BoatUS Update - New Boat Engine Cutoff Switch Law Goes into Effect April 1

New Boat Engine Cutoff Switch Law Goes Into Effect April 1

Applies to boats less than 26 feet operating on plane or above displacement speed

SPRINGFIELD, Va., March 15, 2021 – There are new engine cutoff device wear requirements for recreational boat operators as part of the January 1, 2021, passage of National Defense Authorization Act that included a U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization. These devices, commonly referred to as engine cutoff switches (ECOS), are designed to prevent a boat-strike injury if an operator is accidentally ejected overboard while underway.

Engine cutoff devices can be located at the helm of the boat or on the tiller or body of an outboard engine and typically connect a boat’s operator to the cutoff switch with a lanyard. Some ECOS devices eliminate the lanyard and rely on wireless proximity devices to shut down an engine if the operator goes overboard.

Effective April 1, 2021, the new law requires a vessel operator to use either a helm or outboard lanyard or wireless ECOS on certain vessels less than 26 feet when traveling on plane or above displacement speed. These vessels include (1) boats that have a functioning engine cutoff device installed at the helm or on an outboard engine or have wireless ECOS, or (2) boats manufactured beginning January 2020. The Coast Guard increased the number of boats required to have ECOS installed after this date in an effort to reduce boating accidents and fatalities.

Exceptions to the ECOS requirement include if the main helm of the vessel is in an enclosed cabin or the vessel is not operating on plane or at displacement speed. Low-speed activities such as fishing or docking do not require use of an ECOS. The vessel operator is also exempt if the boat’s motor produces less than 115 lbs. of static thrust – or about the size of a 2-hp engine.

The new law applies to all federally navigable waterways. As this is a federal law, states do not have the ability to enforce the new ECOS regulation — though seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey and Texas) currently have their own ECOS laws. BoatUS expects most states to amend their regulations to match federal law over the coming years. While boat operators who fail to follow the new requirement could face a $100 civil penalty for the first offense, BoatUS expects the U.S. Coast Guard’s initial focus will be education.

Boaters are encouraged to check the U.S. Coast Guard website for additional information on this new use requirement and other safety regulations and recommendations.

“BoatUS supports responsible use of cutoff devices and wants to get the word out to boaters to be aware of this new requirement so they can prepare,” said BoatUS Manager of Government Affairs David Kennedy. “We believe the new requirement allows recreational boaters to operate their vessels in a practical manner while increasing boating safety.”

Kennedy suggests that boat operators double check to see that their engine cutoff switch is working and begin the season by getting into a good habit of wearing it.

For the BoatUS update: click here

Credit - National Safe Boating Council

BoatUS - Data from Newly Released USCG National Boating Safety Survey to Help Shape Local and National Boating Safety Policies

An update from RBOC’s national advocacy partner BoatUS

SPRINGFIELD, Va., Dec. 14, 2020 – An all-encompassing report on recreational boating activity in the U.S. is giving the U.S. Coast Guard, policymakers and the boating community the ability to shape smart boating safety policy into the future. Issued last week by the Coast Guard, The National Recreational Boating Safety Survey (NRBSS) looks at boating participation demographics, trends, boat use, at-risk boating populations, boating safety and more. The survey data, captured in 2018, includes all types of on-water activity from canoes, kayaks, rafts and rowboats to sailboats, skulls, airboats, motorized boats and personal watercraft.

“While a number of factors have made recreational boating safer over the years, such as stronger laws, regulations, boating safety education, better enforcement, and improved manufacturing standards, it all relies on having the best data possible,” said BoatUS Manager of Government Affairs David Kennedy. “This information is going to help guide and develop policies that matter to boaters.”

Some notable findings:

• Ownership: It is estimated that approximately 25.2 million boats were owned by 14.5 million households in 2018. Evidence suggests that joint/shared ownership is an increasingly popular way to secure access to boats. While the vast majority (94.5% or 23.83 million) of boats in the country were owned exclusively by someone residing in the household, nearly 1.4 million boats were in some manner of joint/shared ownership.

• Registered/nonregistered boats: There were 11.82 million boats registered in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2018. Almost 13.4 million boats were owned in 2018 in the United States that were not required to be registered by the state where they were kept and operated. Open powerboats continue to be owned by more households than any other types of boat, while approximately 4.24 million households owned one or more kayaks and about 2.14 million households were owners of canoes.
  
  The survey summary notes: “The proportion of all boats that are unregistered is creating a number of financial and management issues and difficulties for boating safety and law enforcement agencies as well as agencies that provide and manage boat access and infrastructure facilities. Foremost, owners of unregistered boats do not pay registration fees, and because most are human-powered boats, they do not purchase fuel for these boats and therefore do not pay fuel taxes, which support the development and maintenance of boating access and infrastructure as well as boating safety education and enforcement.” A number of states are currently considering expanding registration requirements to include various types and sizes of human-powered craft.

• Boat use: Boats that were operated in 2018 were taken out on the water a total of 471.8 million days. Across all owned boats, the average number of days a vessel is used is 19 days — 29 days for motorized boats and 12 days for human-powered boats. Outings, meaning different occasions that boats were operated out on the water, lasted an average of 3.8 hours. On average, boats that went out on the water in 2018 had 2.3 persons aboard.

• Operator use: A total of 10.2 billion person hours of boating took place in 2018, with person hours aboard motorized boats representing 84.1% (8.6 billion) of the total. Over 1.3 billion hours were spent boating on human-powered boats. Five states − Florida, Michigan, Texas, South Carolina, and New York − represented about 31% of all person boat hours that year. The state of Florida represented about 10.7% (1.089 billion hours) of all person hours nationwide, followed by Michigan (603.7 million) and Texas (522.3 million).

• Regional boat use: Contrary to what has sometimes been assumed, boats in southern states are not, in general, operated more days, on average, than boats in northern states. In fact, motorized boats in the Midwest (56 days) and Northeast (55 days) census regions were operated more days, on average, than in the South (52 days) and West (52 days) census regions. About 647,000 boats in coastal and Great Lakes states were operated at least once more than 3 miles from shore in 2018.

• Safety: About one-third (33.7% or 220,000) of all boats and 32.8% of motorized boats that operated over 3 nautical miles from shore were equipped with EPIRBs while 83.2% of the motorized boats that were operated at least once were equipped with an emergency engine cutoff switch. Just 13.9% had VHF-DSC radios. About two-thirds (65.6%) of the persons that operated a boat in 2018 had not taken a boating safety course.

• Trailered boats: About 6 million boats that were operated in 2018 were either trailered or transported (i.e., on top of a car, in a truck) at least once for the purpose of launching them on the water, representing almost two-thirds (65.3%) of the boats that were operated during 2018. Boats were trailered/transported for the purpose of launching them 167.3 million times in 2018.

• Boater socioeconomics: In 2018, an estimated 84.54 million recreational boaters of different ages, races, and ethnicities in the United States participated in boating, or 26.5% of the U.S. population. Boat-owning households were predominately all-white households. All Black/African American households represented less than 1% of boat-owning households. The survey summary notes, “This may be a significant factor in limiting participation of more minority persons in boating given that the NRBSS Participation Survey found that not knowing anyone who owns a boat was a significant reason why more persons did not boat in 2018.” Other and mixed-race households constituted 16.3% of all boat-owning households.
  
  Survey findings showed that the greatest percentage of boating participants do not, as is sometimes assumed, have high household incomes. Almost a quarter (23.1%) of boat-owning households in 2018 had household incomes of less than $50,000, and 41.8% earned less than $75,000. Households with household incomes between $75,000 and $149,999 represents 37.5% of boat-owning households.

• Fatalities/accidents: The risk of boating fatalities is six per 100 million person hours for all types of boats nationwide and five per 100 million person hours for motorized boating. This low rate is attributable to practicing safer boating behaviors due to boater education, regulations and inspections as well as safer boats and safe-boating technologies. However, the risk for fatalities nationwide was twice as high on human-powered boats: 13 per 100 million person hours.

The survey was funded by two grants from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. It was completed by the nonprofit research institute RTI International and the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University.

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RBOC President Ray Durazo and Half Moon Bay Yacht Club Urge Support of Coast Guard & BoatUS Efforts

As reported in Soundings Trade Only Today, RBOC President Ray Durazo speaks as a member of Half Moon Bay Yacht Club in support of BoatUS advocacy efforts on bipartisan legislation that would restore pay to more than 40,000 active duty Coast Guard service members during the government shutdown..

RBOC urges boaters to take action as requested by BoatUS:

“While the current debate over funding of the Department of Homeland Security is primarily about issues not directly related to the U.S. Coast Guard, BoatU.S. is concerned over the potential deterioration of its ability to fulfill its wide range of missions including search and rescue, boating safety regulation and support for aids-to-navigation.

“Ask your members of Congress to support S. 21 and H.R. 367 that will ensure that U.S. Coast Guard personnel will receive compensation notwithstanding the final passage of the DHS 2019 appropriation legislation. This will allow USCG members to focus on their missions and help ensure the safety of recreational boaters.”

To take action, go to the BoatUS website: click here

For the complete Soundings article: click here

BoatUS Gathers Group of Advisers for Annual Debate on Boating Issues

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Dec. 3, 2018 — A panel of distinguished boating leaders who serve as a sounding board for Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) gathered last week along with esteemed guests and BoatUS staff in Newport Beach to discuss key issues impacting recreational boating, including the changing boat-ownership model and shifting boater demographics. BoatUS is the nation’s largest recreational boat owners group in the U.S. with more than a half-million dues-paying members.

The group also discussed legislative issues that help keep the association’s focus on the evolving needs of recreational boaters, including some who now get on the water without having to own a boat via boat-sharing clubs. The National Marine Manufacturers Association, U.S. Power Squadrons, National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary all provided updates on activities.

The volunteer members of the BoatUS National Advisory Council included Robert Baldridge, past chief commander, United States Power Squadrons; Ellen Bradley, senior vice president & chief communications officer, National Marine Manufacturers Association; Lenora S. Clark, former California Boating and Waterways commissioner and former Recreational Boaters of California president; Dean Travis Clarke, former executive editor, Bonnier Marine Group; Ray Durazo, incoming president, Recreational Boaters of California; Jim Ellis, National Advisory Council chairman and former president, BoatUS; John Flynn, principal, Squire Patton Boggs; Mark Brown, president, National Association of State Boating Law Administrators; and Bob Adriance, former editor, Seaworthy.

Joining the council’s members were a distinguished roster of special guests, including Beth Newburger Schwartz, president, Epoch Communications and wife of late BoatUS founder Richard Schwartz; Vern Gifford, chief, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety; and Jerry Desmond, principal, Desmond & Desmond and RBOC Legislative Counsel.

BoatUS leadership and staff included Kirk La, chief executive officer; Chris Edmonston, vice president, Government Affairs, and president, BoatUS Foundation; Heather Lougheed, vice president, Membership; David Kennedy, manager, Government Affairs; Morgan Neuhoff, senior program coordinator, Government Affairs;

Attending from BoatUS’s parent GEICO were Chris Nowack, counsel; and Steve Parsons, vice president, assistant controller.