| Wally |
07-02-2013 10:13 AM |
Its only required for boats under 20' in length. There are also no Coast Guard regulations against exceeding the safe loading capacity, however, there may be State regulations or restrictions from your insurance company which prohibit this......BUT There is a Coast Guard regulation that gives Coast Guard Boarding Officers the power to terminate the use of a boat (send it back to shore) if, in the judgment of the Boarding Officer, the boat is overloaded. There is no fine for this, unless the operator refuses the Boarding Officer's order.
I cut and pasted a few sections of the above from the CG website...basically as long you have enough life jackets for all aboard and you are not loaded to the point where a wave will swamp your boat...they most times will not bother you :)
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