All power vessels, regardless of length, must be registered and display valid registration decals to operate legally in New Jersey waters.

https://www.nj.com/monmouth/2025/05/nj-state-police-remind-boaters-to-register-their-vessels.html

That pretty much holds true for every state. 

Yep.  And it doesn’t matter if it is a 39’ Donzi with triple 300s or a crawdad with a 28lb minn kota.  Any motor.  And on top of that, if you are operating a motorized vessel you must have the boaters safety certificate.  Then depending on the boat and the waters you are on you might also need to have the boating endorsement on your driving license.  Basically anything bigger than a 9.9 you need the endorsement.  

28 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

And on top of that, if you are operating a motorized vessel you must have the boaters safety certificate.

Minnesota is implementing this rule starting July 1. Anyone under the age of 41 will need boater safety certification. It’s about a 3-4 hour online course followed by a quiz. The cost is about 60 bucks.

1 hour ago, gim said:

Minnesota is implementing this rule starting July 1. Anyone under the age of 41 will need boater safety certification. It’s about a 3-4 hour online course followed by a quiz. The cost is about 60 bucks.

Yeah, I don’t have any problem with that at all.  Here, the course was proctored and in person which was annoying, but there were plenty of places around that did it such that I had no problems picking any given week to do it.  The studying was online.  For me, I read the pdf course book and then took a bunch of practice tests.  The info is generally good.  If you’ve never boated before and didn’t grow up fishing out of one there is a lot of just basics that you wouldn’t otherwise know (mandatory equipment, rules of the road, lighting requirements, etc). Sure, I didn’t need to know about the intercoastal waterway rules or anything about running a boat with an enclosed cabin but it never hurts to know more than you need (unless we’re talking about the NJ drivers license test and having to know the difference in what 16, 17, and 18 year olds can do with and without an accompanying adult considering I don’t and will never have kids).

I took a course back in the 80's which I don't remember if it was required or got a break on insurance for it. I think it was administered by the USCGA, I still have Chapman Piloting Seamanship & Boat Handling book. 

Good info, unfortunately even back then most of the boaters on the water still had no clue what they were doing.

Granted this was in saltwater here in the metro area, one of the most populous area's in the US