What makes a set of headers legal? I thought it was all about decibel levels. Do you have to have mufflers, water injection or are any of these things grandfathered in on older boats?

Most of the california lakes require water.... I know Castaic, Piru, and Pyramid all watch that pretty closely. I've heard Elsinore tends to check every now and then.

Why can't any of these rangers/police/lifeguards/other officials at the lake be power boat enthusiasts???

Just the same way you have your breather tubes coming up to the headers... Just put the water in the bottom and like Speedy said a turn off.

Why can't any of these rangers/police/lifeguards/other officials at the lake be power boat enthusiasts???

come on colby, you gotta know somebody (jk)

Im in North Idaho and have just got my boat up with a new motor three weeks ago,three weekends in a row I was kicked off of Dworshak resivoir because of noise,I have been thru two sets of baffles and trying to figure out how to quiet it ,water made almost no difference on the decibel meter( 1/2 point) they were using the baffle swap did a little but the baffles that made a difference were very restictive oh well im going out on the snake river this weekend to see what happens .What ever happened to the saying loud pipes save lives?

I have a brochure with Utah's laws, and it states that all motorboats must be equiped with a muffler system. Boats manuf. before 1993 may not exceed 90 decibles, and boats made after jan. 1 1993 can't exceed 88 decibles. Bla bla bla and then it states that cut outs, or muffler bypass systems are illegal. Oddly it says nothing at all about water. I assume these laws vary state to state.

I just bought a set of dry Hooker headers, and now I'm not sure if I want to use them. I may just cut the bells off of the Gil headers and have them powdered.