Back to the original thoughts in this thread...is it legal to move a boat tied up at a public docking facility?
Lots of good thoughts and suggestions.
Legally there is no law against moving a boat at a public dock, it is onlt illegal to malicously cast off a boat.
That said and as has been previously stated, once you lay hands on another's property you assume complete civil liabilty for any damage.
There is a common law expectation that when you use a public facility there is the chance that your boat may need to be moved for a variety of reasons. That said you would need to show that there was some type of carelessness or recklessness on the part of another if your boat was damaged because it neccesitated a movement.
All that said I would never touch another person's boat unless it was an absolute emergency. Partially of of courtesy, the fact that I wouldn't want my boat touched and the fact that I'd rather wait a little until the other party returned rather than risk the wrath or legal issues of another. Life is just too damn short!
Anyway, its comes down to using a ton of common sense, and it was a pleasure in this thread to see so many other posters exuding so much of same!
