Permit?
 

Hey Wakeworld,

My buddies and I just bought a winch and are planning on building a couple of rails off the shore of his house on the river. We already started building but I am now wondering if there is a permit that we need in order to have wakeboard rails off our shoreline. If anyone has any information I would really appreciate it, thanks!

good question, i would imagine that it would depend on where his property line ends? Not too sure, but im curious, hope someone can help ya out.

What state/city/river? Thats probably help out a bit too...

I live in portland oregon and we're hoping to put the rails on the Willamette river. Where we're hoping to place the rails isn't directly off the shore of the river. they're is this little inlet bay that we are trying to build it in that is protected by this big peninsula. I was thinking that there has to be some regulations due to fish reproducing and their eggs and disturbing the ground and such.

My intuition tells me that the chances of getting a permit would be zero. This is one of those things you build and use till you are told to remove it. And hope that's all it turns in to.

I kind of agree. I bet getting a permit from the liberal tree huggers around Portland is gonna be tough at best.

But hey, let me know when you have it up and running. I'd love to come check it out!!! I'm just across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Too bad the Willamette is getting so damn cold. I was out in it a couple weeks ago and it was 52 degree water temp when the Columbia was still 62. Big difference!

I agree...

As the saying goes...

"It's a lot easier to ask for for forgiveness than it is to get permission"

Just go for it man............

Here in Portland you cannot put any structure or buoys in the water (such as slalom course buoys) unless they are for temporary use and only for an official sanctioned tournament. If you can prove it's for a sanctioned tournament and give them a set amount of days, they will clear you to put stuff like that up.
Probably similar wherever you are.
Like it's been said, it's one of those things where you don't ask for permission, you ask for forgiveness and be prepared to pack your stuff up, eat the costs, and possibly pay a fine if they aren't that forgiving.
Look at all the wakeskating and wakeboarding winching videos. If they aren't hosted by an event, it is like a ninja move. You get your stuff in, get your runs in, and gtfo as soon as you see someone coming and hope to get away without getting busted. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. If you're going to do it, go ahead, just be aware of the potential consequences (aka fines, citations, loss of time and money building the whole thing)

Why not build the rails out of materials that look like they're just "debris" (repurposed wood from CL) you're using, and not actually rails. That way you can say you're just tricking off of stuff that happened to be there? It might be cheaper too. And since it is probably only temporary, a lower cost and lower durability would make sense

Thanks guys for the info! What do you guys think about making the rails and kickers all on floats so when we want to hit it, we just float it out and when it's time to call it, we'll just pull the stuff up to shore. Do you think that would work better?

We haven't put anything in yet so we can still change our designs. I'm really looking to stay out of getting a fine so if having the rails and stuff be floating, I;'m willing to make it on floats.

Whatever you do, invite us out to try it! I've never ridden a winch, so I'd love to try it. I've never hit features either, so i can't speak to how it'd perform if they floated and had give to them when you tried to do a slide...