How much weight can a boat take?

[stuntman]

I a little confused about how much people weight a boat will take.

 

For example:

Lund WC 14 Tiller is rated by Lund to be 1000lbs capacity

The US and Canadian safety ratings that are stamped onto the boat say 600lbs

 

So, for insurance purposes does that mean that if something goes wrong with more than 600lbs on board I am in trouble?

Will I get a ticket from the water cops for having more than 600lbs on board?

 

I asked a Lund dealer and they were not much help.

 

any help here?

 

Stuntman

[Mike the Pike]

I a little confused about how much people weight a boat will take.

 

For example:

Lund WC 14 Tiller is rated by Lund to be 1000lbs capacity

The US and Canadian safety ratings that are stamped onto the boat say 600lbs

 

So, for insurance purposes does that mean that if something goes wrong with more than 600lbs on board I am in trouble?

Will I get a ticket from the water cops for having more than 600lbs on board?

 

I asked a Lund dealer and they were not much help.

 

any help here?

 

Stuntman

 

Just ask Brian (Slowpoke) I am sure he is overloaded this causes many trips to the Burmuda triangle his floater suit alone is rated for a 9.9hp.Brian is about 6 foot 11 and his Tim Hortons thermos is about 33lbs.We won't talk about the industrial truck scale he weighs his fish with.He often fishes alone because if he adds one more person this is equal to 4 on board since he is equal to 3 average men.BRIAN

 

Seriously if you were overloaded most of your weight would go overboard in an accident.

 

Unfortunately we see far too many morons with 7 people in a 4 man boat.Common sence is the way to go.

 

MTP

Edited September 15, 2007 by Mike the Pike

[PERCHER]

Mike thats not nice,Dont pick on slowpke.

[SlowPoke]

Just ask Brian (Slowpoke) I am sure he is overloaded this causes many trips to the Burmuda triangle his floater suit alone is rated for a 9.9hp.Brian is about 6 foot 11 and his Tim Hortons thermos is about 33lbs.We won't talk about the industrial truck scale he weighs his fish with.He often fishes alone because if he adds one more person this is equal to 4 on board since he is equal to 3 average men.BRIAN

 

Mike, I am NOT 6'11" ... everything else is pretty much bang on.

-Brian

[Mike the Pike]

Stuntman is your boat really rated for 1000lbs .I have a similar Lund tiller SSV 18.5 feet long and it is rated for 1100lbs or 7 occupants . Mike

[Greencoachdog]

Seriously if you were overloaded most of your weight would go overboard in an accident.

MTP

 

 

So is this how you're explaining the "Ukranian Boy Scout Incident" Flipper?

[stuntman]

OK. So why does the official tag on the boat say 600lbs?

 

Is that to gauge for bad water conditions that occur X times in 10 years?

 

If Lund says it will hold 1000lbs does that mean it will sink at 1200lbs?

 

Stuntman

[Greencoachdog]

The 1000 lbs. is your total weight I believe, the includes motor, all your gear, and the occupants.

 

The 600 lbs. is probably the occupants and gear that is removed from the boat after every trip, like ice chests and fishing tackle.

[glen]

GCD is right. I think my boat is 600lb people. With 1000lb total carry cap. This is what it will do safely. If your boat is a deep boat it is same as mine.

 

"The US and Canadian safety ratings that are stamped onto the boat say 600lbs"

They should be clear about it. Maybe post a picture of your tag thats on your boat.

 

If it sinks its overloaded.

[stuntman]

Hey guys Glen and GCD sound pretty accurate to me,

 

Glen, your boat sounds like it has the same ratings as the one in my example. I don't have a boat plate to photograph for you the thread.

 

 

Lund WC 14 weighs 285lbs:

Max weight rating in brochure: 1000lbs

 

25HP motor (the max): 185lbs (max) but a 9.9 could be 100lbs.

gas and motor oils: 15lbs (guess)

persons capacity on boat plate: 600lbs

Total of all 3 above: 800lbs

 

That means 200lbs is left over for equipment. Thats a lot of equipment.

 

I guess the 600lbs is just an educated guess. People don't distribute their weight properly, people don't weigh their equipment and having a conservative weight limit makes it easier to tell someone that by taking them on they would be exceeding safe limits of the boat.

 

Has anyone ever got a warning or a citation for exceeding their boats rated weight?

 

 

Stuntman

Edited September 16, 2007 by stuntman

[POLLIWOGG]

These are recommended limits and I think the US limits are usually higher so if the boat was built in the US the manufacturers limit would be more than the Canadian limits.

[stuntman]

I thought that the US ratings would be higher too, but, found that they were the same on all the small aluminums I looked at.

I only looked at 5 small aluminums. US ratings may be higher for other types of boats.

 

Stuntman

[Sinker]

If you took a 14 ft aluminum out, with more than 1000lbs, you'd know it wasn't really that safe!

 

Common sense will over rule the stamped plate..........it should anyways

 

I have a 16ft deep and wide that's rated for 850 lbs or 5 people, but that's after a 40hp tiller, trolling motor, 2 batteries, and fuel. 1250lbs max on the bare hull! I haul 3 guys and up to 6 dozen duck decoys, no problem. The whole rig is right around 2000lbs......without decoys.

 

 

 

P. S....I don't do great lakes.....but it will handle water I'm not willing to run in!!

 

Sinker

[glen]

"Has anyone ever got a warning or a citation for exceeding their boats rated weight?"

 

I got a hint from a warden that he didn't like it. I had about 1200lbs total in my boat at the time. If you go over the rating it is not safe. Why do you want to go over the rating?

[stuntman]

I got a hint from a warden that he didn't like it. I had about 1200lbs total in my boat at the time. If you go over the rating it is not safe. Why do you want to go over the rating?

 

What was your boat rated for according to the spec plate on the boat?

 

If the boat is rated for 1000lbs by Lund and I have a 100lb motor on it I may want to bring a couple of my buddies out. 3 people would weigh about 650-700lbs, and that exceeds the boat limit as is posted on the governments spec plate.

 

Yes, I want to be able to excced the plate limit.

No I do not want to exceed what is safe for the boat.

 

Stuntman

[pikehunter]

Yes, I want to be able to exceed the plate limit.

 

I don't get something here. Are you are asking for someone here to approve this desire for unsafe boating? Then you can say well so ans so said it will be OK so I feel comfortable with it. If you want to overload your boat and press your luck be my guest, I won't say it's OK.

 

The limitations are printed on your boats plate for a reason, just like speed limits are posted on highways. Have you never heard of small boats sinking because they were overloaded and got swamped by a wave or the wind picked up suddenly? It has happened many times.

 

If you want to take your buddies along I can understand, but tell your buds to go and buy you a bigger boat.

 

Use your head, if your conscious tells you "Hey dumbass, this isn't right" then listen to it.

 

Happy fishing

[stuntman]

I don't get something here. Are you are asking for someone here to approve this desire for unsafe boating? Then you can say well so ans so said it will be OK so I feel comfortable with it. If you want to overload your boat and press your luck be my guest, I won't say it's OK.

 

The limitations are printed on your boats plate for a reason, just like speed limits are posted on highways. Have you never heard of small boats sinking because they were overloaded and got swamped by a wave or the wind picked up suddenly? It has happened many times.

 

If you want to take your buddies along I can understand, but tell your buds to go and buy you a bigger boat.

 

Use your head, if your conscious tells you "Hey dumbass, this isn't right" then listen to it.

 

Happy fishing

 

Hi PikeHunter, I think the point has been missed. There are 2 different sets of boat ratings. One for persons limit and one of total limit. The persons limit seems conservative and I would like to understand how it is derived. Boating experience will ultimately demonstrate what is safe.

 

As for buying a bigger boat, that will hold more, that is easier said than done; boat capacity does not go up a whole lot until you move to a different class of boat, a $15, 000+ boat and new vehicle to tow it is not in my plans. I could buy a bigger flat bottom boat with a higher rating, but that wouldn't necessarily be safer.

 

Ultimately the safest thing would be not to go in a boat, but what fun is that?

 

Stuntman

Edited September 17, 2007 by stuntman

[pikehunter]

Got ya, just do what the plate says to be safe. If you press your luck then expect that there is a problem waiting to happen.

 

As said there are 2 sets of numbers, don't forget that passengers are not static weight but gear is. The Coast Guard has a formula to work out the numbers for safe capacities for a given hull design, weight and motor configuration. Just like the identical hull design in a 16 foot tiller will have a different capacity then the same 16 foot console.

 

As for myself. I would not knowingly go beyond the boat plate recommendations. Having said that I have done so in the past with an old 12'r I used to own but I was stupid to do so. I can be a dumbass at times