Pontoon capacity???

[hiymeh]

Need some help....... please<br />I have an old 25' crest from 1978.<br />there is no capacity plate on it, how do i determine the capacity and prove it to the coast gaurd?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

Are you talking Weight, Or Horsepower ?????<br />Why do you need to Prove Anything ???????

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

I too wonder why you would have to 'prove' it to the Coast Guard, or anyone else for that matter.<br /><br />If you just want to know how much weight your pontoons can hold up its pretty straight forward arithmatic to figure it out. What is the diameter and length of your pontoons?<br /><br />Thom

 

[CharlesW]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

With out a capacity rating on his boat, wouldn't he have a problem convincing any authority that his boat was legally capable of handling the passengers he had on board?

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

He is under no obligation to convince anyone of anything and anyone who doesn't at least have a gut feeling when his boat is overloaded has no business being on a boat. By the way, it may come as a suprise to a lot of people to learn this but neither a capacity plate, maximum horsepower rating, or even flotation is required on any boat sold in this country that is greater than 20 feet long.

 

[BillP]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

The USCG can give civil violations if the motor or people exceed the plate specs. It costs you money if you get one of their tickets. They can even MAKE you pull over to the shore and unload if they deem the boat unsafe.

 

[hiymeh]

Re: Pontoon capacity???

Hey everyone, Thanks so much for the replies. It sounds like we have many differences of opinion. I'd be interested to know why they put those capacity tags on there if it's ok to disregard them. Point of Reference? But you'll all be happy to know that I clearly had my boat over capacity and I clearly had no business being on a water this weekend for the national coast gaurd festival in grand haven, MI. However we did get pulled over and we did have 12 people plus 2 barrels of beer on board and there were no issues. Lesson learned; drink more beer if you toons are submerged. Check it out for yourselves; www.hankypank.com Cheers Hiymeh