IS A DOCUMENTED VESSEL EXEMPT FROM STATE JURISDICTION?
No, all documented vessels must comply with the laws of the state in
which they are operated. The vessel's document must be shown to state
law enforcement personnel upon their demand. States may require
documented vessels to be registered (but not numbered) and to display
state decals showing that they have complied with state requirements.
Bill Bina
On 1/25/2018 3:33 PM, Bill Coleman via CnC-List wrote:
Now you’ve really hit a sore spot with me.
I have NO love for the PA Fish and Boat Commission,
And have been pulled over a few times by them. They like to ask where
my PA decals are, and I point to the nearly indelible round temporary
stickers I put on the bow, and note with that as proof that I had paid
the Sales Tax in 1997. Of course they want the current sticker, and
I tell them that these are Federal Waters, not PA State Waters, the
boat is documented and that is that. Well, of course then they get all
huffy, and once they just asked where the boat was docked, slip, etc,
like they were going to do something and I never heard from them.
Another time, last summer in fact, they did another check, and wanted
to see life jackets, fire extinguishers, etc, and then got to the
sticker issue. I told them that I had in fact paid for a current
sticker (I had decided a couple years ago to re-up my sticker, just to
keep them off my back, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put them on
bow.)
I couldn’t find the stickers right then, and they said they were going
to check. They had a laptop, I told to check right there, but for some
reason they couldn’t tap in to the Dep of Revenue site or something.
I never heard from them again. But I did find my stickers the next
day, they were current.
This below is an article I copied out of the BoatUS Magazine several
years ago on the subject.
<<"Why I put Pa. numbers on a federally documented Boat, just a few
notes on your 'documentation ' issue:
In Pa., the Fish and Boat Commission can and will pull over
any boat lacking the PA registration numbers on the bow. We
have a federally documented boat but paid the PA sales tax on
it when we bought it . We registered with the F & B People at
this time and got the PA numbers. We did not care to put the
PA numbers on the bow believing we were 'federally documented'
and it was not required.
On a windy 3rd of July , we were pulled over by F&B. We
explained it was a documented boat, not required by federal law
to display ANY state stickers. (We were in fact OUT of the
jurisdiction of the F & B , as we were on Lake Erie, a federal
navigable waterway. The PA F &B jurisdiction only extends to PA
inland Lakes like Lake Arthur, and PA waterways, like Oil
Creek. (and Erie is NOT a PA inland lake) The F&B has no
jurisdiction over navigable federal waterways, (Like the Allegheny
River below the uppermost lock, etc.) It took these F&B guys an
hour to pull us over, look at our PA registration certificate
(which WAS current) , and call someone in Harrisburg to decide
whether to issue us the $150 ticket they were threatening. (By
the way F&B also has the 'right' to forbid you to use any PA
state park for haul in UNTIL you get the PA numbers.... ) This
'arrest' happened to us on a windy holiday weekend , with
guests on board. It was very disruptive of the holiday spirit
and I must say the F&B guy was belligerent, rude and
thoroughly unpleasant to deal with . (You may have seen the same
F&B Officer who 'arrested ' us on his patrol in the Presque Isle
marina--he is the portly gentleman, smoking his cigar while
moored at the gas dock at Presque isle state park, near the NO
SMOKING sign.. but that is another matter...)
So you certainly have a legal right NOT to have PA numbers on
your bow-- but do you want the hassle of getting pulled over
for an hour every time a F&B sees your boat without PA
numbers....? And do you want to fight the $150 ticket, and
lose more time out of your short boating season .... ??
Numbers not required on bow, see
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/nvdc/nvdcfaq.asp#22 >>
Bill Coleman
C&C 39 Erie, PAanimated_favicon1
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