Another Boating Etiquette Question

[Skip]

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!

[pats fan]

Originally Posted by Skip

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!

Not a big deal, Skip, but just wanted to point out to you that there are two threads with similar names. You thought the bridge talk had hijacked the boat moving thread. There is "Boating etiquette question" and "Another boating etiquette question." Two different threads. I would agree on your thoughts about moving ones boat however. How do you feel about the traffic under the bridge as this thread discusses? I enjoy your legal input on most threads. Thank you.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by pats fan

Not a big deal, Skip, but just wanted to point out to you that there are two threads with similar names. You thought the bridge talk had hijacked the boat moving thread. There is "Boating etiquette question" and "Another boating etiquette question." Two different threads. I would agree on your thoughts about moving ones boat however. How do you feel about the traffic under the bridge as this thread discusses? I enjoy your legal input on most threads. Thank you.

Oops..my bad!

Sorry.

As to this particular thread I subscribe to one side stopping and letting the other boats through, then proceeding on.

While the perfect answer is a one for one trade the element of surprise can be disasterous!

Just think how people generally behave at traffic rotaries or four way stops.

In reality it is as stated previously a judgement call based on the prevailing conditions.

No perfect answer but common courtesy and common sense should prevail in a situation as described....in a perfect world, that is!