Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | muskyrat - 2/9/2014 8:14 AM
To be honest as long is the motor is under 150hp I don't think you are breaking the law. There is no law I`m aware of that says the owner of a boat can not convert from tiller to console and visa versa. You go by the plate that came on the boat. What can law enforcement do? The motor is within the capacities on the plate period. There is no law I`m aware of that says you have to reduce horsepower as a private boat owner when converting to tiller. You don`t get the boat retested by the coastguard just because you changed motor style. So while they can`t sell you the boat with a 150 tiller there is nothing that's says you can`t just switch motor styles. Please note I`m not a lawyer but if you don`t exceed the plate hp rating someone would have a hard time proving that you should have known to reduce the hp when converting to a tiller.
Alot of boat manufacturers are putting 2 seperate hp ratings on their coast gaurd plates. 1 for tiller hp and 1 for console hp. If this is the case for this particular plate, then yes, it is illegal to have over the plated hp. However, without doing a bunch of research, that boat does seem to be on the heavier side for a 75 tiller. i'd push the envelope and throw at least a 90 tiller on there. But, like steve mentioned, you probably wouldn't be able to insure it. |
