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Alright guys, I learned a lesson the hard way Sunday night and want to share it with everyone so that we can all learn.
Recently the NCDMV and NC Highway Patrol merged and since then have been on a serious crackdown with people towing trailers, ESPECIALLY BOATS! On your vehicle registration, there is a weight limit listed which is determined by your tags. THIS LISTED WEIGHT IS FOR YOUR TRUCK AND TRAILER COMBINED!
For example: My tags are weighted (the blue tag) for 10,000 lbs. My truck (GMC 2500HD Duramax) alone, empty weighs 6,725 lbs. This means that if I tow anything over 2,275 lbs. I am considered overweight.
"Regular" NC tags are rated for (I think) 5,000 lbs. With this being the case, I'm sure there are a TON of y'all that are overweight when you tow your boat and don't know it.
Sunday night, the trooper pulled me over after "seeing" that the rear lights were out on the trailer (the ground wire had come loose and caused the problem on the way home) and says "since I have you here, I'm going to weigh you because I know you're overweight." The truth of the story was that he never saw the lights out until after he pulled me---he was pulling me for one reason and that was to weigh me and cite me for being too heavy. (He was a COMPLETE A$$***E by the way!!!) He then has me pull to the next intersection and get the scales out to weigh me on the spot.
My truck alone weighed 7800 lbs and the boat (a 32' Seacraft with twin 225 Merc's) weighed 10,400 lbs for a total of 18,200 lbs. All of this equaled out to a $430 overweight ticket!
So here is a word to the wise: Check your registration and do a little math. Then go to the DMV and either A--buy a weighted tag to cover your weight or B--up your weighted tag rating to cover you.
The law has gotten VERY strict on this lately, pulling people from Morehead down to the NC/SC line especially boaters and farmers.
I'm going to up my tags to 20,000 or more in order to cover any of this.
NOW FOR THE OTHER KICKERS!!
If you tow a trailer/load that weighs more than 10,000 lbs, MUST HAVE A CLASS A DRIVER'S LICENSE! (I didn't get ticketed for this but found out today that I could have.)
ALSO, IF YOUR BOAT/TRAILER IS WIDER THAN 8'6" WIDE, YOU MUST HAVE AN OVERSIZE PERMIT IN ORDER TO TOW IT!! (The officer mentioned this to me last night however didn't cite me on it and decided to "be nice". ) With this permit, you CANNOT tow your oversize load between SUNSET and SUNRISE, ANYTIME ON SUNDAY, ANYTIME ON A HOLIDAY AND 12 HOURS BEFORE OR AFTER A HOLIDAY! Be sure to read that closely! You can ONLY tow during the day from Monday-Saturday on non-holidays!
This permit is available from the Permit Office and is $98/year. It goes to the vehicle and covers any load that you tow with the vehicle. Without this permit, if your trailer is over 8'6" wide, you are subject to a $500 ticket ON THE SPOT!
Again, this is VERY IMPORTANT! Things are getting VERY SERIOUS about this issue with reports of numerous people getting tickets in Snead's Ferry, Morehead City (after one of the King Mackerel Tournaments), and all across the state!
If you ask me, we need to try and fight some of this issue----I know for a fact, there are a LOT of people who do not live on the coast but travel to the area most weekends out of the year. For nearly 100% of these people, it is IMPOSSIBLE to NOT trailer a boat after sunset (see the oversized permit law). This would mean taking a half day off work on Friday and Monday in order to get the boat to and from the beach in order to simply go fishing or just enjoy the water!
This is complete BULL$@&# and we have to try and do something about it if you ask me. I am fortunate enough to live in Wilmington, NC and don't yet have a boat but I do tow a number of boats for friends due to my truck. So eventhough I don't have much of a "dog in the fight" (no Michael Vick pun intended ), I realize how STUPID this whole ordeal is.
Ok...I think I've covered all of the material on the subject. If you have any questions or comments please post up. I'm still learning on all of this since it's the first time I've been involved with such an issue but I know that more and more cases just like mine are happening with some fines being in the THOUSANDS of dollars.
That's right---and they are starting to pull over EVERY big boat on a trailer to go through and nitpick just so they can give you a ticket of some sort even if you are 100% legal! It's unbelievable what I've found out in the past 3 days!!
Wow, thanks for that info, Squid. I have an F250 CC diesel and I have a 10k weighted plate. I've always known in the back of my mind that I was towing overweight, just never worried about it until now! I also did NOT know that towing a trailer over 10k required a class A either!
Sorry you learned the hard way, but thanks for the head's up, good to know!
I have mine permitted... flag the truck's front corners, and the trailer's rear corners with 18" flags as required by the permit. 2 notes... its not your trailer's width.. its the boat's (or load's) width -- in my case its 9'-6". I believe you need a class A license if you tow someone else's property, not your own... I'll check into this. I towed 2 weekends ago after dark... this post gives me pause as I may not do it again. This same topic is hot on the FPT site. I can deal with not towing in the dark... but the Sunday/Holiday rule sucks.
__________________ Captain RF Mills
Location: Where the fish are, NC to FL, we travel.
Named after my children; Jonathan & Farren
Geez....come to think of it, I'm often overweight with my little landscape trailer loaded with some 2x4's.....what a freaking joke. What does it cost to up your weight on the registration to 20k?
I have mine permitted... flag the truck's front corners, and the trailer's rear corners with 18" flags as required by the permit. 2 notes... its not your trailer's width.. its the boat's (or load's) width -- in my case its 9'-6". I believe you need a class A license if you tow someone else's property, not your own... I'll check into this. I towed 2 weekends ago after dark... this post gives me pause as I may not do it again. This same topic is hot on the FPT site. I can deal with not towing in the dark... but the Sunday/Holiday rule sucks.
I would assume it's okay to tow another's property. What about rentals and such?
Last yr the kind lady's at DMV told me when I purchased by cape lookout tag that I was ok pulling my 28 ft with an F-250 as long as I did not have a company sticker on the side of the truck which made it look like I was commercial is some way. They asked a DMV officer that was in the office at that time and he agreed. The officer did say that most officers were looking for commercial trucks pulling too big of a load and should leave a boat alone. Guess that has changed!!!!!
Let us know if more info comes out on this issue I plan to go by the DMV tomorrow
Was aware of the overweight and overwidth permit requirements but not of the Class A license requirement so I actually looked at the back of my NC drivers license and it says that with a Class C you can tow a single vehicle up to 26,001 GVWR designed to transport less then 16 passengers and that you may tow a vehicle ( I assume trailer falls into this category) with a GVWR less then 10,001 lbs. Looks like I will need to get the Class A's
Last yr the kind lady's at DMV told me when I purchased by cape lookout tag that I was ok pulling my 28 ft with an F-250 as long as I did not have a company sticker on the side of the truck which made it look like I was commercial is some way. They asked a DMV officer that was in the office at that time and he agreed. The officer did say that most officers were looking for commercial trucks pulling too big of a load and should leave a boat alone. Guess that has changed!!!!!
Let us know if more info comes out on this issue I plan to go by the DMV tomorrow
Up until now, they left all boats out of this. But now, THANKS TO ONE HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER WHO STARTED ALL OF THIS CRAP, they are enforcing it on EVERYONE! Campers are still exempt since they have a cooking area, bathroom, and a covered roof. This absolutely makes NO SENSE!
And yes, the "no towing at night and all day on Sunday" is the worst part of the whole ordeal. I can deal with buying bigger tags. I can deal with getting a Class A license. But I CANNOT deal with not being able to tow your boat at night or on Sunday. This means that you cannot legally take your boat from your house to the boat ramp before sunrise to go to the gulf stream. You have to be home by dark. You have to take extra days off work to get anywhere (to and from the beach if you don't live there). The list goes on and on..........
Welcome to the world of patrolled towing....been stopped about once a year with hay and cattle/horse trailers. I keep 20,000 tags and they increase your fee as per poundage. Seems they have no care what you are towing with...rather how much weight you buy each year on your tags. So it does seem to be money driven. If they cracked down on fools towing too much weight unsafely I would be all for it.
I did not know about the Class A...what is involved in getting the Class A if you have a regular 'ole Class C?
Squid" Did I see you Sunday night? Your boat have a name on the side I saw 2 boats headed south one without tail lights and the other boat in the lead I think had GAIN on the side of it or it might of had BOUNTY the quick picker upper,Mike
Guys, not to stir a hornet's nest here but I can kind of see the logic behind some of those wide-load rules. It's a safety thing. The standard width of a lane on the interstate is 12' so after 8.5', that leaves 3.5' or just 1.75' on each side. At night the other drivers can't see you as well and if you're pulling a wide load, there's a good chance you're sticking or swaying into the adjacent lane or shoulder a bit. At least in the daytime the other drivers or people on the shoulder can see you and get out of the way in time. And last thing we need on a holiday rush is some slow poke pulling a huge boat down I-40 or I-95.
I don't understand why you can't trailer on Sunday though, and all of this should apply to campers equally, that makes no sense.
It just another tax...much like the $280 I was fined when I failed to have my 3rd vehicle inspected in time...the fine was for "environmental and emmissions non compliance" when I paid the fine and got it inspected it passed emissions...effectivly I am innocent and payed the penalty anyway....they write the rules in just a confusing enough way to guarentee a certain income.
Squid said: "Up until now, they left all boats out of this. But now, THANKS TO ONE HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER WHO STARTED ALL OF THIS CRAP, they are enforcing it on EVERYONE! Campers are still exempt since they have a cooking area, bathroom, and a covered roof. This absolutely makes NO SENSE!"
Would I be exempt since I have meet the qualifications of a camper? I have a galley, head and cabin roof not to mention a holding tank, water tank and water heater.
But I CANNOT deal with not being able to tow your boat at night or on Sunday. This means that you cannot legally take your boat from your house to the boat ramp before sunrise to go to the gulf stream. You have to be home by dark. You have to take extra days off work to get anywhere (to and from the beach if you don't live there). The list goes on and on..........
What the X!X!!! is this all about? This is the first time I have heard this law? Just about every single time I head out fishing I leave my house well before the sun coming up.
The DMV/SHP here in the mountains went on a ticket spree back in the spring and gave a friend of mine a ticket for being overweight in an empty 1/2 ton pickup with standard tags. Officer told him she could likely bust people coming out of Walmart in an SUV with a big TV and other items that would put them overweight. Complete bs and another way for the state to stick their nose in your business and their hands in your pockets. SHOTGUN RULE!!!!
__________________ "....that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants."
This needs to change!!! And fast!! I DON'T recommend shooting or threatening law enforcement. No matter how much of a pr!ck they may be. You'll always lose in the long run. What i DO recommend is a short and sweet letter and/or email to your state representatives' office. Maybe somebody could type up a quick form letter that we can all copy and post the contact info. for all of the state reps. I don't have the time to do that right now, but maybe tomorrow evening or this weekend. This is the place to start working on the solution folks!!!!
__________________ Proud member of Professor Eyeball, Esq., MD, MBA's ignore list since 2008.
IF YOU TRAILER A BOAT IN NC----LISTEN UP!! 
