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Old 09-17-2004, 03:41 PM   #69
Coastal Laker
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Default Time to chime in

Regarding the original question on laws being thrown out: I know folks on both sides of the issue on noise and high performance boats.



There is activity in progress to pursue a change in the law regarding switchable exhaust which is presently illegal in NH. In simple terms: under the existing law, your boat can be loud (but under the decibel limit) or quiet, but not both. The changes being pursued would allow the ability to switch between the two. There are a lot of boats with the capability but were required to disable the muffling device under the law… go figure.



So why would anyone want to switch back and forth? Well, contrary to belief, some of the performance boat crowd I am familiar with would actually desire having the ability to switch from loud to quiet when it’s appropriate. They could muffle the noise to a quiet level when in an area that is sensitive to it – like gas docks, coves, houses, marinas, etc and go back to the classic high performance rumble elsewhere.



Right now NH says be loud, be quiet, but you can’t have it both ways. The new law, if it ever comes to pass, would at the very least give boaters an option to muffle the rumble in their high performance boats. With that option available, I don’t expect the anti-noise crowd to be satisfied with the change; I don't think it meets their goals. I do believe that at least a small percentage of people would use the switchable feature for the reasons I just mentioned. A small number is better than none, right?
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