...Being fined $100-$400 per beer for having beer on your boat?

Don’t think they can do that

Depends on the brand of beer......"Great Value" beer from Walmart will get you fined

Never heard of that but I rarely drink and certainly don’t partake while boating

Depends on how many drinking fish are over the game and fish limit on your boat.
Also depends upon the fish being of drinking age and size limit.

Adds up in a hurry.



God Bless,
David B.

What exactly is the law about alcohol on boats? I always assumed it was like a car where you couldn’t have any open containers in the bot at all, but I regularly see people posting pics on Facebook of folks drinking beer while hanging out in the lake. Is it legal as long as the driver isn’t partaking or do those folks just not give a crap?

This is the only thing I can find with a quick search online. I even went to the ALEA website and it only addresses "Boating Under the Influence" of alcohol or drugs and that is the same as on land in a vehicle.

It is legal for people over the age of 21 to possess an open container of alcohol on a boat. Boating laws are not the same as the laws that govern alcohol use in land-based vehicles. The Alabama “open container law” applies only to public roads and rights-of-way, Brooks said.Oct 3, 2010

I remember 10yrs ago a buddy of mine had a get together on their place at Smith Lake. Couple of the people were in boats and a few were on his dock. They all got hefty fines for open containers etc. Don’t remember the amount but there were some unhappy people

I think as long as your are in a wet county its legal except for the driver of course.

Yeah I just stopped being lazy and googled….appears it is fine for passengers 21+. Driver must be less than .08 BAC

Operator has to be 0.08 BAC or lower or you’ll be charged with OWI/OUI. Other than that, if you’re legal drinking age the sky is the limit. Unless you act a fool and then that whole public intox charge is always an option. Lt. Mark Fuller with the ALEA Marine Division will be glad to explain them all in great detail while adjusting your custom fit stainless bracelets if need be. Don’t drink and boat, always have a sober operator on board. Have fun but come home safely.

A guy i work with just got done spending over 19,000 for a bui. Definitely not worth it. My daughter or wife drive the boat if I decide to have a few beers.

The wet/dry county thing may have somthing to do with it.

Now that I think about it, the folks talking about it were in Walker County.

I can't say I never have a beer while fishing, but I rarely have beer on my boat and then it's only if the person fishing with me brings it.

I know before Marshall county went wet they could get and would get you on the Tennessee River. Back then everyone always partied next to the bridge to stay in Huntsville city limits

I was not aware that boats would run with out beer.

To be a little more precise, being .08 or more is just one subsection of DUI. That is automatic but you can still be charged with DUI and be under .08 but then the officer has to provide evidence of being unsafe to operate. A much tougher hill for them to climb. Under the influence of drugs or other substances is another subsection of the law. This of course won’t show on a breath test. Unless the laws have recently changed passengers with alcohol On a boat are fine until they reach the point of being a danger to themselves or others. Then they are guilty of Public Intoxication.

When I was stationed at the Coast Guard Station in Destin, we were trained on alcohol on-board boats. The main thing we were told was use common sense. Most folks out on the water were going to have beer in the cooler. We all knew that.. Few guys Snapper fishing, or even inshore fishing, if they were acting responsible, there was never an issue. Like already said, if any vessel was driving erratic or driving stupid around swimmers we would pull them over. And the person driving the boat was who we were concerned with. The incidents I was involved with we took the boat back to the station to test the person who was operating the boat. (We would actually call Fla Marine Patrol to perform the sobriety test) We worked closely with them on a daily basis. And they enjoyed it more than we did. Saw some pretty drunk guys at my time there.

We have had 2 ALEA guys here on Neely that were on the borderline of entrapment. Both would/will sit at LBM and watch people come out and stop them for a "safety check". Former one's first words were "how much you had to drink cause I know you been drinking" without the first bit of proof. He would even sit out under the old river bridge with his lights off while boats were coming in at night and blue light the hell out of them to the point that people were calling Montgomery and even one judge penned a letter stating he would/was affecting business commerce of these restaurants/marinas/boat dealers located along the river. He did not give 2 chits after this happened and it got worse. So bad to the point there was a FB page created to keep up with him.

I do not go anywhere else but my home river. IMO, the alcohol is not the issue. It is the 14 yo on the skis & newbs on these 100K pontoons that have no clue in hell what they are doing or where they are navigating.

WATER patrol pulled us over at the mouth of franklins ferry sunday and we were all drinking. We had too many on the boat and we were dropping them off at franklins. He gave us a warning and the kids a few coloring books. Nice guy!
He said he could tell by the water level on the boat we were overloaded. He only checked my buddies license nothing else..

I don't see how you could give a field sobriety test on a boat. The stand on one leg and walk a straight-line test would bust everybody's azz.