Even if you live aboard your boat, it doesn't provide the same protections
as a "house". It's a form of transportation, and as such, can be boarded and
inspected at any time with no good reason. That's just the way it is, and
has been all the way back to our county's beginnings. Nothing new.


Yes, because most boats fall into categories of maritime law that pertain to
regulation of commerce. If you are engaged in commerce, you are subject to
inspection of your activities at the whim of the government and it has always
been so.
It goes well beyond boats, too. A business can be inspected by the health
department without a warrant or probable cause. The state tax authorities can
demand access to your business records without a warrant or probable cause.

Vessels below a certain tonnage are surely not being used in commerce. Two guys
in a 12-foot boat trolling for sportfish are in a different category than
people cruising offshore in a 50-foot trawler that (conceivably) could be
loaded with contraband.







"noah" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 04:20:00 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"noah" wrote in message
.. .


NY DEC Officers are still quite capable of searching your boat, car,
house, garage, freezer, and Grandma's undies if they "suspect" you
have violated game laws. I abide by the game laws, but I resent the
intrusion into Constitutionally guaranteed rights.


Question: If a DEC officer boards a boat containing sleeping people, at
night, and they bust in your door and are shot as intruders, does the
court
consider the boat "your castle", as they would if you were in your house?


Doug- I hate to be the one to tell you, but you don't *have* a castle
(at least when it comes to DEC). I suspect the same is true when it
comes to the Fed's, under the Patriot Act. While you were fishing,
they stole your Bill of Rights. )

Regards,
...carry on.
noah

To email me, please remove the "FISH" from the net.