Noise Complaint Problems
 

This summer we have been running our 46 OL at Lake of the Ozarks. This past weekend got pulled over because the boat "sounded loud" even though the water patrol didn't have the decibell reader on his boat, he then called another patrol boat to come do the test. That's fine and all its only a $123 dollar ticket, but the problem is the patrol said that he knew who we were now and would continue to pull us over every single time we go out until we got it fixed. Just wondering if anyone has gotten multiple tickets and just dealt with it. The cop also said that he has the right to tow the boat off the lake? We don't want the situation to escalate to the boat being towed and or being taken to jail over the situation because that was also a threat(lets just say this particular cop did't like us very well). So just curious if any of you that run down there get pulled over on a regular basis. We have had boats too loud before, but it has been a few years and it just seems like it has gotten a lot stricter lately

What was your decibel reading? And at how many feet (distance) was that reading taken? I am curious.

As far you you being towed and removed from the water for what reason, too loud? I do not practice law in that state but I would find it hard to believe he has the authority to tow you for being too loud, to tow you for defying the law that he had previously informed you of maybe.

And to make a claim you must be towed for a public safefty issue (which may be his fallback position) would be outright horse****. I do not see the nexus of being loud and public safety to aadvance his towing you scenario (I am just thinking of other outcomes and excuses by the officer). Sounds like a cop(s) with a chip on his shoulder.

Get mufflers, go boating, enjoy your boat and the rest of summer. You certainly do not want to be the target of law enforcement, but in a 46' Skater you will never blend-in. I

105 about 5 feet off the back of the boat LOL

Yes, it does seem there are more...
 

...complaints from boaters about enforcement of noise issues.

Not only can they cite you, they can have the boat taken off the water and can impound the boat. In many jurisdictions if they make you appear, the fines can become rather stiff if you have been told to muffle and you ignore and keep using it.

I am making it sound 1-2-3 and there is a little more to it, but this is basically what can happen.

this country is going to hell one stupid law at a time

There should be a law against making any more laws.

Can we make this retro-active?

Seriously, I understand the need for many of the laws, but things are getting a little crazy. The problem is threefold in my opinion:

1) Politicians pass laws to pander to voters they're courting

2) People are generally doing a lot of really dumb things that force politicians to pass laws to stop them.

3) Cops and other officials are often genitalia when it comes to enforcing laws that should really be applied selectively to deal with people who are actually a problem.

And #s 2 and 3 feed off each other. If you get hassled for crap, you lose respect for the law. If people are idiots, the cops get frustrated and tougher.

Yes they can in fact impound your boat, usually they will follow you to your dock and watch you put boat away until you get it legal, you have to call water patrol to come check it. I know a couple of guys who were arrested for having loud boats and not taking their boats back to the dock as asked.invest in a nice set of turn down underwater exhaust

That is around 4 times too loud. I think 90 db is the limit for that test. As noted above, they expect you to take it directly to the dock or ramp and not run it until it is quiet. They will make life a pain until you fix it.

Yet a Harley can drive through my neighborhood, at night, where I sleep, with higher decibel readings than that at all times. I have not read or heard of anyone in Texas getting this sort of citation, but the fact that it happens at all is terrible.

Yah the straight pipes on bikes I will never figure that out , never seen one get stopped even when they got the towns with the posted noise laws are in effect ???

You may be able to fight the ticket just on the fact it was not metered properly. Most follow federal regulations the state 1 meter back and 1 meter off the water. There can be nothing directly behind the boat to reflect the sound.

If the level is 90db and you metered 105, you are actually 5 fold over the limit. Every 3 db is double. Although in hearing terms you are about twice as loud. But don't feel bad as I metered mine once at 113db.

LOTO is 90db at idle. They do enforce it to certain extent. Better check your ticket amount. I think its $123 plus some court costs also. I know a few people who have gotten tickets for it. I have never heard of anyone actually being towed for noise violations, but I have heard about the WP saying that they could tow if they saw the boat out again.

Oo it happens a lot to the fokes I hang around. But with a jet boat and a big engine with pipes hanging there its asking for trouble. Key note for Texas is don't be a jack ass and they usually won't mess with you. But there are a few cops that do have a thorn in there rear end.

They have a bigger lobbying effort, us boaters don't do jack.

"Loud pipes = little pee-pees" :D

On the lakes around here the tickets go up in amount each time you get one. Ticket #3 on a particular lake gets you towed/impounded.

The enforcemment practices at LOTO is what inspired me to come back to the factory and tell the guys we need to come up with something. Too many customers showing up at the lake with loud boats and either getting a citation or being asked to leave.
That's when we came up with our underwater exhaust system which Mercury in turn copied.

When I lived in MO in the mid 90's I would attend the State's hearings on noise laws. We fought them with everything we could but to no avail.
The fact is most people that live on or enjoy the water hate loud boats. You might as well get used to it and do what you can to make them comply. Yep the bike guys can still get away with but we can't. Not fair but that's the way it is.

The bikes don't bother me near as much as the douche in a 84 Caprice with subs so loud his license plate rattles! You can hear them blocks away!

:lolhit:

I received 3 "excessive" noise tickets before I modified the external exhaust pipes to 1) exit between the drives and 2) exit the exhaust under water at idle. The idea as to why we moved the pipes between the drives was to have the drives shield them so the exhaust noise was contained there and not allowed to radiate outward. It worked beautifully and was not stopped again.

Got tested last year at 92 decibels and added mufflers at the end of the season. Got tested this year at 103. Turns out the meter was most likely on the wrong weighting scale and sampling was not at the right pace either

After 2 1/2 years I finally got stopped and ticketed at LOTO, this was about a month ago. They tested me at 106 db. The ticket cost me $131 and is payable online. It wasn't worth my time to fight it. The WP also told me he'd be keeping an eye out for me to make sure I made the boat noise compliant. I'm fairly easy to spot with "No Life Like It" down the side of the boat in big letters. The turn downs will make you legal for the test, but IMO look like an elephant trunk that needs viagra so I went with Gibson bullets. The boat still has a nice throaty sound and didn't loose any performance. My wife on the other hand says the boat is too quite now....go figure.

I recieved the same $ ticket down at the lake in 07 and was at 97db's when I just had Whippled 525's in the boat....I figured they would pull me over anytime I went out so I found some GGB inserts for mine and it quieted down below the 90db max. I have Eddie Young 925EFI's now and it's still quiet compared to alot of other boats out on the lake. Once they target you down there it's hard to get around it... Jim

The statute is poorly written:

When you read the law it doesn't appear to me to allow the WP to make you subject to a fine on the initial finding, unless you say, "yea I knew it was too loud". It appears that you are to be given what amounts to a fixit ticket and you have 60 days to get into compliance. If you don't comply within the 60 days then you are guilty of a misdemeaner and I suppose fined at that time.

Also you are required to moor the boat at the time of reinspection if it doesn't pass. I think the officer is being a little liberal with his or her interpretations, mostly because who is going to spend the money to fight it just to prove them wrong. And if they are wrong, you get your boat back and they get overtime for court so big deal.

As I read it, you get cited, you fix it within 60 days, you get it passed and I would think the citation gets thrown out, but that is just how I read it and I haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn recently.


From the statute:

8. Any officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this section who has probable cause to believe that a motorboat is not in compliance with the noise levels established in this section may direct the operator of such motorboat to submit the motorboat to an on-site test to measure noise levels, with the officer on board if such officer chooses, and the operator shall comply with such request. The owner of any motorboat which violates any provision of this section shall have sixty days from the date of the violation to bring the motorboat into compliance with the provisions of this section. Thereafter, it shall be the owner's responsibility to have the motorboat tested by the state water patrol. If the motorboat fails the state water patrol test, the owner shall immediately moor the motorboat and shall keep the motorboat moored until the state water patrol certifies that the motorboat is in compliance with the provisions of this section. Any person who fails to comply with a request or direction of an officer made pursuant to this subsection is guilty of a class C misdemeanor. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the officer's ability to enforce this section and to issue citations to the owner or operator of any motorboat during the sixty-day compliance period.

10. Unless otherwise indicated, any person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of an infraction for a first offense with a penalty not to exceed one hundred dollars

How does side exhaust effect the readings? I have stock side exhaust exits on my Velocity, I've pulled the 454 mag, and am I'm in the process of installing a new 6000rpm 439 BBC. I've got stainless marine genIII manifolds, and because of the cam, have to keep it dry to almost the tips. With the 1k expense of getting the pipes made up, I can't afford mufflers anytime soon. But if they measure 1 meter back and 1meter up, how does that play out; since my exhaust fires out the sides, and also only 4cyls on either side should they decide to take a measurement from the port or starboard?

I've been told that you can't use mufflers with higher HP engines, say 900 HP and above, any truth to this?

It seems to me that even with the turndowns, you're still going to get pulled over because on plane, they're above the waters surface, correct?

That is a wonderful question!
 

I would bet the answer is something along the line of:
It is not back of the boat, but back from the exhaust. So the measurement is 1 metre from the exhaust port, no matter where it is. Same if the exhausts went straight up.

As for the 4 cylinder idea... that is an even better question!

My thought is you might well have the same problem than if they both came out the back. Since the prescribed way to test is 1 metre back and 1 metre to the side (up) they are in essence only testing one bank anyway.

Here is another problem you might run into; they decide to measure both sides and either decide on the higher side, or have some formula to work with in that situation.

Regardless, great question!

Thats not really true from my own experience, my Baja has a 1000+ hp motor and runs about 100 mph, I am using Stainless marine 3 manifolds with 5" tails that are dry into the tip where water is sprayed into the exhaust stream "stellings style". When I first got it done it was so loud it hurt your ears. I bought GGB clamp ons and although I have luckily never had a decible test yet it is fairly quiet at idle. The funny thing is the boat lost no speed whatsoever with the mufflers on or off it , runs 99-100 either way, Smitty

Put mufflers on the Cig for one trip to the shootout. Blew 2 Drives that weekend..
Just Sayin

In all of our trips to Lake of the Ozarks this year, i have also had problems with loud exhausts from performance boaters. My problem is that there has not been enough of it! Nothing pops us out of the chair on the porch faster than the sound of a go fast!

I've always heard " The faster the boat , the smaller the pp " :lolhit::lolhit::party-smiley-004:

That is a distinct possibility, I have a slow :boat: ;)

What about the shoot out weekend, do they let everyone slide by?

I have read about this noise BS on OSO for years!

So...., someone needs to start a petition to change the law!

Money talks volumes! Stop spending money on LOTO until the laws change. Encourage the Shootout sponsors to support a change in the laws. In lieu of dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars in pipes, mufflers or paying your $100.00 plus fines???, place half that amount in a fund to fight the problem.

How many members are on OSO? 35 - 45,000 members? Plus, you have MWBP. We had better get our crap together or we will all be saying 'back in the day....' I had some very good friends here on Grand last weekend from New Hampshire and they were really happy to able to boat over 45 MPH unlike Lake Winapasakie(sp?). We, as a performance boating community, failed there.

In short, you can whine all you want or you can try to do something about it! I will support ANY change to the current regulations but someone from LOTO, or at least a Missouri resident, needs to start the ball.

Not really on purpose, but the WP is very busy with other stuff.
I will say that I have never heard of anybody getting noise ticket that was not VERY LOUD and at least 100db or so.

And that folks in a nutshell is whats wrong with not just this example but the whole USA..
Too many people bichin about problems , very few doing something about it..

Thanks for all the Replies, seems like most everyone has had the problem. Mufflers will have to be the answer I suppose :mad: Great idea to have someone try to get it changed..in all honestly who the hell cares how loud a freaking boat is going down the lake. Thats what boats like these are made for noise and speed. Cops really can take the fun out of stuff for no apparent reason