US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

A. No watercraft shall be loaded and operated with passengers or cargo beyond its safe carrying capacity or the limitations on the manufacturer's load capacity plate.

B. All new watercraft twenty feet in length and under designed to carry two or more persons and to be propelled by machinery or oars, offered for sale or manufactured in the state after January 1, 1971, shall have affixed permanently thereto a manufacturer's load capacity plate in a location easily observed from the position designed or intended to be occupied by the operator. Canoes and sailboats shall be exempt from the provisions of this section.

C. The load capacity plate shall be certified by a licensed manufacturer or the United States coast guard.