Hi Fellow Anglers,
Someone told me this is the requirement now. This is the first time I've heard of this from several people. I did some reading on it and it said something for the trailer that weighs over 4500 pounds including the boat. What are your thoughts on this? I renewed my sticker this year through online with no safety inspection required. When was this law enacted or was it always been there? Thanks for your inputs?

Sounds like they've found another way to squeeze us for more money.
I think my little fishing boat is safe!
Next they'll be requiring registering my kayaks.

Apparently it's always been the law but rarely enforced. Now the registration is refused unless there is proof of inspection.

Thank goodness the government is stepping in to solve the rampant problem of boat trailer-involved accidents.

I'm moving to Mexico.

If your trailer has a GVWR over 4500 lbs. it is required to be inspected. That's been a requirement for many years. Some folks don't bother to learn the requirements that apply to their equipment, and when they suddenly learn that they haven't been in compliance, they call it a government conspiracy to squeeze them for more money. The title and the registration receipt for your trailer will tell you what the GVWR is.

There are a few people here who still believe, despite having been shown the truth, that this is a sinister new plot by the fascist government to enslave them. Just ignore the lunatics; they feed off of each others' hysteria.

Trailers over 4500lbs gross have been required to be inspected for quiet a while. I don't know if anyone has been pulled over to check, I haven't. Maybe they are going to start enforcing by making you show an inspection to get tags for it. I have not had to do that yet with my RV, but you already have to do that with vehicles. bi trailers are also required to have brakes.

I ran into this. One of the issues is that any trailer that meets this requirement must have brakes. Some trailer manufacturers have their trailers rated for 4500# but the actual weights don't weigh anywhere close.

Several manufacturers have now changed their specs to reflect that their trailer is now rated for only 4495 instead of 4500 and that escapes the need to be inspected.

For those that are caught up inn this, you can take your trailer and boat to a weigh station and get it weighed and then take the printed weight sheet to the county where you register your boat and they will change the measurements listed and you can then be exempt from the law if you come inn under the 4500# rating.

The empty weight of the trailer is not the determinant factor; it is the gross vehicle weight rating. That is the combined weight of the trailer and the maximum load the trailer is rated for. That is determined by the axles and tires, for the most part. If you have a trailer with two 7,000 lb. axles under it and the empty weight of the trailer is only 2600 lbs., it must still be inspected.

Bob, a large part of the reason trailers were not being stopped and checked for inspections very often is that there was no consistency in the placement of inspection decals on trailers; they were not readily apparent and most cops weren't looking for them unless the trailer was already stopped for something else. Now that they have done away with the inspection decal and provided for electronic verification of the inspection, trailer owners will be forced to get their trailers inspected to register them. But we will still see a lot of dual-axle gooseneck semitrailers on the road registered as a 3,000 lb. GVWR homemade utility trailer.

No. I contacted the state of Texas and was directed by the state to take my boat and trailer to be weighed. My trailer was rated for 5000 pounds. I had it weighed and with the boat came in at 4150 pounds. I took it and showed it to the Tax Office and they adjusted the weight and I was exempted. Several dealers are doing the same thing.

It may have been law for some time and it may not be a conspiracy but maybe some good will come from it? If it keeps people from towing trailers with bad tires or no lights that might be good. At least the extra $15.00 into the states coffers will be good but for what I can't say.It also covers travel trailers and I have had one for several years, never had one inspected except one I bought in Louisiana and registered here and that was just one time deal. Gonna be a pain in the rear to have to tow the 5th wheel to the local inspection station just so I can get tags. We had a deal kinda like that here some years ago where local cities tried to levy property taxes on RV's. By the way I have five trailers, a boat trailer, two utility trailers and two travel trailers, I have a hard time using more than one of them at a time so maybe I just need one road tax certificate? Oh well, raise hell while you can, it's gonna get worse. b

Capt. Craig, whoever you spoke to gave you some bad advice, if I understand you correctly. It could come back to haunt you down the road. This goofy computer I have at home won't let me copy and paste the statutes here, but you need to look at the Texas Transportation Code. 541.401 defines the GVW. 501.055 (a) and (b) tell you that the manufacturer determines the trailer's GVWR, not a weigh station. Where you can get into trouble is 502.410 and 502.412; they deal with providing false information on your registration (a felony) and operating at above the registered weight. While I understand that you are not intentionally defrauding the state, you could still be prosecuted for that down the road, under the right set of circumstances. And I'm not sure that your county's Tax Assessor / Collector even has the authority to alter the GVWR on your registration and title; that in itself could open up a whole new can of worms. If you want to do it right you should get better advice. If you want to do it the way a misguided state employee has told you, you may get away with it and you may end up spending a lot of money and time trying to straighten out a mess. And I doubt that the state employee who misled you will stand up for you down the road if you do get jammed up.
I don't have a dog in this hunt, I'm just trying to save you some trouble down the road. The statute will determine what's correct, not the word of someone passing on misinformation.

Jim if you look at the law, 15.01 Exemptions 1.c.* - Actual gross weight. When you go get a DOT weight ticket, you have an actual gross weight of less than 4500, then you are exempted. I'm not committing a felony, I am following their guidelines for exemption.


"What's Inspected by Vehicle Type

Items of Inspection for a Exempt Vehicles
15.01 Vehicles Exempt from Inspection
1. Equipment:
a. Road-Building Equipment
b. Farm Machinery
*c. Trailers
*d. Semitrailers
*e. Pole Trailers
*f. Mobile Homes
g. Any Vehicle required to Display a Slow-Moving Vehicle Emblem
*When the actual gross weight or registered gross weight is 4,500 pounds or less."

I just went through this yesterday. I went down to the courthouse with titles in hand for clarification on my boat trailer. Since the boat, motor and trailer weighed less than 4500# I was exempt from the inspection ruling and was issued my new registration. The clerk also corrected the file to show that this trailer was exempt.

I don't really mind the enforcement of this. How many Mexicans pulling crappy lawn service trailers don't have lights, brakes, or anything else? I consider the enforcing of this law as more of a battle against those kind of trailers than us anglers pulling boats.