[ApS]

Originally Posted by Descant

For those who want to know why overnighting was prohibited, think about the time. These laws were passed in 1967, effective January 1, 1968 as far as I can tell. I remember that summer when I was working at a marina and they installed their first pump out station. Prior to that time, few boats had holding tanks, and those that did, had no proper place to discharge. The prior practice had been "macerator/chlorinators" and overboard discharge. Prior to that, there was just direct discharge into the lake. "Good practice" was to not empty the head until you were well away from the dock, but not all followed that plan.

Anyway, the legislature was doing as much as they could to protect the state's water quality. Holding tanks and no overnighting were two steps taken. I doubt that safety or the preferences of shorefront landowners ever entered into the discussion. There was too much open shorefront, unoccupied coves, etc.

Is it TRUE? I recall hearing at the time that there were some legislators who wanted bilge pumps to feed into holding tanks. One of those crazy things that just sticks in your mind. You can't make this stuff up.

So, in those older times, people slept on boats, often tied up at the public docks, and often without a permanently installed head or sanitary facility. Years later, on the federal level, with no regard to water quality, the tax law changed to allow deductibility of mortgage interest on a boat as a residence, if it had sleeping and toilet facilities. Q. How many manufacturers started installing heads with that in mind? A. All.

Descant has it right:

For those who want to know why overnighting was prohibited, think about the time. These laws were passed in 1967, effective January 1, 1968 as far as I can tell.

That's the era that the Legislature decided the lake water was no longer potable. (We kept getting private laboratory requests for checking one's lake water supply).



We got by with town water from the spigot at Wolfeboro's Lakeview Cemetery. (And called it "Cemetery Water").