How do I get my boat licence in Victoria?

Yes. Transport Safety Victoria issues boaters with a physical licence that looks a lot like your driver’s licence but is coloured blue rather than green. You must always carry your licence with you out on the water.

The only powered boats that are exempt from requiring a licence are fishing kayaks and canoes that have electric motors producing no more than 750 watts, about the same amount of power you'd find on a battery-assisted e-bike. It can't push the vessel faster than 5.0 knots, or about the same pace as a brisk walk.

There is no option yet in Victoria to have a digital copy of your marine licence on your smartphone.

Once you have your boat licence you can drive any boat as long as it is registered as a recreational boat, and is used recreationally. You can’t do things such as charge people to jump onboard – but asking them to chip in for fuel is okay – and you can’t catch fish and sell them to someone else.

Victoria has changed its marine licence framework so that it now works more like a master’s ticket where the skipper is responsible for everything that happens on a boat. For example, if you’re on a boat that is 4.8 metres long or smaller, everyone on board must wear a life jacket while the engine is running. If anyone onboard isn’t wearing one, the skipper is responsible.

To get your boat licence you’ll need to sit a 30-question multiple-choice quiz that tests your knowledge of boating rules and regulations – everything from how close you can go to swimmers in the water to which side of a dredge is safe to pass on.

In Victoria, the minimum age to get a marine licence is 12. While you can get a marine licence aged 12, you can only drive a boat in daylight hours, cannot tow anyone behind the boat, and cannot go faster than 10 knots until you turn 16.

No. But it pays to spend a bit of time with an experienced boater so that you learn the basics, as boats drive very differently from cars.

You have two options here, to go it alone and teach yourself, or pay someone else to help you swot for the test.

If you’re going it alone, the first step is to visit the VicRoads website, go to a VicRoads office or even visit a local newsagency and grab a copy of the Recreational Boating Safety Handbook.

This handbook covers everything you’ll need to know about getting your marine licence in Victoria and is the source of the questions you'll be asked in the test (you can only get four questions wrong). VicRoads also publishes a number of practice tests online that you can use to hone your knowledge.

Once you think you’re ready, you need to book a visit to your nearest VicRoads office. The test is usually performed on a computer screen and you’ll know the result within minutes of completing the test. If you fail, you can rebook to sit the test again at a later date.

The other way to do it is to sit a licencing course with an approved trainer. This usually takes a few hours but they take the form of an intensive training course that prepares you for the test. 

At the end of the course you sit the test, and if you pass you are given a certificate to show you have successfully completed it.

This is not a marine licence, though. You have to take the certificate to a VicRoads office within a couple of weeks of sitting the test where your marine licence will be issued.

If you sit the test at a VicRoads office, a booking costs $29.80. If you fail the test, you’ll need to rebook for a later date.

If you sit the licence test using an accredited trainer, costs range from around $130 up.

Once you pass, you are issued with a receipt that serves as your boat licence until a physical copy is mailed out to you.

What does the licence cost? At the time of publishing a restricted Victorian marine licence for boaters aged less than 18 costs $21.60 for a year, $64.80 for three years, or $108.00 for five years.

An adult Victorian marine licence costs $38.20 for one year, $114.60 for three years and $191.00 for five years.

If you let your marine licence lapse you’ll need to re-sit the test to renew it.

No. You need to sit a separate 15-question test for your jet ski endorsement after passing your boat test, and only if you are at least 16 years old. A jet ski endorsement on your marine licence also costs more to have. More on this here.

If your sailboat is powered only using the wind, in theory, you don’t need a marine licence. However, if it has an outboard or inboard engine you will.