Registration Increase?? What the He double hockey sticks!

[John A. Birdsall]

How many of you can recall the license plate registration. That was for the motor not the boat. Sometimes a real pain in the neck. Have two outboards fine you have two registrations. And when they changed over to the system we use now the grumbling of marking up the bow with numbers. We did not even have the internet and the grumbling could be heard around the lake.

fees for reg. has gone up, and I have inherited a 26' boat this year. wait till the state realizes that a pontoon has two or three logs. They will try and say that is double the registration. And I have been trying for three months to change the registration from my fathers name to mine. They were nice though they said wait till after the first of the year and you will only register it once. If I registered it now I would have to pay for 2009 and ineight days I would have to pay again for 2010. Now that to me is kind of dumb.

Don't forget about them mooring fees. I think they are 25 to 30 @

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by John A. Birdsall

How many of you can recall the license plate registration. That was for the motor not the boat. Sometimes a real pain in the neck. Have two outboards fine you have two registrations. And when they changed over to the system we use now the grumbling of marking up the bow with numbers. We did not even have the internet and the grumbling could be heard around the lake.

fees for reg. has gone up, and I have inherited a 26' boat this year. wait till the state realizes that a pontoon has two or three logs. They will try and say that is double the registration. And I have been trying for three months to change the registration from my fathers name to mine. They were nice though they said wait till after the first of the year and you will only register it once. If I registered it now I would have to pay for 2009 and ineight days I would have to pay again for 2010. Now that to me is kind of dumb.

Don't forget about them mooring fees. I think they are 25 to 30 @

Just out of curiousity, do you recall what year did they start requiring bow numbers?

[Airwaves]

Originally Posted by Lawn psyco

Just out of curiousity, do you recall what year did they start requiring bow numbers?

Off the top of my head I don't recall the year, but it happened under pressure from the USCG. In order to boat on the ocean a vessel needs to have bow numbers or be documented. Because NH had license plates the Coast Guard had to register and assign bow numbers to NH ocean going recreational boats. They eventually stopped doing it and told NH to institute a bow number program or recreational boaters offshore would be in violation of the law. Initially after NH started issuing bow numbers they were not reciprocal so out of state boats needed to buy a NH registration decal to add to their out of state bow numbers. Eventually that went away as well.

As to a registration decal for currently unregistered boats, a simple solution would be a one time fee, assigning a number on a decal to be located on the vessel to serve two purposes. It would raise money and the number on the decal could be listed in a database identifying the owner so that if the boat broke free and was found floating capsized it would help in cutting down unnecessary SARs. When a currently unregistered boat is resold privately the new owner needs to notify the state paying a one time fee transferring the decal number to the new owner on the database. When purchased new via retail the owner gets a form to fill out and submit.

I think the one time fee is all that is probably necessary because there are easily hundreds of thousands of these boats in NH already, and probably thousands more sold every year in NH. It would more than fund the establishment of a database and add to the MP budget.

My personal choice for a penalty for not getting the decal is pretty Draconian. If a vessel is found floating around in the water capsized that does not have a decal it is seized by the state and sold to help recoup the cost of the SAR that was launched.

I would not make this something the MP could stop and check for a decal, but if there were a reason to stop a boat like this, the owner would be told to get a decal, then if he/she didn't within a certain period of time the vessel could be seized. Like I said, pretty Draconian but it would ensure compliance.

Just my $.02

[Senter Cove Guy]

I'm almost positive that I've got my 1988 plate hanging up in the garage.

[ApS]

Sounds right: using the last two letters in your registration number, and working backwards, it'll come out that "AA" was about 1988. That was also about the time the state also started required unpowered sailboats to "pay-up" for the temporary, but unregistered use of NH's wind.

Airwaves wrote:

"...I think the one time fee is all that is probably necessary because there are easily hundreds of thousands of these boats in NH already, and probably thousands more sold every year in NH. It would more than fund the establishment of a database and add to the MP budget...My personal choice for a penalty for not getting the decal is pretty Draconian. If a vessel is found floating around in the water capsized that does not have a decal it is seized by the state and sold to help recoup the cost of the SAR that was launched..."

1) With the new decals being reported "flimsy", this couldn't be applied to every capsized boat, particularly those involved in NHMP investigations.

2) Maine "just nixed [2005's] kayak/canoe registration fee".

"A lot of people in the state were annoyed with this. No surprise there that this was attached to a budget bill. Goes to show that you really do need a lot of support to avoid this type of legislation, not just boaters."

And while we're "annoying people", a kayak registration requirement should be rushed through the Legislature—to be effective in 2010—and see what happens to other Legislation.

3)

"Fees tend to be more punitive for canoe and kayak owners than motorboat owners. [These] boaters typically own more than a single canoe, kayak or raft. As a result, they pay a disproportionate share of boating fees as compared to the owner of a single, much more expensive powerboat. There is also a high rate of turnover of whitewater boats...

"Registration laws increase the operating costs for organizations. Thus the overhead increases for church and civic organizations, university programs, tour operators, commercial angling outfitters and whitewater outfitters, which might chill participation in the sport and the market."

"Registration requirements deter tourism. Since only a small handful of states require the registration and numbering of canoes, kayaks and rafts it creates an inconvenience and added cost for paddlers visiting a state with registration requirements. This discourages paddlers from coming to the state spending money for campgrounds, motels, food and gas eventually causing a decrease in tourism revenues and thereby negatively impacting the state economy.

"Registration does not increase or improve paddlesports safety. For instance in Connecticut, a bill was introduced in 2003 under the premise that it would improve safety; however, a study by the American Canoe Association found that the number of paddlesports fatalities in Connecticut has averaged 1.6 over the past 6 years. A registration requirement will not reduce the number of fatalities below 1.6 from the entire population of the state. Further, in a 1998 study, American Whitewater found that there were less than 2 fatalities per 100,000 participants. Again, registration will not reduce that rate since it is below the threshold for legislative efficacy and response."

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/co...r_registration

(The above link is not to the pre-eminent organization among the paddlesports).

Disclaimer:
Though I presently own three "manually-powered craft", I haven't put them in the water these past several years. My BIL does bring an inflatable kayak to Winnipesaukee in his RV; however, any visitor from a state that doesn't require registration isn't going to have a decal!

I'd say make it a voluntary measure those who desire payments to increase the MP budget—purchase a decal.

BTW:
One recent year, the NHMP budget included the purchase of a former oversized Coast Guard boat that throws a wake that's a menace to every canoe out there!

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by Senter Cove Guy

I'm almost positive that I've got my 1988 plate hanging up in the garage.

I think that is about right too... My Parents and I moved east from Washington St. in 86 and it was 2 or 3 years after that, when the Plates stopped. Interestingly enough, the first year or two we just zipped tied the plate to the Outboard motor.... Then we decided the heck with it if we are going to have these plates lets follow the crowd, and mount it to the boat. Yep then the very next year Bow numbers..... I still remember my father looking at me telling me I should have made him wait one more year before mounting the plate.

[Airwaves]

I believe you are correct, I checked downstairs and the sailboat plate I have hanging on the wall is 1988, so 89 is probably the year of the switchover.