the lake every year, and look for any changes. I am now over 60, I get a new book every year and read it from cover to cover.

The Marine Patrol has got me once, and this was this summer over the 150' rule, a good rule if everyone knows how to measure it. Marine Patrol think it is the length of 3 football fields. (I think that guy just made an error. flag down) Winter months is a great time for all of us to review our books.

NH Boat license/regulations for minors ?
 

John,

I agree with you about keeping current with the Regulations, they can change from year to year. I get a new book every year like yourself, and read it from cover to cover over the winter.

Funny thing you should mention the 150' Rule..... I happened to be out boating with the wife one Sunday afternoon in July. There were few boats on the water (if you can believe that on a weekend), and I was cutting through the passage beween Diamond Island and Rattlesnake. A small boat started to approach me from the Port side. I continued my course but steered away from the oncoming boat. The other boat continued to come closer to me, as I continued to steer away from it. Go figure ! As the boat approached me, I noiced the "blue lights on" ! Guess who, yeah M.P.
Two young guys (early twneties). Well they began to ask me how close I thought I was to their boat as we were both moving. I stated "over 150'". It was probably more like 250' ! I stated that I was trying to avoid their boat by steering away as they kept approaching me. They said I was closer than that, and then gave me the description of what 150' distance would be. (distance of 2 ski tow ropes). That's fine if you "waterski", I guess that would make sense. Anyway, they did the "license & registration" thing ! After I produced my USCG license & boat Reg. they both reviewed, they told me to "have a nice day" ! Guess the M.P. was bored that Sunday afternoon? Or maybe they've been given a directive from superiors to enage boaters to keep them informed? I really don't know, but I felt I was just being harrassed by a couple young guys with a little power in their hands.....

So much for a quiet afternoon on the water......

There were two occasions last season where felt that an MP vessel altered course to see what my response would be :eek: . One was a 150 foot rule situation, and one was a crossing situation after dark.

While they were completely within their rights, I did not at all appreciate it :( - which is why my registration $ will once again go to Meredith :D !

Silver Duck

Entrapment
 

Lakegeezer -- I'd be curious what area of the Lake you are refering to ( I see Moultonboro) --. Mostly because i'd like to be aware, personally. Would you be referering to the FL#14 <--> FL#72 strech??

To BigDog & Silvergeezers observations, I too have had the MP attempt to, what I'll call, "Bait Me". As an accomplished and safe boater I find it totally irresponsible on their part-- we have enough wahoo's out there to contend with. And unfortunately 99% of the time it's some "kid" at the wheel of the MP craft. On a couple of occasions I've just gone dead in the water (as if to check the Nav map or something) and that seems to "take the fun out of it" for them.

To the Marine Patrol's defense (in the situation you describe Lakegeezer), it strikes me as no different than on the highway --- all too often you'll be chuggin along in a 65 MPH zone when the speed limit drops to 50 or 55 MPH - and what's the next thing you see in the median or behind a guard rail?? Part of it is of course education and safety of the area -- the other is shooting duck's in a barrell.

I have been boating Winni for over 20 years (we spend nearly 45 nites/season at the lake) -- I also have lakefront here in MA (where we also boat the other part of the season). Overall, in the big scheme of things, I feel that Marine Patrol on Winni does a very good job. And I feel (most times) they understand and respect the fact that we are "pleasure crafts" and for the most part looks toward safety and well being situations. There will always be a few "Rambo" wanta be's wether it's MP, your local town police, or a State trooper is the way I look at it !!

My two cents ......

Boating Certificate Curveball...
 

The boating certificate law has a funny twist. Check this out.

When, say, my brother brings his son over for a boat ride. Neither has a boating certificate. My ten year old nephew can drive the boat under my license but Dad can not! He needs a license of his own! I can be responsible for the kid but not an adult. I guess that it is to make it harder for people to skip getting the ticket. Go figure!

Misty Blue.

State was looking to prevents abuse....
 

Actually, there is a simple explanation. It keeps people from abusing the system.

Believe it or not, especially in the case of spouses, the State recognizes that a significant portion of the public could skip getting the training and drive almost continuously with a licensed operator.

Unfortunately, in today's society, the Sate understood the potential for abuse and closed the door on it.

My "run-in" with the MP this Summer was also about the 150ft rule, but he handled it beautifully.
It was in Alton bay, I was heading out (with my 3 kids in the bow), and he was heading in.

He had to have a bearing in my direction to get around the marker, so I had a bearing heading away from him as a result.

At the point we passed, we were probably within 150ft, and I was going slightly more than headway.

But because he could see I had changed course, and had slowed considerably, all he did was toot the horn, and make arm gestures that I should slow down.

Well handled, I thought. He got the message across, but didn't make a big stink.

Funny '150-foot' incident
 

I, too, had a run in with the Marine Patrol about the 150-foot rule, but not because I had violated it.

My son and I were leaving Glendale and making headway between Pig Island and Lockes Island. As we got to where I thought was about 150 feet from land, I pulled our little home-made range finder from next to the helm, sighted to the closest shoreline, and saw that we were just beyond 150 feet (It's calibrated with 150', 300', 450', and 600' markers). I put the rangefinder down and prepared to come up on plane. Just as I was bending on some throttle I caught sight of one of the MP boats out of the corner of my eye and saw he'd just turned on his blues. I cut the throttle and waited to see what was going on. He motored over and asked what it was I had used to take a sighting.

I pulled out our rangefinder and explained how my son and I had fabricated and calibrated it (he'd made it as part of a school project he'd had back in May). The MP officer gave it a try and said "Wow, that's pretty neat!" He handed it back and told us to have a nice day.

In any case, I have found that my judgement of just how far 150' is spot on as verified by the rangefinder.

Any chance that you could post a sketch of this, and a description of how you calibrated it?

I think that my estimates of 150 ft. are pretty good, but such a device could be very useful in confirming them.

Thanks,

Silver Duck

No offense guys, but this thread was about certificate requirements for minors:confused:

Doesn't this fall under "faint praise"?
:laugh:

Just as a reminder, after this January 1st you can not take the boating course on line.

Rocky, Thanks so much for the reminder ---

I have a son-in-law who still needs to complete this and until you posted I'll venture that now that the boating season is finished (at least for us) he hasn't even thought about it.

Clarification
 

If a "ski craft" by definition is less than 10 ft in length and capable of carrying no more than two passengers (single and 2 passenger watercraft) yet a 3+ passenger PWC is for all intents and purposses "any vessel over 25 hp" , then the Law would be interpreted that my 10 yr old grandson can't legally operate a two seater(even if I am on the craft with him) under any condition, yet he can legally operate my 3 pass. PWC as long as I am also on the craft and posses a Safety Certificate. Am I correct Skip?

Online Safe Boater's Course After 1/1/2007
 

I was checking the safe boater's course website, and according to the information listed, the safe boater's online and video courses will still be available after January 1, 2007. From how I interpret the information, it appears that one may still take the online or video course and subsequent test that goes along with it in order to obtain a certificate after 1/1/07. However, upon course completion, the certificate that you obtain by passing one of these courses will serve as your admittance ticket to a proctored examination at the department of safety. So, it looks like people will have to take 2 tests in order to get their official safe boater's certificate.

Here is the website with the information.

http://www.boat-ed.com/nh/nh_internet.htm

Thanks for the heads up. My wife got her certification online yesterday. We haven't boated in NH yet, but plan to do so at least a few times this year. I got my cert last year.

Out of staters
 

For out of staters, you don't necessarily need a New Hampshire certificate. A US Power Squadron certificate from any other state will do.

In addition to the Power Squadron -- I am almost certain that a recognized NASBLA approved cert (from numerous sources, including on-line) is accepted as well.

Just makes all the explaining easier if it's a NH issued cert -- there's still time.

As a giggle, I'd love to know how many "hits" the NH Marine Patrol site has gotten over the last couple of weeks !!

NH Boating Certification For Renters ?
 

I am curious. Does anyone know how the boating certification requirements will affect the rentals. We see rentals from Thurstons and Anchor Marine all over the lake (and sometimes in places they should not be!). How will tourists be able to operate rental boats without certification?

As I said, I got my certification last winter, but after reading the info form this thread, I made my wife get her's over the weekend.

edit: typo

From The Marine Patrol Website
 

Boating Education Program
14 Day Temporary Safe Boating Certificate

Under the provisions of New Hampshire RSA 270-D:14, a "14 Day Temporary Certificate" option will be made available whereby a boater who takes the test and passes it will be issued a boating safety certificate valid only in the State of New Hampshire and for only 14 days. In addition to the 14 Day Temporary Certificate, there are other more permanent options available that are NASBLA (National Association of State Boating Law Administrators) approved and recognized all over the country.

The 14-Day Temporary Certificate is only a short-term solution for your boating certification and it can only be used once. In order to participate in the 14 Day Temporary Certification, you can contact the New Hampshire Department of Safety at 1-888-254-2125 to find out where the closest location is to you or you can also determine where these locations are based on a sign at their location identifying them as a 14 Day Temporary Certificate Agent.

Individuals must be a minimum of 16 years of age to take the test and must get at least 80% to pass the test. If the individual fails, he or she will have the option to take another test at another date or elect to pursue one of the other options for certification. Individuals must provide picture identification at the time of the test.

If you have any further questions about the 14 Day Temporary Certification option, please call us at 1-888-254-2125.

Most boat rental dealers are agents for the temporary permit.