Not a newbie to LOTO as I have been going there for over 40 years. I think the cop was actually dissappointed that I was not drinking. He had a hot boat that he probably thought that he was going to get a BWI. He wrote a warning for noise and my life jackets were zipped in a pouch 2 feet away from us. The life jackets have to be accessible and cannot be inside an enclosed compartment. He also told me that I needed a bell on the boat. I let him know that I have the coast guard book of everything that I need including a whistle and airhorn. According to the officer I also needed a bell.

That's exactly what I am saying...The whole lake is a danger zone. If you go there, I would probably plan on getting pulled over....for no reason. Everyone on that lake is guilty by association. All the idiots who do BWI and the accidents are what has caused so much attention to the po po. LOTO is the homeland for WP and that lake has the most than any other lake, because of this...

I'm glad our country is paying these "boat nazi's" to pull over hard working high income boaters. What would we do without them. It's not like this country has real issues to worry about.

Every single day a little more common sense dies in this country. My rant of the day........

The funniest part of it was that the officer indicated that I was at 92.7 decibels as I was passing him at 200 feet away is why he pulled me over. After the safety inspection, questions and warning tickets were issued he wanted to back up and do a stationary test. I laughed and told him he was wasting both of our time as I would not pass. He agreed and moved on.

At least he could agree on something.

He has lots of time to waste between hasseling you and getting his pension plan after working an easy 20 years riding around the lake on tax payer monies.

seems no matter where i am i always get pulled over on the water, maybe becuase i am young but without a doubt it happends every time i go out on big weekends. I swear the wp stop me just to see the girls on my boat.... infact last time i was stopped in havasu the wp lit me up as i was chilling outside a cove they came over did a safety check and gave me a sobriety test ( im 22 and everyone on the boat was drinking but me) i was issued a warning for having passengers hang their legs over the bow(boat was off and not running and yet they still stopped me). As the officers pulled away the older sgt. says "if your going into this cove don't bother it's a suasage fest head up river some more....
im used to it by now just always assume im going to be stopped....

holy crap,, a bell??
Wow, did that guy have some spare time on his hands or what?

Its funny but what you stated is correct, most the time they actually get upset if they find your not drinking, they think people cant have fun if they are not drunk or something... Its gone away from a safety issue and now is just a pure source of revenue,anyone that argues that has no idea how the system works.

WP at LOTO definitely have an agenda.

The land based guys are not much better.

http://www.safetyseal.net/what_is_vsc.asp

Item 8 - Sound Producing Devices / Bell:

To comply with Navigation Rules and for distress signaling purposes all boats must carry a sound producing device (whistle, horn, siren, etc.) capable of a 4-second blast audible for ½ mile. *Boats larger than 39.4 ft. are also required to have a bell (see Navigation Rules.)

*Under a recent change, a vessel 12 meters (39.4 ft) to less than 20 meters (65 ft) is no longer required to carry a bell on board.

The Coast Guard said: "The bottom-line, a bell is no longer required on a vessel less than 20 meters in length. That of course means a bell is not required for those same vessels for successful completion of a VSC."