Get To Class - A Boating License Guide
More and more people are hitting the water each year in their new boats. What some may not know is that there's some safety steps they need to take before hitting the water. One of those may be the need for a boating license.
Hey everyone, one of the questions I get a lot is “Do I need to have a special license or certificate to operate a boat?” This is a tricky question to answer because in my opinion every boater should go through their state’s boaters’ safety course at the very least. But in short there are a lot of reason that you will be required to have a certificate to operate a boat.
The first reason is age. Now I know everyone reading this doesn’t live in the same state so check your states requirements as they differ from state to state. So, I will be focusing on the great state of South Carolina where the Sportsman Boats are born these next examples. All states are close except for the date of birth. So here we do have a requirement that any person born after July 1st, 2007, must possess a Boaters Education Card to operate any vessel with 10hp or more or any PWC. The class is an instructor led class that is 6 hours long, one day, with a test at the end, or they offer a paid class if you would rather do it online and take a test. I recommend the in-person class in case you have any questions. A few comparisons of this rule state to state: Florida is Jan 1st, 1988, for any vessel over 10hp, Texas is Sep 1st, 1993, for any vessel over 15hp, and wind vessel over 14ft and all PWCs.
So now we have covered a big reason you may need a certificate to operate a vessel on the water for personal use. Now let’s say you want to charge people to be on your boat what do I need then? Well at this point you will need to go to school and take a little longer school and get a USCG captain’s license. I will talk about the 2 smallest licenses as they are the most used.
The first one most people have heard about is the Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV) or commonly referred to as the “6-pack” license. This will give you a limitation of 6 people to 100 miles off the coast. When do I need this? Well, any time you are taking passengers for hire like fishing, sightseeing, diving transport, or teaching. This is a great course for everyone to take, there is a ton of great information for every boater.
Now let’s say you want to go further or carry more people, well all you need to is upgrade to a Masters License. This can be a 25, 50 or 100 ton license and gives you the right to drive an inspected vessel with 7 or more passengers up to 200 miles off the coast. This just takes a little more time in a boat, some more schooling and a test.
I hope this was helpful to everyone. As someone who has taken and passed all 3 of those courses, I can say they are very informative and will help boaters at any skill set. Whether you have been boating for 20 years or 20 minutes the boater’s safety courses offered by the state are great tools for knowledge. Who knows, take a class you may just learn something.