Because it's a lot easier and cheap to tow a car. What are you gonna do with a boat?
Tow it if it hasn't sunk.
Because it's a lot easier and cheap to tow a car. What are you gonna do with a boat?
..................... If Florida legislators can't figure it out...and build FREE docks for transient boaters to tie up to in FL waters.................
Tow it if it hasn't sunk.
Where to?
A boat ramp and then to a landfill. Or offshore for fish habitat.
You're gonna take a 40 foot trawler or sailboat to a boat ramp and haul it to a landfill!
Lots of luck with that.
If you don't live in Florida, you can't vote in Florida, all you can do is stay away and not spend your money there. People who take boats to Florida and anchor as opposed to staying in marinas aren't bringing in enough money to make a difference.
You're gonna take a 40 foot trawler or sailboat to a boat ramp and haul it to a landfill!
The ones down the river from my marina are like that. Just a couple have anchor lights but they aren't really anchor lights they are solar powered garden lights and they don't last until dawn. Most of the registrations are out of date or missing altogether. The DNR and USCG ride past them often but apparently do not care.Not to forget, those abandoned boats and even some lived aboard are generally NOT LEGAL. I'm referring to anchor lights (almost never seen, except on cruisers) but also the state registrations are long out of date.
Boats sitting at anchor even long term are supposed to have registrations for the state they are in. I'm 100% against more laws. Simply enforce the ones already here.
.................. The new laws, I would suggest, would require as part of the initial registration some sort of surety that would pay for disposal if abandoned. ..................... .
sales tax and registration while connected for state convenience of collection...are usually light years apart legally....
That only works for boats registered in FL. And just imagine the uproar on boating forums if a state announced that all boats were now subject to a disposal fee as a condition of registration.
I see your point that the owner of a boat should be responsible for its final disposal but I don't think your plan will work.
Florida is as god at dealing with derelict boats as your states are at dealing with boarded up or derelict houses and the people who cause them.
The water, and the navigational waterways are owned by the people. ....................
=================================================As are the roads, highways and stare parks. The federal, state and local governments are the people's representatives. They have the same rights to regulate waterways within their borders as they have to regulate highways.
Tow the abandon boats out and let the USCG use them for target practice!