Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mercier
Exhaust noise is covered under a different RSA.
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Correct. I believe the law was put in place in the 80’s. The problem was (is) that the law allows for above water exhaust if there is a “muffling device”. The muffling device is undefined, so boaters were arguing that the flappers on the pipes were “muffling devices”, even though they did little or nothing to mitigate the sound. They also allowed switchable exhausts, so it was impossible to determine if an offending device was on, or not, when a boat was stopped for a noise violation. Further, it was so difficult to accurately determine a methodology to measure the sound, that marine patrol gave up trying to enforce the law.
If the goal is to make the boat quiet, the exhaust needs to be underwater when the boat is running. The original intent was good. The wording was poor.
I think its better now than it was in the 80’s, but in my opinion, there are far too many obnoxiously load boats out there, that do not meet the spirit or intent of the law.