Washington Requires CO Sticker
 

Registered my boat yesterday here in Washington and was asked if I had a prominently displayed Carbon Monoxide sticker. I am told they are now required under new Washington law and enforceable by all agencies. The licensing place had the sticker and handed me one.
The clerk said they are doing a lot of boat inspections and specifically looking for this sticker.

Do Cars have to display a Carbon Monoxide Sticker? What does it say? What it is for? Sounds like another Government waste of money to me....

Treehuggers pushing their agenda's.

Are you surfing 5 feet from the exhaust on a car? not entirely sure this is needed, but given many people out there are surfing without cats, maybe not a horrible idea to raise awareness.

^ I dont think this has anything to do with a green agenda.

Small 2"x6" (ish) warning the dangers of inhaling CO fumes. I haven't heard of any issues around here on any of our lakes with CO poisening.

Seems like a waste of money and time to me. I hate having to put stickers on my boat period. You are in Washington. Are you sure it is not a "This boat runs on Cannabis oil" sticker?

Its not really a big deal... just a little sticker

@lavinder you ever make it to long lake in port orchard?

Last year they were giving them out, but weren't required to my knowledge. Maybe it changed this year?

They've been required for at least a few years, and I got a "warning" from some boat cop in Bremerton for not having one. When I went in to the DOL to get one, they were out! Anyway, I finally got one but haven't stuck it yet, it's big, ugly, and completely silly. They're just looking for more things to ticket for and make some money.

http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistr...costicker.html

No offense, but if anyone sits at the back of the boat breathing fumes from the exhaust until they die they likely aren't the type that will read the sticker in the first place.

@Talon, no I haven't been to Long Lake with my boat. My neighbors go there weekly throughout the year (swimsuits, wetsuits, to drysuits) to ski. We primarily boat at Lake Cushman, occasionally at Mason Lake.

I figure I will stick my sticker by my CG weight limit sticker. Keep in bundled.

Lake Cushman is nice but cooold. Mason lake got a new public boat ramp a while ago which is really nice, but the path out to the main part of the lake is still too shallow :(

Lake Cushman has varying temps from damn that's cold, to nice and warm. Typically we are around 55 degrees in May, 70 in August. I suit up from Memorial until about the second week of June, then shorts until they draw the lake back down in September.
Mason can get so crowded on the weekends, you can't find calm water. And the water is fairly stagnant. The new ramp is nice though.

yeah man, definitely would advise getting that sticker, our group got checked almost every other time we went out last year (okay, maybe not exactly as we put on 100 hrs. last year, but we did get pulled over and "checked" more than ten times).

In Washington, and I am sure in most any other state, you can get your vessle checked by both State and USCG officers for free and they will give you a small sticker for the side of your boat.
I know we all dont really want to add any stickers...BUT... these can save you a lot of hassle... the first year I had my boat out on the Columbia, I was getting checked constantly, then the next year the first time I got checked I asked them why they cant track boats they have checked using the registration numbers or something instead of always stopping us. He gave me the old "its my job" speech (which I guess I can understand), but then he handed me a sticker and said put this on your boat and then we will know we have already checked you. Didnt get checked for the rest of the year after that. So now I chase them down at the beginning of each season and have them give me a new sticker...

I thought I read somewhere awhile back that the CG and State Police "stops" were total BS under the law. How does being on the water allow them to throw PC out the window and inspect your vessel every time you are on the water without the CG or State sticker? I don't see the difference between this harassment and the police that demand you provide ID when open carrying a firearm legally in a public place under the premise that they are "just investigating a complaint" crap.

Maybe there is some maritime law that allows them to skirt Probable Cause, but I doubt it.

I have avoided displaying that sticker in my boat. I keep my boat on Spencer Lake, which is a pretty small lake near Mason Lake. The Sheriff doesn't come out much, so we have nothing to worry about.

uuuuuh ahhh i really want to disagree with you..... Here is a wikipedia article blurb about exposure. I cant really find anything to support the idea that we as wakesurfers are between the 35ppm and 100ppm bracket, many factors come into play here, ie wind speed, wake(from the air around the vessel) and exhaust location. You know when you are breathing exhaust.... Yes, CO is oderless, but that is when it is in its PURE form...the exhaust you are interacting with is not PURE CO, which is why you can smell it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning

If anyone has evidence that says otherwise, let me know!