new trailer laws for EVERYONE next summer

Well fellow IDOer’s…..
IMHO, we’re missing something that is staring us in the face > that being the boat trailer and the way some of them are made.!!!
Every boat trailer except the one I have now has been made with ‘Channel iron’ framing….No hidden milfoil, zeebs, spinny water fleas, etc….

My current trailer has a boxed frame, and worse, the bunk support braces are also box frame, and worse yet, are bowed down under the bunks, and of course welded to the main box frame on each side.
GUESS WHAT? those cross frame bunk supports fill with water every time I dunk the rig, and there are NO drain holes.

The trailer is at the Iron works getting worked on because those box supports finally RUSTED through! Broke, and welds cracked. Having them replaced with Channel Iron!

We need our legislators coming up with these crappy laws, to go after the trailer manufacturers and build trailer frames that are open, not boxed frames! All or us are dragging this crap all over the place! We can clean all the junk off til we’re blue in the face, and as long as there is water trapped, we are wasting time and a LOT OF $$$ !!! A tandem trailer like mine holds more water than a damn minnow bucket! And here’s a trailer full of water staring the DNR guys-n-gals in the face in the parking lot, and they have no damn clue! Is my live well empty? Really? They are the ones needing to take a damn 5$ test!!!!
Ok, rants over, but only for a little while

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Found out as in he got a ticket?

I don’t think so. I think he found out when he registered for some race or group gathering. Either someone told him, he saw them on other’s paddle boards or it was a requirement.

It does seem rather silly.

Down here all motorized boats need registration. Any non-motorized vessel under 16′ in length are exempt, so paddle boards and kayaks don’t need them…unless you use some monster sized ones.

Although they must use the same copy editor as MN. I had to read this several times. Youknow, sometimes it is ok to break up a sentence for clarity sake!

All vessels, with the exception of non-motor-powered vessels less than 16 feet in length, non-motor-powered canoes, kayaks, racing shells or rowing sculls, regardless of length, must be registered through your local Tax Collector’s Office External Website.

As I read it, the structure would be clearer written like this.

All vessels, regardless of length, must be registered through your local Tax Collector’s Office External Website. Exceptions to this law are non-motor-powered vessels less than 16 feet in length, non-motor-powered canoes, kayaks, racing shells or rowing sculls

But they can’t get “professional” pay making it easy to read.

I actually got quizzed by a professor in college who was apparently working with the state, she asked me 10 questions and i had to find the answers in the DNR handbook….There were a few questions neither of us could come up with a clear answer.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

But they can’t get “professional” pay making it easy to read.

Ain’t that the truth. Surprised they don’t use big words instead of plain language.

I just visited the site Dave posted on all the rules and regulations for this sticker and course. When bringing up the site I thought to myself that the Minnesota DNR wouldn’t make an out of stater put on this tag,,,would they? I got to the site and read all the common questions and found two links about out of staters going through the state of Minnesota, like someone mentioned before.

Low and behold I guess I also have to get the sticker even though I don’t even live in Minnesota and had no intensions of putting my boat in the waters there and was just traveling through. I feel for you guys and I won’t be going through Minnesota pulling my boat anytime sooner or later. This is a very complete example of how the braindead people, in any state, make laws up and make it hard on everyone, including out of staters. What do they expect to achieve in their tourist industry because like myself theres others who won’t be coming to Minnesota anytime to fish, and I do like fishing the Minnesota/Wisconsin stretch of the Mississippi. To put it simple theres too many rules and regulations that I have to follow and Why should I study a book for 3 days to go fishing for just a weekend and still wonder if I’m reading the rules right and have missed something, I would go there to relax and enjoy myself, why should I when in reality it may cost me a $100 and all the worry, just an out of staters view.

Mossydan, this state is utterly run by idiots guided by self interst groups. I’m embarresed the public in this state lets this happen. I have contacted my representatives on many occasions regaurding the issues and rules and laws and its like I have to educate them on these issues and many times reeducate.
Case in point, I contacted my represenative over this law and we had a good conversation. She agreed with my points and what I was saying. Then I asked how do we repeal this law. What heard next was nothing more than a politcal endorsement for her own party and not a solution. She had no intrest in takleling this.Liked her before and I even voted for her last time. Guess what, not getting my vote this time.
Mossy I wish there is something I could do to make this state a better sate to visit for you. We need people like you to help enrichen us and I’m not talking about your money.
Sadly, the special interest groups have the podium and the general public here is just not involved beyond pssing and moaning about something. When the general public doesn’t care enough to get involved the people are going to get flattened by this steam roller coming tis way. This is just the start of the stem roller upon us. Hopefully I’m out of here when the full weight of this roller is upon this state.

Dan, I brought that up early on in this post. If youy are “passing through”, it easily can be contested and never would hold up in federal law. Federal covers your rights as a citizen passing between the UNITED States. I looked up some of the language used in Federal pertaining to this silly law. They can require an inspection at the states expense upon entry and take immediate action to rectify – Example Port of Entry into Wyoming. I believe they can NOT execute the law as written for non-residence of MN.
As for the residence of MN, you have some house cleaning to do

I hear ya Randy and it does sound political because its become a popular issue to save the state and some of the corny politicians want to get on board to make their agenda sound like they care the most. We have a few lakes down this way that have been infested with exotics and there’s signs up posting what a boater should do and there’s no DNR officials at any ramp I’ve been on inspecting and craft. I don’t know on where to go with this because there’s not alot of lakes around here, maybe 10 within 35 miles unlike where you guys are from where there may be that many in under 10 miles. Spreading would be easier with that amount of lakes being so close,,,so has anyone done any studies on how fast it has spread giving the closeness of the lakes. Theres a lake here thats been infested a few years ago and the growth has come to within about 10 feet of the surface of the water and yet 15 miles away is another very popular lake that to my knowledge hasn’t been infected. I know there has to be alot of bass fishermen who fish both lakes in a single day beings bass fishermen are probably the most active at fishing more single bodies of water in a single day, and not singling them out by themselves.

Maybe the DNR here doesn’t want to spend the money on local lake inspections and are saying that if fishermen don’t do what their supposed to do and because its up to them, and do infect another lake that their saving their money to drain the lake and rebuild it if it gets out of control. The latter does sound to me to be the better answer, because why spend the money on inspecting lakes when it could be saved to drain any lakes and then rebuild it. I know it may not be that easy in some areas because I know some lakes feed other lakes with their drain offs where you guys are at, around here their just single lakes by themselves. I don’t know what the total answers are but having to post a sticker on an out of state boat isn’t right when hes not using any water in that state, thanks for the homework Randy.

While re-reading my last statement I thought maybe there’s a few people who don’t understand what I’m talking about and the reality of spending money that (maybe) could be spent better, down another route. Here’s another way too maybe look at what The DNR here is doing and why they maybe aren’t doing certain things.

I know this is all hypothetical but it could happen. Suppose the DNR has an inspector at each and every lake, popular or unpopular, from say 4:00 in the morning until around 10:00 at night 7 days a week to inspect water craft, trying to contain the spread of these unwanted exotics. That leaves from 10:00 until 4:00 where anyone coming to empty a minnow bucket or pull a boat out of the water uninspected.

At night even with a flashlight it would be fairly easy to miss something that could be on the trailer or hanging inbetween the treads of the trailer tires, that may infect another lake, coming into the dock in the middle of the night, even I unwantingly could do it, because no ones perfect.

I go to another lake the next night and accidently drop that exotic into that body of water. I know its my fault and because I didn’t go over that craft with a fine tooth comb and a hand held magnifying glass, and I didn’t see what it took to infest another lake.

The reason I’m saying this is to show the possibility and probability of how things can happen. Even though someone does care enough to inspect their water craft thoroughly, exotic species can still be missed and planted in another body of water. Maybe its smarter to charge a simple $1.00 rebuild fee to a fishing license to rebuild a lake that unknowingly was infested by a truly concerned outdoorsman. Its also another way to look at, not totally unwanted, inspections at a lake but how ineffective those inspections in reality may be.

Personally I don’t think inspections are doing much good at all and are doing what they are intended to do, because of the probability of human mistakes. I think the concerned sportsman will do the best they can but it still may not be a thorough solution because of the probability of human mistake. I think its a whole lot better for the DNR to save their money to rebuild a body of water with maybe minimual inspections on very popular bodies of water where theres people who could care less and are there to ski etc. In other words if its going to spread, its going to and theres not a whole lot anyone can do about it.

Any opinions and are inspection truly 100% failsafe?

I appreciate the outside-the-box thinking here. I would think that if there were ways to kill off these invasives, they would.

In my opinion, the DNR needs to focus on the education more than anything. This is the idea with this law.

Unfortunately, this law restricts our rights. Or is it a privilege, like driving?

Bottom line is that we are all being punished for a broader breakdown by our lawmakers. If we can stop them from getting here in the first place, we wouldn’t have to suffer.

The problem is that out lawmakers are being funded by the very people responsible. The shipping industry is probably the biggest reason for our problems.

Then you look at the problems were faced with, the biggest being our loss of rights. Not the loss of our natural resources.