Just gonna leave this here, hope it's not a repost

Collaboration project between y’all and 3d Fab? Who needs a cardboard regatta when you can have tiny boat regattas.

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Yes, I saw this online a month or so ago on the TESTED website. Looks like Norm’s having a blast in that little boat.

One thing’s for sure, Marine grade plywood is not cheap.

I guess you’d have to get this boat licensed to operate it on public bodies of water, just like any full-sized watercraft. In any event, it’s a fun video.

Thank you for posting!

If it has a motor, it requires registration in Texas. Also sailing vessels over 14’ or with an auxiliary motor.

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Yup, it’s got a trolling motor.

You would want to save receipts for materials. You need either that or a statement of fact explaining why you don’t have them.

Not sure I’m following you. Why do builder save their receipts? To satisfactorily
explain it’s a ‘build’ versus a ‘buy’? Title issue?

It is worse for trailers, but basically if you don’t have a VIN (or HIN for boats) you have to get an inspection for a home built boat/trailer/car. This is nominally to ensure that the boat is safe for public use. However, a very large portion, especially for trailers is searching for evidence that no prior VIN exists, and that it isn’t a stolen manufactured trailer with the VIN etched off. Receipts for materials greatly help as evidence that it actually is home built. Presumably the same applies for boats and cars.

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Texas Parks and Wildlife will want to make sure the boat you are trying to license for a motor was actually made and not stolen somewhere. I’ve heard they will make sure you are capable of building a boat and have also heard they aren’t above visiting your workshop to judge if they think you actually built one.

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Texas Parks and Wildlife took a friend of mine to court over a “stolen” motor. The serial number is on it 3 times. The manufacturer put the most visible serial number on an area that get lots of wear and that one number was missing, the other 2 were there. They accuse him of removing that serial number.

He buys old and still valuable broken outboard motors to repair and then sell.

They would not listen to reason and to some extent were harassing him. They go back and forth a bunch and finally end up in court.

The judge ruled in his favor and part of the ruling was the state had to issue a title to that motor for him.

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And this is why I just left it here, so better minds could determine if it was actually something y’all could actually do, sounds like a “no” haha

Tpw has an ENORMOUS amount of power and definitely like to flaunt it. Then you get people that like to abuse that power as well and everyone (but Tpw) has a bad time usually. Granted there is some need for that power when you regularly have to confront people with a long arm near them but sneeze wrong at some of them and they’ll have your guns, boat, trailer and truck impounded fastb enough to make your head spin.

Don’t think it is so much a no, as a keep good records. Prove that the plywood was legally acquired. Take and print photos of the material being cut, assembled and finished. Know that you may have more time and heartache into getting your HIN, registration numbers and sticker than into building the boat itself.

Or, if it is only going to get taken out once to prove it worked, then become wall art somewhere, take your chances on a ticket for operating an unregistered boat, and call it a day.

I’m getting ready to build a portable antenna mast trailer with a friend, and I’m reminding him to keep all receipts along the way, and that we need to take photo breaks, as well as keeping good design practices in mind.

You can. Many people do.

  1. You have to show evidence that you built it (i.e. material receipts or a statement as to why there were no receipts)
  2. You have to have it inspected by a game warden
  3. You have to register the boat and pay the associated tax

You will be required to have sufficient flotation to ensure that the boat cannot sink if capsized. This is typically achieved with foam flotation or sealed bulkheads. The flotation would have to offset the weight of any motor and fuel source (battery, petrofuel, etc).

I have read somewhere where someone took a home made trailer in for inspection. They told him it was too nice to be home made. I ran upon this while debating to build one or not for myself. So I dropped 3k on my trailer to be custom built.

One you tuber was apparently told that his looked commercial, but that the recipt for all the steel really helped. I’m expecting that for the oddball design we are planning, nobody will have a similar commercial design, so between that and the recipts, I think we will be good.

I’m increasingly of a mind that it is important to keep doing stuff like this, and not allow society to get to the point where it won’t allow one to build their own.

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