Huntington Section 120-18 makes an unpermitted boarding of more than six passengers unlawful
Huntington Town Code Section 120-18 is titled “Charter and commercial vessels.” It is the most directly applicable municipal provision we found. It makes it unlawful for an owner, captain or person in charge of a charter or commercial vessel carrying more than six passengers to board or discharge passengers at Town docks, slips or ramps. A permit from the Department must come first.
Six is the same number that separates an uninspected vessel from an inspected one under federal law. Permits expire on December 31 of the year of issuance and may be renewed for two additional one year periods. If your date falls in January, ask when the renewal was filed.
The Huntington permit requires $1,000,000 of insurance naming the Town as additional insured
The application requires owner and captain identification and valid driver licenses. It also requires a current USCG operator license for each captain, a current USCG certificate of vessel inspection, an indemnity agreement, and a nonrefundable application fee set by the Town Board from time to time. The code does not publish the fee amount.
The certificate of insurance must name the Town as an additional insured, at a minimum of $1,000,000 per occurrence for liability and property damage, including wreck removal and pollution mitigation. That policy protects the Town, not the couple. Ask to be named as an additional insured for your date. The permit also imposes restricted mooring times, alcohol prohibitions and noise limits, so a champagne toast on the town dock may be barred even though the bar aboard is fine.
Southampton allows two hours in any 24 at or within fifty feet of a town dock
Southampton Town Code Section 111-13(D) is a hard planning constraint. No person shall tie up or moor or anchor any boat to or within 50 feet of any dock, wharf, highway or landing place maintained at Town expense for a longer period than two hours in any 24 hours. A boat idling nearby is still inside the rule.
The exceptions the code names are working waterfront, among them Eastport Dock, Speonk Shore Basin and the Shinnecock Commercial Fishing Dock, and none of them reads like a wedding venue. A four hour dockside reception at a Southampton public dock is very likely unlawful as written.
No Long Island town publishes a rule for a wedding held aboard a vessel
We read the published codes and found no such category. No permit, no fee schedule and no defined event type for a wedding aboard a passenger vessel appears in any Long Island town code reviewed. What exists is a patchwork of commercial vessel dockage permits, general noise ordinances and public dock time limits, and a wedding has to be fitted into it.
Three gaps are worth naming. No town publishes a rule for amplified music aboard a docked vessel as distinct from music on land. No town publishes a parking allocation for wedding guests at a public dock. And commercial passenger vessel dockage rules for Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Freeport Village were not located in published, citable form.
Islip turns on the Commissioner written permission, and no application form is published
Islip Town Code Section 37-29(E) makes it unlawful for a public vessel to load or unload passengers, freight or cargo at any Town marina except in accordance with the express written permission of the Commissioner. The permission is discretionary, no application form is published, and it must be requested from the Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
Islip noise rules reach the reception. Chapter 35, Section 35-3(A) restricts radios, musical instruments and phonographs between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. where plainly audible at 50 feet. Section 35-3(O) reaches commercial music causing a noise disturbance. Sound travels over water, so a DJ aboard a moored vessel clears 50 feet easily.
East Hampton sets a $250,000 insurance floor and bars guest cars from commercial docks
East Hampton Town Code Chapter 246 covers Town Docks. Vessels at Montauk Harbor commercial docks must carry liability insurance of not less than $250,000. The code prohibits vehicles at commercial docks other than pickup trucks of three quarter ton capacity or less actually loading or unloading, so guests cannot park there. Plan shuttles.
Babylon puts a clock at the other end of the night. Section 156-9(F) prohibits loading and unloading between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Section 156-9(C) caps commercial noise received in residential areas at 55 dB(A) from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. A boat unloading gear at 9:00 p.m. in Babylon is a live problem.
The only phone numbers in this record are federal, so the harbormaster number is on you
Three questions have no published answer in any town code we read. Whether the vessel needs a town permit to board passengers at your dock, how long the boat may occupy it, and whether amplified music is allowed there and until what hour.
The harbormaster or bay constable administers dockage permits and enforces on water noise, and that is the office to call. Huntington runs Section 120-18 through its Department of Maritime Services. Islip permission under Section 37-29(E) comes from the Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. East Hampton Chapter 246 permits go through the Town Harbormaster. For music at a dock, call town code enforcement.
We are not printing town phone numbers, because our source record does not carry them. The numbers we do have are federal. Coast Guard Sector New York, (718) 354-4008, confirms whether a named vessel holds a current certificate of inspection, which Huntington Section 120-18 requires. The National Vessel Documentation Center, (800) 799-8362 or (304) 271-2400, confirms who owns the vessel.
- Does the vessel need a town permit to board passengers here, and is the operator permit current?
- Is there a time limit on how long we may occupy the dock, and does it count the water within fifty feet?
- Is amplified music permitted at this dock, and until what hour?
Sources: Town of Huntington Code Section 120-18, Charter and commercial vessels · Town of Huntington, Chapter 43, Department of Maritime Services · Town of Islip Code Chapter 37, Article II, Marinas · Town of Islip Code Chapter 35, Noise · Town of Babylon Code Chapter 156, Noise · Town of Southampton Code Chapter 111, Article II, Use of Waterways · Town of East Hampton Code, Town Docks · USCG Sector New York, Small Passenger Vessel Guide
Read on 10 September 2026. Statutes and regulations change; confirm with the clerk or agency before you rely on this.
