Taking an out-of-state boat to California? (lake Eastman)

bpm2000 · Post by **bpm2000** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:01 am

Hey all,

A friend and I will be driving down from Washington to do some bassin' on Eastman at the end of the month.

We are trying to bring along our 14ft jonboat (no outboard, electric only) but Boating/Waterways are not returning our calls/emails.

Question: do we need to have this boat registered or something? I believe the rule is that if the boat is registered out-of-state then one can run it there but our boat is NOT registered here. What is the deal with non-registered boats? Do we need to have it registered here first?

thx much!

Tin Can · Post by **Tin Can** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:43 am

It needs to be registered. They may not even let an out of state boat on the lake. I'd keep calling until you get a hold of someone at the lake.

Tin Can · Post by **Tin Can** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:47 am

I thought about this for a second and here is what I would do. If you have a buddy who lives in Ca. Have him register the boat for you. It's not expensive at all to register a small jon boat. This way you are good to go on all Ca. waters and it avoids any bans on out of state boats.

norththird · Post by **norththird** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:51 am

Any boat that has a motor (even electric) has to have CF #'s. I used to use a 8' pond boat with an electric motor and the ranger informed me of this more than once. He said that if it was under 16' and was only powered by oars or paddle it was ok not to have CF #s. Good luck, hope that this helps.

bassindon69 · Post by **bassindon69** » Tue May 20, 2008 10:53 am

Good luck to you guys.

Have fun!

Don.

bavnuts88 · Post by **bavnuts88** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:43 am

Hey there, Im with BPM2000. I talked to David Johnson at Ca Dept of Boating and Waterways. He referred to thier attorney and told me we are ok without boat registration. The boat was purchased in WA and it is not required to be registered up here. He also referred me to a DMV regulation(which I left at work). Ill post what he told me tommorow. Ill try to fint it now also.

Daniel

bavnuts88 · Post by **bavnuts88** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:44 am

He told me this would cover us:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03_5/vc9873.htm

bpm2000 · Post by **bpm2000** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:25 pm

Thx for the info everyone.

Gotta love regulations, laws, and interpretations of such!

-DMV/Boating/waterways says we are ok according to Section 9873 provided above.

-1-559-673-5151 eastman lake rangers says we are ok if we can show proof of sale @ WA, agreeing with DMV/Boating.

-1-559- 689-3255 Eastman Army Corps guys says we have to register if we are using a motor of any sort, but he also stated the rule to be boats 12' or less, not in accordance to the actual law stating:
"and an undocumented vessel eight feet or less".

I think we are just gonna register to save headaches of having to "prove" but it seems ambiguous depending on who you ask or how you interpret.