I just went onto www.in.gov/dnr/ and this is what I found.

Mufflers IC 14-15-2-4
A boat’s engine must have a factory-installed muffler or exhaust water manifold for noise reduction or another effective muffling system. It is illegal to operate a motorboat equipped with a muffler cutout, bypass or similar device. Excessive noise can prevent a boat operator from hearing signals and voices.


That is pretty grey to me. It doesn't say anything about captains call. I"m thinking about e-mailing and asking about captains call and explain that my boat came that way from the factory and when disconected like I was told now it's in the open position and going thru channels I want to be able to quiet it down. But I don't want to get a response back say that it has to be in the silent mode at all time. Don't like that idea and don't want to spend the money for it.

Should I just wait and see what happens or should I ask the question?

This is pretty old. There have been many changes since. Ohio and Wisconsin both are more stringent now.


Wisconsin law is currently 88 db stationary, 75 db at shoreline, and 86 db passby.
NR 5 .125(1)(b) ,An officer requesting a boat operator to submit to a noise test shall test the
boat using testing methods J34a, J1970 or J2005 .
SECTION 5. NR 5 .125(3)(b) is created to read :
NR 5 .125(4) CUTOUT MECHANISMS . No person may operate a boat t hat is equipped with a
muffler cut out, by-pass switch or similar device unless the operator of the boat can demonstrate at
the time of inspection that the boat cannot operate contrary to s . 30.62(2)(b), Stats .
NR 5.125,(3)(b) Operation standard. Noise level testing procedures J34a, J1970 or J2005
of the Society of Automotive Engineers shall be adhered to by boat operators when requested to
submit to one or more of them by officers conducting noise tests on boats operating in the state of
Wisconsin .

The nice thing about Indiana is there is no current mandated maximum noise limit for the state. However, you do have to have mufflers. Permanent water injection in the exhaust manifolds constiutes mufflers in Indiana. I believe the Coast Guard is currently 90 stationary.

I have a problem with the 'officers discretion' part.

To me that is saying the same thing the Michigan Law does. You cannot bypass THE MUFFLED SYSTEM. Going from water injected thru hulls to silent choice/captains call WHICH IS QUIETER is not what that law was intended to prohibit. And if a cop thinks it is he/she is either a dumbazz or just likes being a d*ckhead.

Tough call on what to do. If it were me I would talk to someone that can answer the question 100% for you, get their name and right it down. If you get hassled you can simply state who you talked to and what they said. Now, finding someone that can answer the question 100% will be the hard part!