If you want information about a Tennessee boating license, you’ve come to the right place. Come back next week for “How To Ace A Boat Exam Like A Harvard Nerd” and we’ll show you just that. For now, here’s the nuts and bolts of getting at TN boating license . . .

To obtain a Tennessee boating license, applicants must complete a state-approved boating safety exam to earn the Tennessee Boating Safety Education Certificate. The state’s boating education law is similar to a driver’s license law applicants must obtain their own study materials, study, and successfully complete a safety exam that has been pre-approved by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Obtaining a safety certificate is only required by law for those born after January 1, 1989, but many Tennesseeans choose to show that they are responsible enough to complete a safety course prior to boating. Those born after the cutoff date, however, must carry a Boating Safety Education Certificate, which doubles as a Tennessee boating license, with them during all boat outings, and no other certificate is considered valid in the eyes of the state’s boating education law. The certification is not required if there is an adult aboard the vessel who is capable of taking charge.

In order to take the safety exam, applicants must be at least 12 years old. Next, the applicant must purchase a $10 Type 600 boating safety exam permit from an agency that sells hunting and fishing licenses, such as Wal-Mart. Applicants must save the permit receipt, as proof of purchase will be required in order to take the safety exam and will later serve as a temporary certificate. For applicants who do not pass the exam on a first try, the same receipt can be used to take the test again.

Study materials can be obtained on the Internet, through various boating safety classes, and from TWRA’s Boating Division. TWRA also offers an online practice test. Applicants have the option of completing the exam online through various approved agents.

It typically takes about an hour to complete the safety exam, and those who pass will receive their safety wallet card by mail a few weeks later.

Since only minors are required by law to carry a safety card, there is no need to ever renew it. For more information and to view a variety of pre-approved testing agents, check out the TWRA Boating Safety site.

[gravityform id=”3″ name=”Like What You Read?”]