• If you log in, the ads disappear in the forum and gallery. If you need help logging in or getting registered, send request to: webmaster@southernairboat.com

Whats the deal with the new muffler law??

Southern Airboat Gallery Archives

FAA Airboat Show 09...
image_3_
DSC01858
ShoNuff_redo_067
NitroExpressPistol
P10100324
F

FloridaQuaker1027

Well-known member
I just heard from a buddy of mine the passed the law requiring airboats to have muffler and exhaust pipes....I also heard that the boats just have to have exhaust pipes and not mufflers....What does the law require??
 
The CURRENT law requires just flex pipe...The NEW law will require automotive style mufflers. You got less than 6 months to get them on.

Check out the other threads about this for more info...

Adam
 
and when they mean enforced it will most likely be your local sheriff deputy giving you a ticket more so than the f.w.c. because they do not have the man power for it.and a citation of non compliace of the decibal law should make that inparticular county you are in some nice coin for all of those who do not want to change.i have seen decibal steak out's first hand on places the comunity wanted shut down and they would have a deputy thier with a meter constantly during buisness hours so they could start passing out tickets to the owners.so keep an eye out at the boat ramps where these people live cause in six months you will be monitored.
 
I assume ya'll read the part about if you get cited twice in a year you will lose your boating privlidges until you complete a safe boater class right. I beleive the FWC is serious about this but there is no doubt some will want to test it. The first ticket will cost more than a set of mufflers will. I don't have all the scoop on it yet but this is what came from the meeting attendees. so it looks like two strikes in 12 months and you get to go to school.
 
And by the way its not a new law its just a clarification of the current one for enforcement purposes. That seems like a little thing but it is a big deal because the 6 month grace period was a courtesy to us as airboaters they could have started immediately. So everyone needs to tell whomever they care about so they don't get busted and if you tell someone and they get all huffy well its their money so leave them be no need to get violent .. they can call bondsman on here and he will be glad to help I bet. I also would look for more enforcement of the boating under the influence law also it seems they are getting some heat for that as well.

so don't say you weren't warned.
 
I dont have a boat yet but spend alot of time on my buddy's in WMA 2A....There Then only houses there are near there is on the east levee but most of the sound is drawned out by sawgrass express way traffic...First hand experience....The only boats I have seen out there with mufflers are people with brand new diamond backs and FWC officers....Most don't even have flew pipes....My buddy was running striaght pipes but we switch over the headers today and are going to get some mufflers some time soon....The FWC officer that normally patrols out there already knows us by name..This will give him one less thing to bother us about
 
Exactly FQ, one less reason to get a ticket. The other could be a tear in a life jacket or an expired flare. BTW, it went into effect Dec. 1st, not a couple of weeks ago, but the law has always said muffling devise. We all just got away with it till now. Mufflers are cheap and they don't kill power.
Once again folks, read fl. statute 327.65 . All airboaters in the state of Florida or those who may visit us should KNOW this law to protect yourselfs. Don't let yourself be the victim of an IGNORANT badge holder who whats to put a stick up something. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE LAW YOU CANNOT DEFEND YOURSELF !!

Someone said the truth shall set you free. THATS A LIE!!! IT's KNOWING THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Swampjet, with all due respect, and please don't take this the wrong way - I'm only trying to help... But you keep listing statutes and numbers that don't really mean much when merely listed by themselves. Not everyone knows where to go to read these laws, and then they often are difficult for many to understand with some of the wording.

And let's clear up the date of the deadline. On May 31st 2006, if you get stopped for no mufflers, you better get some that night, because on June 1st 2006, the strict enforcement begins. Right? My $20 mufflers may be all burnt out by then. But I'll keep that date in mind for having fresh good quality new ones on the boat.

here is a link to the law quoted above, and from that link you can find many others.
http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index. ... TM&Title=->2005->Ch0327->Section%2065#0327.65

and for those who don't click the link, this is what is says:
The 2005 Florida Statutes


Title XXIV
VESSELS
Chapter 327
VESSEL SAFETY
View Entire Chapter

327.65  Muffling devices.--

(1)  The exhaust of every internal combustion engine used on any vessel operated on the waters of this state shall be effectively muffled by equipment so constructed and used as to muffle the noise of the exhaust in a reasonable manner. The use of cutouts is prohibited, except for vessels competing in a regatta or official boat race, and for such vessels while on trial runs.

(2)(a)  Any county wishing to impose additional noise pollution and exhaust regulations on vessels may, pursuant to s. 327.60(1), adopt by county ordinance the following regulations:

1.  No person shall operate or give permission for the operation of any vessel on the waters of any county or on a specified portion of the waters of any county, including the Florida Intracoastal Waterway, which has adopted the provisions of this section in such a manner as to exceed the following sound levels at a distance of 50 feet from the vessel: for all vessels, a maximum sound level of 90 dB A.

2.  Any person who refuses to submit to a sound level test when requested to do so by a law enforcement officer is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishble as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. (NOTE: These numbers are links on the orginal web page which is being quoted here)

(b)  The following words and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in this subsection.

1.  "dB A" means the composite abbreviation for the A-weighted sound level and the unit of sound level, the decibel.

2.  "Sound level" means the A-weighted sound pressure level measured with fast response using an instrument complying with the specification for sound level meters of the American National Standards Institute, Inc., or its successor bodies, except that only a weighting and fast dynamic response need be provided.
Click to expand...

All these laws are very confusing to me with the way they are worded. "...on the waters of any county or on a specified portion of the waters of any county" Didn't they just say the same thing twice? Why can't they say it once? Doesn't saying "county" cover the "portions" of a county too? If "portions" means "cities" why didn't they say that?

I guess I'll never pass that Lawyer course I've been taking on the back of cereal boxes. :lol:

matt.

P.S. This link is helpful too.... it's the index page of the vessel safety laws. BTW... why are mufflers in the "safety" section?
http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index. ... pter%20327
 
Mood, Thanks for posting that statute on here. See, your good at things like manuvering stuff on the computer. I'm not. I still peck with 1 finger after hunting where the keys have gone, ( I know they move around). But after spending the last 3 years working on saving our airboats from county commisioners and other law enforcement types, I do get tired of someone , all of a sudden saying, What happened? If they are new to airboating, fine , I'll educate them on some of the laws that effect us.
What does get to me is airboaters that HAVE mufflers all of a sudden crying foul. I mean, how many threads have we talked about this stuff?
Listen up, there are anti-airboaters that read this website, and we don't need arguing to better THEIR agenda.
Better education of airboaters on airboat issues is critical, and your hearing that from a high school pushout.
Lets not mess things up right now , because there is good news on the horizon,[b] IF [/b]we all work together on this. Promotion of the benefits of mufflers will go along way right now with people in high places.
Even today (12/6), We almost got regulated here in Citrus county, due to one county Commisioner named Joyce Valentino, Who made a motion to revisit the 90 db in 50 ft ruling. Fortunatly the other four Commisioners where not willing to do so. So it died as for a lack of a second. It was that close !!!
 
My 2 cents worth- The story in the paper and on the news about the toy run was a possitive one! lets keep that possitive thing going by compling with the muffler law and to be curtious to not just the other boaters and home owners but to everyone. At least that's how I was raised and that's how I'm raiseing my son. There's a time to fight and there's a time to comply. Mufflers ain't that big of a deal, save the fight for when they try to BAN airboats entirely, but if they do watch out-HELL HAS NO FURRY LIKE A REDNECK THATS BEEN PISSED OFF!!! Like I said just my 2 cents worth. SAFARI RICK
 
I was at Cornwell this past weekend and the FWC officer patrolling up there could not offer advice as to what mufflers to install. He said at this time they do not know what mufflers are acceptable or not but he was running regular automotive mufflers on his boat. When asked about the mufflers on the boat he was checking out, he said he couldn't answer if they were compliant or not but they were not automotive style, they were built specifically for the boat. I was hoping to get some insight from the officer but he was reluctant to offer any advice whatsoever. Sort of surprised me :!:
 
hey mood
"...on the waters of any county or on a specified portion of the waters of any county" thier meaning is if thier is a private lake or waterway somone has on thier property or thier property borders.since this is a state law boundries and borders of your property do not matter you have to comply such as if a neighbor complains.and that misdermienor charge for refusal that is harsh that is worse than when you refuse a breathaliser test.
Click to expand...
sorry i cant figuer out how to seperate my quote and then my babbling.
 
Hey, I know someone that just got a set of used pipes from a vette at the muffler shop for his boat. Got them cheap and they were a fairly expensive set of mufflers. The guy with the vette was getting something else installed and the old ones were laying around. If someone is willing to look and ask around there is a potential for you to find something used for cheap. And they look good (heck of alot better than the pipes they are attached to).
 
How many Harleys would pass the same test. I love the sound of a nice Harley going by, I love the sound of a nice jet boat going by my house but if he plays around in front of my house it wears off after about 5 minutes.
 
Cold, that's a great point. A lot of the people who complain about airboats running by their homes on the water probably have a Road King or a Soft Tail Custom sitting in their garage with straight pipes on it .... and it would never pass a 90db @ at 50' test.

They're not after Harleys though, they're after us. The best that we can work for is to require that we're not being discriminated against ..... if we gotta be 90db @ 50', then so does everything else on the water. We can live with that.

BF
 
Great comments here. I do take issue a tiny bit with the claim that boating safety classes are worthless. They, in my experience, are very valuable. USCGA and USPS Boater Safety Courses have educated hundreds of thousands of new and experienced boaters. Just like most other activities that are not practiced every day, boating procedeures are best practiced. Airboats have no brakes and require far more "think ahead" time and activities than conventional motor vessels.
 
Mood I it looks like to me there saying all the waters in a county or just portions of the waters. As far as the boating courses go I will admit that I've been there and not cause I wanted to .My fellow Airboaters and myself attend one in Jacksonville last year and as thhe tests were graded and we all passed later the rest of the gang threw us a great graduation ceremony that night on Lake George ,must of been 50 boaters in attendance.I must say we did learn some things we didn't already know.
I guess to make it any better I would have to be a lot longer and who wants that? and best yet it was a good reason to throw party .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top