Boat registration NY or Florida

[Dave Lochner]

Yes there is a $26 annual renewal fee for documented vessels. A recent bill passed in Congress dealing the CG budget provided for renewals every 5 years. No details on renewal cost.

[cruisersfarm]

Originally Posted by Dave Lochner

In NY you are required to register the boat if it is used for 90 or more consecutive days. Fee is ~$90 for 3 years.

Register and title a recreational vehicle (snowmobile, boat, moped or ATV) | New York State DMV

Does NY have something akin to Florida for out of state registration?

As in...

Can I register my boat in NY to get the NY decal, yet retain the registration from my home state?

I want to visit more than 90 days.

[Dave Lochner]

Originally Posted by cruisersfarm

Does NY have something akin to Florida for out of state registration?

As in...

Can I register my boat in NY to get the NY decal, yet retain the registration from my home state?

I want to visit more than 90 days.

I'm not sure. I think it is 90 consecutive days. In most places in NY that would be easy to break. If you're on LI Sound, take an overnight to Connecticut, on Lake Ontario, sail over to Canada. Lake Erie has lots of choices, Ohio, PA, Canada.

Just get evidence that you left the state. Buy some fuel pay for a marina.

Judging by the number of cars with expired out of state license plates, I don't this is a high priority in NY. I can understand why FL would take a more aggressive approach given the problems they have with abandoned and derelict boats.

EDIT: Google NY DMV and check the DMV website, it has most of the info you will need.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by skipmac

In FL, as in most other states I know, doesn't matter if the boat is USCG documented, they still force you to pay the state registration. No numbers on the boat but you have to buy the sticker. Of course if you don't you will probably not be noticed but it's only $100 or so.

Agree -- we bought our boat in Conn and moved her to Fla and she was documented and we paid the sales tax in Fla. And yes we did buy the Fla sticker each year for something like $29 (been a long time since we did that) but as said they do check

But once we left we have not purchased one since -- We have not been in Fla in 6 years in fact we have not been in the USA in 6 years

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by chuckr

Agree -- we bought our boat in Conn and moved her to Fla and she was documented and we paid the sales tax in Fla. And yes we did buy the Fla sticker each year for something like $29 (been a long time since we did that) but as said they do check

But once we left we have not purchased one since -- We have not been in Fla in 6 years in fact we have not been in the USA in 6 years

Don't know if they still do this, but a few years ago the FWC would send officers to marinas to either write down the names of the boats docked there and check back later to see if the same boats were still there or just get a list of boats and dates from the dockmaster.

Seems like an awful lot of work for the return.

When I bought my boat I planned to keep it in New England as a second home, land based in FL with an occasional commute up and down the coast. Asked RI and FL boat registration people about the rules. Both said that if the boat stayed in their state more than 90 days I would have to pay registration for that state. OK I got that but then if I moved the boat from the state where I had just paid registration to another state and paid registration there then the first registration would be voided and if I returned to the original state I would have to pay again.

[twinboat]

The registration laws are not for old boats. Its a tax grab by the state's.

Think how much $$ FL. would lose if every big buck boat bought in "No tax" states was stores or used in FL.

They get $3.75 a year from my 31 year old 35 footer.

[WindwardPrinces]

Register and pay tax in Florida.

They'll absolutely charge you sales tax at some point if you keep it there, because you're a Florida resident, even if you've paid tax somewhere else and kept it out of state for six months. Has to do with "intent".

[hellosailor]

If you register in FL you'll also probably have to insure in FL, and that means planning for hurricane season & insuring for it. But if the boat is going to be there anyway...that's the right place to register it.


Last time I checked, the NYS law required vessel registration only if the vessel was, literally, "in the water" of NYS for 90 consecutive days. Taking it over to NJ or CT for 24+ hours, and keeping your receipt, etc. to prove that, was all you needed to reset the clock. Although having a marina/yard contract for any period of 90+ days might get the taxman's interest and they might deem that contract to be enough to require registration and tax.
So you may want to look at the NY and FL rules online. Considering the sales tax difference might be 2%, and the other possible complications and insurance differences, "where the boat will really be" might be the simplest solution.


And be warned, NJ wants all boaters to have either a NJ boating certificate, or one from a national source or their home state. Cross NY harbor and wander onto the NJ side...yeah, more paperwork. Cheap enough online or through a Power Squadron class, but one more complication.

[denverd0n]

I have to say, it amazes me how completely WRONG answers on this issue just keep being repeated over and over. I can forgive the OP for asking a question like this, though a quick search would have revealed the answer. But it is ridiculous that people keep perpetuating misinformation, and answer when they clearly do not know what they are talking about.

The simple and short answer is, most states will REQUIRE you to register it with them if you keep the boat in their state past a certain amount of time. You do not get to just choose. And USCG documentation does NOT exempt you from registering. Many states will require you to register your boat even if it is documented.

These are the facts. Plain and simple. How is it that so many people keep on getting this wrong, over and over again?

[Dave Lochner]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

These are the facts. Plain and simple. How is it that so many people keep on getting this wrong, over and over again?

Never let facts get in the way of a bad opinion.

Most of this information is easily found on state DMV sites. At least in NY the 90 days are consecutive. Leave the state a couple of times and you're covered. Easy to do, sail across Long Island Sound or across one of the Great Lakes. If you keep the boat in Lake Champlain, very easy, sail to Vermont. Just have documentation that you left the state in case anyone asks. A receipt for slip fees would probably do it.

[hellosailor]

d0n-
Your mileage will vary. Honestly. I understand Cali works they way you say, but Florida actually does and doesn't. He could keep the NY registration and stay in Florida as long as he wanted to--but after 90 days in the state, he'd need to EITHER get a "snowbird" secondary registration for the boat and (primary or secondary) for the dingy (both of them), OR convert the registration and title to Florida. That "secondary" registration, which allows you to keep the primary one, is unheard of and outright illegal in all the other parts of the US, AFAIK.
And in NY, you can keep a boat there all year and not need to register it. You just have to haul it OUT OF THE WATERS every 89 days, or take an overnight trio across the river, to keep resetting the clock. That doesn't affect tax or title matters--just registration.
Every state has their own specifics. Some set time periods based on "more than 180 consecutive days" others say "more than 183 days in any calendar year" and I'm sure some are like Schengen clocks, i.e. "not more than xx days in any 365 day period".
The only thing you can be sure of, is that someone in some state agency, in every state, has laid land mines for the unwary venue shopper. And, sometimes, left a barn door open for anyone clever enough to really look around.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

d0n- Your mileage will vary. Honestly.

Yes, the details vary. Of course. In fact, that is a big part of the point. Way too many people make statements about registration, taxes, and titling as if the rules are the same everywhere. They are not!

Regardless, there are some things that are true most of the time, even if not always. For example, most of the time you do not get to choose where to register your boat--you must register it where it is located. Most of the time documenting your boat with the USCG does not exempt you from state registration. Most of the time where you register your boat has nothing at all to do with how much sales/use tax you must pay or to whom you must pay it. Yet we see blatantly WRONG statements about these things over and over again.

And I'll tell you, the thing about USCG documentation and state registration is one of my pet peeves. I cannot even begin to count how many times I have seen someone say that no state can require you to register your boat if it is USCG documented. This is just completely wrong! Yet it gets repeated over and over and over again. And every time I see someone say that, it's like, from then on, in place of their avatar I see a little sign that says "I am an ignorant boob who doesn't know what he is talking about!"

I know. I know. I'm over-reacting. Well, not really. It doesn't bother me as much as I'm making out. Mostly I just shake my head in wonder at the stupidity, and remind myself that half the people in the world are below average intelligence.