WickedWon

If ya find out let me know we'll definitely try it on LEOPAJM first I don't think legislation is the biggest threat, insurance is. I grew up in the muscle car era, the insurance companies killed it before the EPA did.
We dwell on every accident because its "our world" but it's nothing in the big scheme of things, nobody is really paying that much attention except the ins. cos.( and the manatee wankers). Please no more laws

BTW The dealers are never gonna spend any real time with a guy on his new boat at speed, at that point reality tends to strike ( doesn't handle, ride or go as fast as he said and what the hell are all those rattles, and OH SH*T LOOK AT THE BILGE NOW )

JD

Von Bongo

The same thing that keeps people from driving at .20 and fellons from owning firearms.....nothing.

What it will do is drive people with smaller pocketbooks out of the sport or into lesser boats because they can not afford insurance.

just like the light airplane piston twins, the insurance market drove them from existance for all intensive purposes because wven with training people crashed them when they lost an engine.

Now for the good things, I think we are about at the performance limit for recreational boats. Not to say you can't buy custom engines and go faster, but realisticaly I think we are there. I think you will find stronger hulls in the future, a gellcoat that doesn't blister, more amenities, stronger drives and props, I agree on the disel thing. Hulls can get lighter to a point but you also need some weight to an extent for balance and the ability to handle waves. Better and more predictable manevuring. I believe that there will be "training courses" like you have for ATVs, a liscense maybe for certain types or speeds, but not for most boats. My guess is you won't get much farther than what we have now for driving for 90% of boat operators.

Hopefully someone will put this thread in the OSO time capsule and let our kids open it when they are in their 30's and 40s and see what kind of morons their parents were

TopSpin80

why has t2x not posted?

There are already speed limits on some lakes. They can't control the oceans. That is why we have offshore racers get off the lakes out of the no wake zones and go race offshore. The ones of us that cause trouble on lakes are ruining it for all of us.

Audiofn

I do not know about were you guys live but this is what we deal with around us.

Maine and NH, Noise issues. Fast boats are loud, people on the lakes want peace and quite. Guys that have the fast boats are experienceing a back lash of people complaining about their boats, and to date it has had a major effect on the perception of us in the "go fast" boats and effected the ability of the boat owners to really enjoy themselves. What is the solution? I have very mixed emotions about this one. One one hand I love the sound of the loud boats it gets me going. But I can certainly understand that it is not for everyone. It is kind of like some smoker hitting me with second hand smoke, I HATE IT, and I am glad that all restarants and bars in MA for the most part are now smoke free. I see boats manufacturers working to keep us at the same speed with less power and or quieter power so that we can have fun out there with out the hasle.

MA has a 45 MPH limit on ALL intercoastal waterways. Yup you read that correct. All lakes, and anyplace that is inland. Once I am out in the ocean I can do what ever I want.

NH has MANDATORY trianing course. You HAVE to take it if you are to register you boat in NH. You can take the course on line or you can take a class. Either way I do not see that it helps with more then the most basic knowledge of boating, but hey maybe that is a help, because lots of the people that I see out there could use it. I still however do not see that this is going to help the retard on the jet ski that just turns in front of some one.

Insurance company's are the ones that are really going to regulate our run. I have never been able to get insurance on my boat to date, too old, too fast. That was ok for me at the time as I would just never take people out on the boat and operate it in a prudent mannor. Not sure what I am going to do now that I own a house in MA and the Land in Maine. I have never been able to get affordable insurance for the boat and since I had nothing for some one to get I was ok with it. Now with the house I have to be worried. Well that is assuming that it ever sees the water again

Like it or not there are regulations coming down the pipe. If we do not regulate ourselves then the gov. will get involved and that will just take all the fun out of it

Jon