Capacity Placard Requirement

[dccordell]

Is a boat capacity (persons/weight) placard required on a boat that has been restored? Or one that may not even have had a capacity placard installed from the factory?

I have never seen one on my boat, nor can I find any information on the factory recommended capacity.

I have seen several sites say that only boats under 20 ft. are required to have the placards, but nothing on restored boats that never had the placard from the factory.

I have found a site that can make the placard for $20, but I don't even know the capacity to have put on one if I went that route.

Should I just not worry about fitting a capacity placard on my boat? I don't want to give the DNR (WLF in Louisiana) a reason to take my money!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Capacity Placard Requirement

Check your state requirements as they are NOT required in all states. Although I don't exceed weight capacity, I have exceeded person #. My capacity plate is no longer on the boat either. (pontoon on calm water rated for 9 people, 5 adults, 5 kids. Well under the weight limit but +1 on the head count)

 

[dccordell]

Re: Capacity Placard Requirement

Ok, yeah Louisiana doesn't seem to mention anything about the capacity plate, so I'll assume that they have no specific requirements regarding it.

Using the general calculation of (Length * Width)/15 to estimate the number of people gives me a little over 9, which seems about right since that is exactly how many seats there are on the boat. I doubt I'd ever carry that many, but I just wanted a general idea of the capacity.

Thanks!