Mussel Inspection Nightmare

[SCARAB_CDR]

I am moving from San Diego to Washington State and thought it might be fun to take the boat to a couple of lakes along the way. Being fully cognizant of the danger of spready invasive species I normally clean, drain, dry my boat after every use, to include flushing the exhaust. For this trip I even brought along cleaning gear and a shop-vac to clean out the boat after use. The first lake was Lake Havasu, which is known to have quagga and zebra mussels. After our last use, I arranged with the AZ Game and Fish to have my boat decontaminated. I thought they did a pretty thorough job, including flushing out the bilges and flushing the exhaust.

Next lake - Lake Tahoe. They appreciated that I had it deconned in AZ, and but needed to do their own inpection/decon process. All was well until it came time to do the exhaust flushing. They found a mussel shell (half shell, no mussel) on the ground and said it came from my boat, and so my boat is now quarantined. It's stuck here in Lake Tahoe for a week until the inspector from Sacramento can come out and supervise a more thorough flushing. I'd really like to know where on a Scarab 195 exhaust or jet a shell the length and width of a thumbnail can hide? Is it possible for it to enter through the cooling intake in the impeller? Is it possible that it could enter through the exhaust port from wave action? What about sand? the shell they found was sitting in a bunch of sand that they also said came from my boat. I find it extremely hard to believe that the boat could go through the process in Arizona and then 24 hours later spit out a bunch of sand in Lake Tahoe.

I'm open to ideas or theories. This sucks, and I certainly don't want to go through it again. I already flush the exhaust after each use, I'm not sure what else I could have done other than avoid Lake Havasu.

Oh, and that nice big pocket under the engine created by the engine mount structure doesn't help much either. SCARAB - please install drain passageways in your design. Only way to get it out currently is to stick a shop-vac under there, where you can't see.​

 

[Ronnie]

I don’t know about scarabs but the cooling intake in my Yamaha’s jet pump is covered by a plastic grill with a lot of holes in it the thickness of a pencil lead, no way a shell the size you described is getting through it. If the scarab has water boxes, which are standard in all the jet boats and pwcs I’ve ridden, they probably have at least a little water in them most of the time during a season.

I used to visit a reservoir that conducted stringent inspections, and just did what the locals did before inspection. Park outside the gate and towel and / or shop vac all standing water on the boat, also blow out the exhaust and wipe around it afterwards, do the same for the water toys, vests even anchor line. Sometimes they would fail a person for having a wet anchor or docking lines.

One week is a long time to be in Tahoe without a boat or go snow boarding / skiing. I suggest that you consider trailering the boat to another body of water nearby. Union Reservoir is just south of Tahoe and it is huge. As in 30 plus miles of shore line, surrounded by 50 to 100 foot trees and a paved bike path. There is also loon lake where the Rubicon trail starts im sure that there are many more, I just don’t know the area well. Just remember wherever you go up there the water should be clean and clear but it will also be cold.

Another possible alternative would be for you to take your boat to another faciltuh on the lake and have them inspect it there hopefully with a passing result,

 

[SCARAB_CDR]

Ronnie, when I say quarantine, I mean they called the California State Fish and Wildlife department and KEEP my boat until it's cleared. There will be no taking it to another lake. I even offered to take it to Sacramento where the inspector is but they apparently don't have the ability to do decon there. I went through a very thorough decon in Arizona by THEIR fish and wildlife. I never thought I would have to shove a shop-vac into the exhaust, if it's even possible.

 

[Ronnie]

This is the first time I’ve read anything like this happening. I didn’t even know it was legal for them to “keep” your boat and now wonder if it is.

In Santa Clara county where they conduct the inspection but not any decontamination if you fail the inspection they do not allow you to try again for either a week or a day (I can’t remember now) and they let the other boatable lakes/reservoirs in the county know you failed so you can’t simply drive over, get inspected, pass and boat there later the same day, it’s been this way there for 10 years now.

In Modesto (San Joaquin county?) they go by the honor system, that is they ask you to sign a form indicating that your boat has not been in contaminated waters and once signed the form sits on the tow vehicle’s dash while in the park. Once they had a dog walk around my boat and trailer, it didn’t bark and I got in but that was only one time in the 18 or so years I’ve been boating there. At union reservoir i don’t recall any type of inspection or form to fill out at all. I also just visited Folsom for the first time ever and Tulloch for the first time in almost ten years, I think they are on the honor system too (I.e., they asked and I may have filled out a form for the dash but it seemed like a formality once I paid the launch fee).

With that I’m going to do a little research on Lake Tahoe, I’ve always heard they had a more stringent inspection process but that they also had a much more detailed and costly decontamination process, “guaranteed to pass inspection
afterwards”. Most two strokes have been banned there for years now and the environmentalist like the Sierra club have a lot of influence but I still question whether they can legally hold your boat for any period of time. I assume there is statement regarding that on some form you signed when you agreed to let them inspect your boat but this is just an assumption.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, people have often told me that boating tahoe should be on my bucket list but I didn’t know of a feasible route to the lake until recently, the main route on the 50 is a treacherous winding two lane road (one in each direction) for the last 20+ miles (past kyberz (sp?) which we drive when we want to snowboard at heavenly, Sierra, etc. that alone keeps me from hauling my boat up there. I’d say rent a boat while you are there but as I recall the winter rate for one of their 20 + year old 19’ runabouts which is little more than a hull with an engine and a wakeboard tower was $600 per day. You may be able to find a better rate on a local privately owned boat or pwc which has already passed the inspection on Craigslist though.

Good luck. This string has all but solidified my position that the only way I will boat on Lake Tahoe is on someone else’s boat and if I’m invited to go with a friend I will be asking whether their boat has passed the inspection before I start the three to four hour drive to the lake.

@Matt Phillips as I recall Tahoe is your home / main lake any advice for the OP or the rest of us when it comes to boating at Tahoe?

 

[MidnightRider]

That's crazy, they basically confiscated your boat for a week???? I understand banning you from lakes but taking your boat and keeping it?? I don't really know anything about legal stuff like this but seems like that could be challenged, doesn't sound legal.

 

[Jgorm]

I'd be pissed! This muscle crap is out of control.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Let me preface what I'm going to say by first making sure you guys all know I'm as far from a tree hugger as you can get. I ride dirtbikes in the forests for heaven's sake! Just doing that labels me as a menace to the environment. haha.

What you wanted to do is basically the mussel inspectors worst nightmare. In California, it's pretty well known that if you put your boat in any water south of the Tehachapi's, you better not bring it back north without letting is sit for 3 months dry. It's actually moved further north than that, San Luis Reservoir and the Oneil Forbay is on the list of places that will get you kicked out of any water north of that. And they're just about an hour and a half south of the San Francisco Bay Area.

As far as the mussels themselves, they are microscopic (80 to 400 microns before turning to juveniles where they're 1-3mm) before they grow into actual mussels you can see. They can live in a boat for a month I believe. They can live totally out of water for a week. That means they can be in your boat, no matter how good you clean it. There's just too many places they can "hide" in a boat. I've had my boat "decontaminated", it's a joke. There's no way doing what was done to my boat would insure microscopic organisms were all killed or eliminated.

So on this ONE subject in this ONE situation (lol), I'm going to have to play the environmental greeniac and say PLEASE don't put your boat in any water for at least a month. I totally understand the people at Tahoe being crazy about this subject. There are no mussels in Tahoe. They want to keep it that way. If they let you put your boat in there, even after a week, there's a chance, even though it's slim, that you could bring those Southern California mussels into Tahoe and northern waters that aren't currently infected.

BTW, a week quarantine is actually way shorter than they're supposed to do. As far as I've been told, the mussels can live in a boat way longer than that. I was told at Lake Comanche that if I brought a boat there and it had been in even just water that was suspected to be infected, they'd quarantine it for 3 weeks minimum. They do that so that you don't just take your boat down the road and infect someplace else that is on the honor system or doesn't check. I get it and unfortunately agree with the procedure. Sorry!

(Did I mention that gas leaf blowers are illegal in my city but I use one anyway? Along with an "illegal" gas trimmer, gas chain saws, gas chipper and a gas ride on mower. F the Police. hahahaha.)

I should add one more point, I mentioned Lake Comanche as a place that would quarantine your boat. It's where they had to decontaminate my boat before they'd let me put it in the water. The important part is that this lake, like many lakes and reservoirs, feeds cities with drinking water. Comanche feeds the East Bay, big cities like Oakland. If these mussels were to contaminate that water source, it would be devastating to the entire infrastructure. It's a pain in the @ss for us boaters to deal with mussels, but it's a HUGE deal for Northern California water because it feeds millions of people drinking water daily. Having that water supply full of mussels could be catastrophic, and my understanding is that once they're infected, they don't have any way of getting rid of them.

 

[MidnightRider]

Let me preface what I'm going to say by first making sure you guys all know I'm as far from a tree hugger as you can get. I ride dirtbikes in the forests for heaven's sake! Just doing that labels me as a menace to the environment. haha.

What you wanted to do is basically the mussel inspectors worst nightmare. In California, it's pretty well known that if you put your boat in any water south of the Tehachapi's, you better not bring it back north without letting is sit for 3 months dry. It's actually moved further north than that, San Luis Reservoir and the Oneil Forbay is on the list of places that will get you kicked out of any water north of that. And they're just about an hour and a half south of the San Francisco Bay Area.

As far as the mussels themselves, they are microscopic (80 to 400 microns before turning to juveniles where they're 1-3mm) before they grow into actual mussels you can see. They can live in a boat for a month I believe. They can live totally out of water for a week. That means they can be in your boat, no matter how good you clean it. There's just too many places they can "hide" in a boat. I've had my boat "decontaminated", it's a joke. There's no way doing what was done to my boat would insure microscopic organisms were all killed or eliminated.

So on this ONE subject in this ONE situation (lol), I'm going to have to play the environmental greeniac and say PLEASE don't put your boat in any water for at least a month. I totally understand the people at Tahoe being crazy about this subject. There are no mussels in Tahoe. They want to keep it that way. If they let you put your boat in there, even after a week, there's a chance, even though it's slim, that you could bring those Southern California mussels into Tahoe and northern waters that aren't currently infected.

BTW, a week quarantine is actually way shorter than they're supposed to do. As far as I've been told, the mussels can live in a boat way longer than that. I was told at Lake Comanche that if I brought a boat there and it had been in even just water that was suspected to be infected, they'd quarantine it for 3 weeks minimum. They do that so that you don't just take your boat down the road and infect someplace else that is on the honor system or doesn't check. I get it and unfortunately agree with the procedure. Sorry!

(Did I mention that gas leaf blowers are illegal in my city but I use one anyway? Along with an "illegal" gas trimmer, gas chain saws, gas chipper and a gas ride on mower. F the Police. hahahaha.)

I should add one more point, I mentioned Lake Comanche as a place that would quarantine your boat. It's where they had to decontaminate my boat before they'd let me put it in the water. The important part is that this lake, like many lakes and reservoirs, feeds cities with drinking water. Comanche feeds the East Bay, big cities like Oakland. If these mussels were to contaminate that water source, it would be devastating to the entire infrastructure. It's a pain in the @ss for us boaters to deal with mussels, but it's a HUGE deal for Northern California water because it feeds millions of people drinking water daily. Having that water supply full of mussels could be catastrophic, and my understanding is that once they're infected, they don't have any way of getting rid of them.

Oh of course - I agree 100% with taking cross contamination of lakes very seriously. I have no problem with that. What seems overboard and crazy is to physically take your boat away. Around here they have a computer system where they enter where you've been and when. So I would think that if you were just on Lake A and it has Zebra mussels and you go to Lake B that doesn't the system will show that and they don't let you on Lake B if there is evidence of contamination or if they have a time period where you need to wait - that'd be all fine and necessary. But what if I wanted to go back to Lake A instead but can't cause they take my boat away!?!?!?! That is what I'm getting at.

Edit: I'll add that if they are "keeping" your boat only because you want to go on that lake next, then I can see that - kind of like a waiting period for that lake. If they would let you take your boat if you decide that you aren't going to go on that lake - this seems reasonable. In other words, "taking your boat" is only part of the process of getting on that lake - not as a result of you failing the inspection.

 

[SCARAB_CDR]

I totally understand the mussel invasion problem, and I certainly don't want to be the source of contamination. I have no intention of putting my boat into any waters knowing it may have these things in it. The quarantine is in effect until the state inspector can come from Sacramento and oversee a more thorough decon. I guess I'm lucky it's only a week? My frustration is twofold:
1) Where could these shell fragments and sand have come from on my boat? I went through the Arizona Game and Fish decon before leaving Havasu. They sprayed all compartments and flushed the exhaust. Then, vacuumed out all the water, and any residual dried in the 114 degree heat. Where is the pocket, cavity, whatever that contained sand and mussel shells that supposedly came out of my 'engine' when the Lake Tahoe people did their decon process? It certainly didn't come from the bilge, and I find it hard to believe it could be in the jet, so I think that only leaves the exhaust. If this can be resident in the exhaust, then how did it get in there, why wasn't it found in Arizona, and how can we be assured of keeping it out in the future?
2) What is the point of the decon process? They people performing this say they use 140 degree water that is known to kill the organisms. They spray everything down, run it through the flushing lines, spray all the compartments, all the lifejackets, skis, anchor and just about everything else so that supposedly it kills anything on your boat. But, if they find a shell fragment during that process, it's all null and void? WTF? Why call it a decontamination then? Sounds like it doesn't work. Had I known that the decon process was ineffective and that there was a risk of my boat being impounded, I NEVER would have gone back to Lake Havasu, and probably wouldn't have come to Tahoe. Like I said, I thought I was taking all the necessary precautions by having it deconned before even coming to Tahoe.
- I should also mention that while I went through my ordeal, on the inspection pad next to me I watched them do a pair of kayaks, a Mastercraft, and a Sea Ray. Never did I see them sweep off the pad. How can they confirm that something found on the ground didn't come from a previous vessel if they don't clean off the pad prior to use?

Oh yeah, and BTW, worse than losing use of the boat for a week or more - I'm moving! I'm driving from SOCAL to Washington state. so now I've got to leave the boat and jeep here, fly to Seattle, work a bit up there, then fly back when the inspector can be here, and then resume my drive north. They say they can do the decon without me being here, but they'll need to run the boat. Based on their unfamiliarity with the ROTAX engines, and the limitation of running out of water no more than 2 minutes due to risk to the carbon seal, I'm not comfortable with just letting them do it.

So - NIGHTMARE

 

[MidnightRider]

I totally understand the mussel invasion problem, and I certainly don't want to be the source of contamination. I have no intention of putting my boat into any waters knowing it may have these things in it. The quarantine is in effect until the state inspector can come from Sacramento and oversee a more thorough decon. I guess I'm lucky it's only a week? My frustration is twofold:
1) Where could these shell fragments and sand have come from on my boat? I went through the Arizona Game and Fish decon before leaving Havasu. They sprayed all compartments and flushed the exhaust. Then, vacuumed out all the water, and any residual dried in the 114 degree heat. Where is the pocket, cavity, whatever that contained sand and mussel shells that supposedly came out of my 'engine' when the Lake Tahoe people did their decon process? It certainly didn't come from the bilge, and I find it hard to believe it could be in the jet, so I think that only leaves the exhaust. If this can be resident in the exhaust, then how did it get in there, why wasn't it found in Arizona, and how can we be assured of keeping it out in the future?
2) What is the point of the decon process? They people performing this say they use 140 degree water that is known to kill the organisms. They spray everything down, run it through the flushing lines, spray all the compartments, all the lifejackets, skis, anchor and just about everything else so that supposedly it kills anything on your boat. But, if they find a shell fragment during that process, it's all null and void? WTF? Why call it a decontamination then? Sounds like it doesn't work. Had I known that the decon process was ineffective and that there was a risk of my boat being impounded, I NEVER would have gone back to Lake Havasu, and probably wouldn't have come to Tahoe. Like I said, I thought I was taking all the necessary precautions by having it deconned before even coming to Tahoe.
- I should also mention that while I went through my ordeal, on the inspection pad next to me I watched them do a pair of kayaks, a Mastercraft, and a Sea Ray. Never did I see them sweep off the pad. How can they confirm that something found on the ground didn't come from a previous vessel if they don't clean off the pad prior to use?

Oh yeah, and BTW, worse than losing use of the boat for a week or more - I'm moving! I'm driving from SOCAL to Washington state. so now I've got to leave the boat and jeep here, fly to Seattle, work a bit up there, then fly back when the inspector can be here, and then resume my drive north. They say they can do the decon without me being here, but they'll need to run the boat. Based on their unfamiliarity with the ROTAX engines, and the limitation of running out of water no more than 2 minutes due to risk to the carbon seal, I'm not comfortable with just letting them do it.

So - NIGHTMARE

Yeah see that's crazy! Keeping you off the lake and keeping your boat are 2 different things to me. So if I drive from MN out to Lake Tahoe for vacation and they find a mussel shell, that means they take my boat and I either have to somehow call work and extend my vacation so I can stay there to get my boat back or I have to go home and then take another trip out there later to get the boat - that's insane! I fee your pain.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

I totally get it. What a way to have your trip screwed up. But the not letting you go part unfortunately makes sense. It would be totally reasonable, IF all humans were inherently honest. Unfortunately, they aren't. They came up with the mandatory "confiscation" because they understood what would happen if they didn't.

Think about it, Joe average boater is all geared up for his weekend. He's got his 4 cases of beer in the coolers, and probably has had a few on the drive up. (lol. This is Joe Average Boater, NOT any of us!!!) He just had his boat in infected waters the weekend before and now pulls up to a nice clean reservoir that's used for drinking water for millions of people. They tell him he can't put his boat in here, but let him go. He thinks about it, while being extremely pissed off and thinking his entire group is going to be screaming that they won't be able to tube or wakeboard or whatever, and says "screw this, let's find another lake". That lake is on the honor system, so what does he do? He lies and says "My boat is clean and dry and I only boat in un-infected water". They let him in, not knowing his boat could be full of mussels.

It happens. And they know it happens so the only way to stop it is to quarantine the boat. Come on, even on here you were given the idea of going to another lake nearby. I've been to Loon Lake many times, it's a pristine high mountain lake. It would be a shame to fill it with an invasive species that can't be eradicated.

Again, these mussels can be as small as 80 microns. That's pretty darn small. Can any of us clean the inside of an entire boat and engines down to making sure every last 80 micron hiding place is clean and dry? Doubtful. I know the idea of a couple little 80 micron organisms surviving in a boat for a week or two and then jumping off and infecting a new lake is pretty far fetched, but that's exactly how this stuff spreads. After all, the idea of birds carrying fish eggs on their feet from lake to lake seems far fetched too, but it's how that little pond in the middle nowhere ends up having fish in it.

I actually can't believe I'm being the devil's advocate on this subject, but mostly I'm trying to put some facts in here for anyone that wants to understand the situation a little better. Sorry your trip got screwed up! You should have asked or mentioned what you were doing on here before you went! If I saw it I would have told you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TRY TO PUT YOUR BOAT IN TAHOE. And I would have said it that loud too! I've boated on Tahoe. I don't plan to EVER take my own boat to Tahoe. It's also highly unlikely that I'd put my boat in any Southern California water knowing that they're almost all infected and there's a chance I'd bring those mussels up into clean waters. I don't want to be "That Guy". It only takes one guy with one boat to infect an entire lake.

 

[mrmeaniemeateaterman]

Have you given any thought to the possibility that the inspector planted that sand and shell just to simply keep you out of the lake. I'm guessing you told the inspector at Tahoe what you were up to. You obviously told them you were from San Diego and had been in AZ at a lake known to have mussels. I'm guessing these inspectors take their jobs very seriously for all the reasons @gmtech16450yz mentioned. I'm also guessing there was no way in hell they were letting you in that water and will continue to screw you over until you move on. They probably aren't real thrilled with you dragging that boat all the way up West coast on top of that. You can fight it but in this case I suggest you don't be "the guy trying to infest the lake" and just get going...if and when they let you have boat back.

I personally would explain to them you have been doing some reading on the mussel situation. You didn't realize the potential catastrophic effects it poses. Tell them you have seen the error in your ways. Promise you won't get that boat anywhere near a body of water for months. And generally plead for mercy. Good Luck!

 

[Jgorm]

I get that the mussels are a huge problem. The only way to keep a body of water mussel free is to ban boats. I dumped about a gallon of water out my muffler after not having driven the boat for over 6 months. The exhaust path is convoluted. Most lakes with strict rules are already contaminated. The entire Colorado River is contaminated. It's kind of like having your food and coolers examined for ants when you are entering a house that already has problems with ants. There comes a point where every boater could bring in 100 mussels and not affect the population already there by 0.01%

 

[Ronnie]

Most jet boats have water boxes, I’ve have not seen any yet that can be easily and completely drained of water.

What is the source of the position that they can quarantine a person’s boat for weeks on end? I did a short search online this morning but found nothing about the consequences of failing an inspection, just rationale to support inspections and locations of inspection stations near Tahoe? I understand and agree with the rationale provided by @gmtech16450yz , but it does not by itself give the state the right to hold your boat.

Things aren’t adding up for me and I didn’t realize Comanche had gotten that strict. I was there about 5 years ago and at nearby new lake hogan 2 years ago, lake McClure and the Modesto reservoir (the Modesto areas drinking water) this season and there was no formal inspection just a form for the dash which I imagine many people lie about anyway. As @gmtech16450yz stated, who wouldn’t lie in a given situation, Lake Tahoe is “difficult” to tow a boat to even if you live close.

As I understand it when the mussels grow they clog up the plumbing of that body of water. Which makes getting the water out and processed for human use a problem. Once a body of water is infected it’s always infected but it seems like the simple way to treat the symptoms is to clean the intake/output grates of large mussels a few times per decade. I for one would welcome the day that Anderson reservoir is declared to be infested with mussels under he assumption that the inspections would cease and I could start boating there again on a non exclusive basis (it’s the closest boatable reservoir to my home and I never use it because of the mussel inspections). I think I know how it would be handled, they would charge more to enter the park and launch there and use or say that the additional fees will be used to cover the cost of mussel remediation. Currently I don’t think about boating there unless it’s my first trip of the year when my boat is “dry”. It just not worth the effort or anxiety of going through the inspection process again if I’ve boated elsewhere in the interim. How do they know? If the paper band that they put though the bow eye and winch hook as you leave the lake is broken your boat is subject to reinspection.

 

[gmtech16450yz]

I just thought about this subject over the weekend. We were at Lake Camanche over the last 4 days. My boat was squeaky clean and dry, and the last lake I went to was one of the cleanest water lakes I've ever had the boat in. No problem getting in, the guy could tell the boat was clean and dry.

So on the second day there, the kids were floating around in the water swimming and playing. My son gets in the boat and pulls out 3 big water canons(Yamaha branded of course!) we had in there, buried under a bunch of ropes, bumpers and floats. He pushes the handle on one and squirts his cousin. I had one of those "damn, I never thought of that" moments. haha. He hadn't put the gun in the water yet, there was still water in it from whenever/wherever they were used last. We unknowingly transferred water from one lake to another.

Not a big deal, just interesting considering what we were talking about here. I know there was ZERO chance of it having any living organisms in it, but in a situation where somebody is going from one lake to another in a matter of weeks, you could certainly carry invasive species along without even realizing it. There's just too many places they can hide or tag along. The ONLY way to be sure is time. Letting a boat sit for a month or so pretty much guarantees there's no way anything could transfer from lake to lake. That's why they do the quarantine thing.

So SCARAB_CDR, what ended up happening?

 

[Julian]

I'm just surprised they are allowed to take your boat! I'd expect MASSIVE SIGNS:

IF YOU CROSS THIS LINE AND YOUR BOAT IS FOUND TO HAVE ANY WATER IN IT, YOUR BOAT WILL BE CONFISCATED FOR 7 DAYS! YOU WON"T BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE WITH IT!!!! GONE!!! GET IT??? NO BOAT IF IT IS FOUND TO BE WET IN ANY WAY!!!!

Short of that, I'd be f'ing PISSED if they took my boat for a week! I understand their problem....but this doesn't seem legal without major warnings in advance.

The mussels are great for drinking water....they make the lake SUPER clear by filtering it! So clear that it kills off fish because they have no way of avoiding their predators! The problem is they collect on the intake strainers and clog them....Illinois has been dealing with them for years! They are also sharp little F'rs and will slice your foot with ease!

And I can find nothing that explains or says anything about a 1 week quarantine anywhere
https://tahoeboatinspections.com/

 

[gmtech16450yz]

Tahoe is the epitome of environmental extremism. You have not only one, but TWO super powerful organizations that control what happens there. You have the Sierra Club, and Keep Tahoe Blue that have WAY more power than they should. They can pretty much do whatever they feel like doing.

Us dirtbikers have dealt with organizations like these for decades. California green sticker money from dirtbike registrations BUILT a lot of the trails in the state. That money also paid to maintain those areas and trails. But organizations like the Sierra Club have taken away access to almost all of the areas that green sticker money helped develop. A perfect example is what dirtbikes have had to do with sound. Dirtbikes, even ones that are used hundreds of miles from the nearest city or town, have to be quieter than 96 decibels, tested a few feet from the muffler outlet and with the engine revved up. That's REALLY quiet. But it's perfectly ok for the guys on their Harley's to have no mufflers and sound levels well over 120 decibels be able to ride down your quiet little street at 1am. Or that private aircraft with no mufflers to fly over your house and create 100+ decibel noise even all the way down on ground level.

It's f'd up, but places and organizations like these can pretty much do whatever they want if it's in the name of "saving mother earth". I've seen thousands of square miles of public land shut down to all access because of some stupid lizard or frog.

 

[Julian]

Tahoe is the epitome of environmental extremism. You have not only one, but TWO super powerful organizations that control what happens there. You have the Sierra Club, and Keep Tahoe Blue that have WAY more power than they should. They can pretty much do whatever they feel like doing.

Us dirtbikers have dealt with organizations like these for decades. California green sticker money from dirtbike registrations BUILT a lot of the trails in the state. That money also paid to maintain those areas and trails. But organizations like the Sierra Club have taken away access to almost all of the areas that green sticker money helped develop. A perfect example is what dirtbikes have had to do with sound. Dirtbikes, even ones that are used hundreds of miles from the nearest city or town, have to be quieter than 96 decibels, tested a few feet from the muffler outlet and with the engine revved up. That's REALLY quiet. But it's perfectly ok for the guys on their Harley's to have no mufflers and sound levels well over 120 decibels be able to ride down your quiet little street at 1am. Or that private aircraft with no mufflers to fly over your house and create 100+ decibel noise even all the way down on ground level.

It's f'd up, but places and organizations like these can pretty much do whatever they want if it's in the name of "saving mother earth". I've seen thousands of square miles of public land shut down to all access because of some stupid lizard or frog.

I get controlling land/lakes etc, but seizing private property? I would think that would require some clear laws and clear warnings?

 

[SCARAB_CDR]

Follow up report:

The boat was quarantined until the state inspector could come from Sacramento to oversee the full decontamination process. In my case this worked out to be 7 days, but it could have beeen less, could have been more, based on that individual's schedule. Once a date was set, we drove to Reno, parked our Jeep, and flew to Seattle. Thank god for military-discounted fares. I flew back the night before the inspection. The next morning it commenced. We emptied EVERYTHING out of the boat and then all compartments got flushed with 140-degree water (again) and then flushed the motor twice. First was from the port just above the jet nozzle, second was using the aux flushing port that Scarab installed above the swim platform. Due to carbon seal concerns, I made sure to keep both to less than 2 minutes and took a break in between. Flushed water backwards through the bilge pump. Next all the surfaces under the seat cushions got wiped down to remove any sand or residue (yes sand, it can apparently contain mussel DNA). Then vacuum out all the water from the anchor locker, bilge, and ski locker. Then wipe down again to ensure all was dry. They scrutinized the sand particles closely looking for shell particles, and also the runoff from the motor flushes. Finally my boat was released from quarantine and I loaded everything back up to head to Washington.

I'm very pro-prevention, and totally appreciate the work they're trying to do, but I'm still not convinced the original shell particles came from my boat. This station has two inspection pads that should be kept spotless. When I got there, I swept off the pad that I would be using to ensure it was clean and there would be no false positives. In between the pads, there's about a 3-foot wide space that contains their vacuums, hose reels, and other assorted equipment. The inspectors cross from one pad to the other through that corridor. There were shell fragments on the ground in that corridor that could easily have gotten trapped on someone's shoe and then been laying in the pad to provide a false positive during an inspection. I pointed this out, and they didn't seem to think it was a concern. For anyone going through this process, I recommend inspecting the pad prior to starting, and watch VERY closely.

Other tips -
-There is a large pocket under the engine on the 195 that has no drain. It's created by the engine mounting framework, but it holds water that you have to vacuum out. Why SCARAB didn't you drill a drain path to the main bilge????
-As mentioned before, it seems the ski locker is the lowest point in the 195, so all water drains to there and the bilge pump doesn't help until there's a crap ton of water in the ski locker already. Why SCARAB, why?
-Anchor locker has a large pocket with no drain - vacuum that out too.
-Sand and dirt can hold mussel DNA? Just make the boat spotless. If you trailer it there, clean the boat before you take it to the inspection, even though you probably already cleaned it before you left home. (clean, drain, dry, right?)
-Don't leave your keys with them. The state inspector asked why I didn't leave them the keys so they could take care of the decon process over the week, but I suspected they were not totally familiar with the ROTAX limitations.

All in all, the process took about 3 hours on site. There better not be any zebras or quagga DNA left in that boat after all that. Oh, and I missed my bucket list item to waterski on Lake Tahoe.

 

[Julian]

So after all that you didn't take the boat on Lake Tahoe anyway?