Todd Hartigh

Beating them now is a little harder than it was before. The reason is that speedwake post. The Ottawa county sheriff’s had a meeting and made sure that all officers perform the test equally and to the law. They even make sure your idle is no lower than 600. If they don't see exhaust coming from your tips they will check for silent choice and ticket you for that now.

And yes, recording the test is still a good idea. If they do it wrong you at least have proof. But you should go one step further and make a little gauge that when held from you boat marks the 4-5' from the water and 3.3 back. If the meter is not there, the tape will show it.

That speedwake post is good reading since we argued every possible thing with the cops. And they gave us honest and fair answers. We even learned allot of things. Like the fact that (when on water) they can arrest you for no reason then do the test. If it is your second time and you are being a jerk, they can take you to jail.

I don’t like any of it but agree that to make them happy we have to be quite. But we should at least show how they are wrecking the local economy of our tourist town. At least the fair testing is a step in the right direction.

BGIII

iTrader: (3)

It's too bad they treat boaters the way they do in Ottawa County. Ticketing for silent choice is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. How exactly does that differ from down tubes? I personally have no problem with 90db at idle, I actually think it is fairly obtainable and reasonable compared to other states, but for God's sake, don't punish us for the method we use to get there.

PARADOX

I read some of these theread, and a bit confused. You mean they will ticket you for having a silent choise exhaust??
THat's like ticketing for speeding because the car has a 140MPH speedo. I thing the boaters up there (or anywhere else) needs a good lawyer and a class action law suit, for harresement.

cfischer

Thanks for everyone's support and imput! Parnell and I had a meeting with the Sheriffs this morning. Will post more about when I have some time.

Queenie

There are several states with the silent choice law. And yes, you can be ticketed.

320es

I think it's great what your doing. Evryone is going to have to get together on these issues or it is going to spread nationwide.

Nauti Kitty

We had three officers in for a couple of hours today to discuss. They were very nice, listened to our concerns and succintly explained the rock and a hard place they are between. They have been called into at least two meetings this year with Lake Michigan residents who are insisting they perform their duties as it pertains to the Michigan noise law. These azzholes want all boats on Lake Michigan to be checked for noise, which the officers realize is impractical and nonsense. They have no choice but to check in the channel and write tickets when necessary. They do realize that despite this moronic law wich states that silent choice is illegal that the system is the best thing for everyone and they have been testing with the switch closed. They also acknowledge that the city of GH is suffering a little from this this summer. They are county officers and the city of Gh has no marine patrol. They are getting *****ed at from both sides so they are in a bad situation. They were reasonable and somewhat sympathetic but explained the best way to get around this issue is legal mufflers. We asked to come up with a way next year to have a pass once we have made a permanent fix so we don't get stopped repeatedly for this issue. Temporary fixes will just create the need to be pulled over more than once and they can pull ya over for other things but hopefully we can reduce the hassle factor by working with them. As to these azzholes on Lake Michigan what can we say? Gale winds today. Think thats noisy?
Its still the best place to boat in the world in my humble opinion so until someone comes up with a 1000 horse muffler get the downspouts and lets bash some waves. NK