North Carolina Ticketing Too Wide Boats

Grady_Crazy

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TBone

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Ya there are alot of laws that we are not aware of, but ignorance

of the laws is not the Troopers' fault its our's. Everyone here who

tow's an oversized rig has at one point said "Gee, I wonder if I need a

permit for this?" and then shrugs his shoulders and hops on the highway

without a second thought. Then gets a ticket from a Trooper and refers

to him as an "as$h07e" in another thread for doing his job. :roll:

When you feel unsure if your legal, then call the State Police Truck team

(most local Police depts wont have this info simply because we dont

enforce those laws), and ask them for any regs regarding your set-up.


:idea: :idea: I think it would be helpful if we all try to gather some regs

from each state and create a sticky thread to update and post them.

This way we could check them out and find out what we need to do and

possibly how. :idea: :idea: :idea:

Can we do something like that Seafarer22

:!: P.S. if threads come up trashing Troopers and Police for doing their

job, you can bet that will focus their attention on large boats buzzing

the highway, esp. after reading that he was refered to as an a-hole on

a website he is a reader of, as many of us are. So those of us who sport

the big "GRADY WHITE" on our sides, lets keep them clean. I know in my city

I am always looking to lend an extra hand to a brother GW owner 8) , lets

not make it the opposite in other areas :wink:
 

Heavy Duty

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Yep they are.

My next door neighbor is a trooper and when this all started happening I asked him what was going on. He said that about 2 years ago the DOT (the guys who run the weigh stations and enforce truck regulations) merged with the troopers (the guys who do speeding tickets..most of the time) because the DOT didn't have the personnel to enforce all of the motor vehicle laws...both Federal and state. The over width law is a federal law and the state cannot do anything about that unless they want to lose federal highway $$. The other restrictions can be changed since they are state laws.

Another area they are cracking down on is the weighted tags on pick-up trucks. If you exceed the weight on your tag you can get a citation for being overweight on your tag. I have my one-ton tagged at 10,000 pounds.

NC is hurting for $$ for highway construction and up keep. One way to collect is to ensure everyone is legal. Par for the course and yes it is their (troopers and DOT) job to enforce the law.

FIY..the next area they are going to hit is the RV guys. Many RVers are towing those very large houses on wheels with half-ton PUs :shock: . Thus exceeding the weigh rating for the vehicle. We've had lots of serious accidents on I-95 and I-85 involving these guys when they lose control and/or cannot stop in time to avoid the guy ahead of them. So they are next on the list.

HD
 

Grady_Crazy

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With all this in mind, I have an Adventure 208 that weighs about 4800lbs boat motor and trailer. The Trailer's GVWR is 7000. If I pull it with a Honda Ridgeline rated to tow 5000lbs, what kind of tag do I need?

The Honda's Gross GVWR is 6050 curb weight 4550. Combined GVWR is 10,085. I just don't know. Or since the trailer GVWR is below 10,000 and beam 8'1" do I worry?

Or maybe since I live in SC I just stay here and forgo my yearly trek to Morehead for Cobia, Kings and Spanish? :?
 

capt chris

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In Kentucky it's just the opposite from North Carolina. The Vehicle Enforcement guys have started writing the speeding tickets to help out the State Troopers. Our laws state a maximum trailer width of 8', maximum trailer height of 13'6", maximum overall length of 63', and brakes on any trailer > 3000lbs.
Boat trailers do not have to be licensed in KY so most of us do not unless we go out of state a lot. My previous Boston Whaler was 8'4" on the beam and I have never been stopped in KY while towing it.
I guess I'm going to have to figure something out before I tow my new Tournament 225 home from Beaver Park in Lorain, OH. Maybe they will provide a temporary tag for the trailer like car dealers do on new cars.
If your state is hasseling you, come to KY. We'd just be glad to have you here and spending some money. Just ask the "Buckeye Navy"!
 

askibum02

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BoatUS has a great website that is specifically for towing. They list the regulations (width, trailer brakes, etc) and the phone number for who to call to get oversize/overwide permits. That is a huge help to me. I spent a frustrating four hours trying to get info on getting permits to bring my boat from NJ to MD last year. I ended up binging it sown on the water, but not because of the permits.