There apparently is some confusion about whether registration numbers are required on dinghies powered by less than 10 hp outboards. This past summer Olympia Harbor Patrol stopped and warned people riding around in such dinghies without numbers displayed. A sign on the counter at West Marine warned of Fish and Wildlife Officers giving a $240 ticket to someone in a dinghy with a less than 10 hp outboard and no numbers displayed. On a walk down almost any dock one will see dinghies without registration numbers displayed. So, just what is required?
Most of us know that dinghies used as tenders that are powered by outboards of less than 10 hp are exempt from registration under state law. See RCW 88.02.030(6). The law defines a “tender” as a vessel used “for direct transportation between [the parent] vessel and the shore and for no other purpose.” See RCW 88.20.030(6)(c) (emphasis added). (So, if you use a dinghy with a 9.9 hp outboard to cruise around the waterfront on a summer evening or to go to Hearthfire for happy hour, it is not exempt from registration!)
The registration exemption further requires that the dinghy be “owned by the owner of a vessel for which a valid vessel number has been issued,” RCW 88.02.030(6)(a), and that the dinghy “[d]isplay the number of that numbered vessel followed by the suffix '1' in the manner prescribed by the department.” RCW 88.02.030(6)(b). The department means the Department of Licensing (DOL), which has promulgated a rule in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), section 308-93-145(9), that reads:
Is a tender as described in chapter 88.02 RCW required to display a vessel registration number? Vessels used as a tender, while exempt from registration under RCW 88.02.030, must display the numbers of the parent vessel with an additional number following the letter of the vessel registration number. (Example a) WN 5678 EF 1 or WN-5678-EF-1. The second tender vessel registration number will be the next consecutive number. (Example b) WN 5678 EF 2 or WN-5678-EF-2.
There is a possible ambiguity in all of this as it relates to documented parent vessels. Is the tender required to display the federal vessel number followed by the suffix "1" or the state issued number? (For documented vessels, the state still issues a vessel number, which is found on the boat’s registration, even though “[v]essels documented by the United States Coast Guard are prohibited from displaying the [state] registration number.” WAC 308-93-145(1)). An e-mail to the DOL Director that asked to “clarify whether the parent vessel numbers required to be displayed on a tender … for a United States Coast Guard documented parent vessel are the registration numbers issued by the state of Washington or the federal documentation numbers” received a reply from Toni Smith of Vehicle Licensing at DOL that stated in part: “The state issued WN registration number assigned to the parent vessel must be displayed on the tender with an additional number following the letter.”
So now you know! The required 3" high letters/numbers in self-adhesive vinyl may be purchased at West Marine, or any local hardware store.
Bob Hargreaves, Bright Angel