To Document or not

[natew]

Ok, this is becoming a rather urgent issue for us and a bit more complicated than the traditional should I document this or not. We have moved our schedule up quite a bit so I'm feeling a bit caught with my pants down on this issue, we are throwing off the dock lines on Oct 18th.

Currently our boat is a California registered boat, undocumented with the CG. We plan to cruise mexico initially and make our way to Panama and eventually cross to the FP and beyond (Australia is on the books eventually). Anyway that said our situation is a bit more complicated than typical I think.

I am a US citizen but my wife is not (yet) we have in process her naturalization paperwork and if all goes well she *should* be a US citizen by our departure date but you never really know with USCIS. The CA registration has both our names on it so it will be a hassle to change title to my name only and then document it in my name only. So considering that I feel a little bit stuck, is only having CA registration going to cause us problems anywhere? If we end up going with the documented route, how much of a hassle is it going to cause my wife to NOT be listed on the documentation as an owner? Can we do the documentation at some later date from Mexico or elsewhere? What about changing documentation to later add my wife's name? Does anyone know of an exceptions to the whole all owners must be US citizens of any USCG documented vessels?

Thanks!

[Dave852]

I can not answer completely but can tell you that the documentation papers are taking a long time at the moment (like almost a year for me) so you will have at best a temporarily letter saying that you have applied for documentation. I can not speak for Mexico and am quite sure you will get your answer shortly, but after that the country's across the pacific are just looking for an "official number" and doubt that it will bother them a bit that it is from California or the US coastguard.


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[fjwiley1]

natew....call the Coast Guard on Monday but be prepared for disappointment...
Unless something has changed, only US Citizens can "Document" so with both of you on the California Registration/Title you may be delayed.

Good luck.....

[Jim Cate]

Natew, I have posted about this repeatedly here on CF, so a search will reveal more details.

But in short: We are state registered in IL, and have been cruising in the Mexico-South Pacific Islands-Australia orbit since 1986. We have had zero problems with the state rego in any of the 13 countries we have cleared into/out of.

There may be countries where state rego is not acceptable, but not around here!

Jim

[dandrews]

As Dave indicated, USCG documentation process is extremely slow. 8 months for me right now and still waiting. And oh by the way, if ANYTHING is wrong with your submitted paperwork, you will be put back at the end of the queue again.

Don


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[SV Lift]

If you are sure you are leaving the country, you may send the USCG your prepaid FedEx acct and a letter stating your departure date and destination and they will bump you to the front of the line. Don't do this is if you just want your form faster or you will have some explanin' to do if still in the US.

[rwidman]

There are commercial documentation services who will handle all this for you (for a fee) and they will know all the ins and outs of the procedure.

Sometimes it's worth it to pay a pro.

[atoll]

everybody knows california is part of the usa,and arnold schwarsnegger is the prime minister.

as jim says you should have no problems with a state registration and a bill of sale as proof of ownership and flag status.

officials just want to see an official document.

[Cadence]

For the little I know about it, I would be hesitant to go before your wife having a US passport and being documented. You may never have a problem but you may get the State Dept. involved that way. For that may or may not be worth today?

[zeehag]

whatever passport your wife requires is fine n dandy.
state registration is still a proof of ownership and mexico knows usa sauiiors are a bit off. you should be fine.
i see state registered boats , not merely kali but also others here, as some are smaller than uscg will document.
as long as you have proof of ownership and who ye are, you are fine. doesnt matter what nations passport ye has, just has em.. rodlmao.. come on down.
it is awesome here.
some locales in mexico have difficulty with fed ex delivering to wrong places. be ware. dhl is superior. only big cities closer to usa have brown truck, ups, and everywhere has usps as correo, and only if you insure your mail and require signature. this is from usa to here. i wont send anyhting back-- even mexican correo messengers say that wont happen in your lifetime. they have a special dead burro for those deliveries....
usps overnight delivery arrives within a week iwwith a signature, sometimes.

[fjwiley1]

Zee...sounds like you stayed dry over there once again ... We may now call you the Lucky Lady....




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[zeehag]

Originally Posted by fjwiley1

Zee...sounds like you stayed dry over there once again ... We may now call you the Lucky Lady....




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not lucky unless one believes that one actually makes thei r luck.. i chose well. i chose not to spend summertime in a trap. soc is a trap, the mere physics of it all kept me out now for 4 summers. is a looong skinny and rock lined and strewed oft shallow oft deep gulf in which the rebound swells are important to include in possible and real damages accrued and potential problems to be met. this odile met all my worst case scenarios but one-- coming directly up center of golfo..which was a predicted path.
i chose to be where these babies form and grow.
odile bevcame a cat 4 within 5 hours while i slept and was only 120 miles off our coordinates then left us with only 20-30 kt winds and so much rain it was hard to catch much. awesome storm here-- unfortunately not able to be appreciated as it caused so much damages. this storm overlapped us(land here) by about 50 or so miles. was a huge storm, area and intensity wise
i read that many la paz based cruisers didnt believe this was gonna be as intense as it was due to its second eye wall..which isnt a reason to degrade a storm that is still over hot water and with good to excellent conditions for growth. as the furycame aged it morphed only slightly and did not grow weaker until completely over land. running up the entire baja this monster could still maintain its size and not weaken much due to overlapping the two bodies of water, each warm enough to maintain its intensity enough to allow it into aridzona some....impressive and deadly storm.
do not yet know how many human deaths this one caused directly or indirectly.
so far, la paz has 2, pending discovery of simones husband from tabascoII.
r i p.
hella storm.
damglad i wasnt in soc. thankyou, yet again, my awesome team of guardian angels, my gut feelings , and my choices for being to my benefit.

now to get back to topic initially posted--all that is neccessary is proof of ownership, proof of identity and liability insurance and tip. easy peasy.
ownership is not merely documentation papers, can also be state reg.

[fjwiley1]

Gracefully stated and with much compassion for those not so fortunate... I agree about making ones Luck...




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[cattar]

Leaving earlier than planned seems disadvantageous to your wife.

Removing her name from the boat registration could change her rights to a significant asset (in some places, like California). Could that action also affect the naturalization process?

Also, leaving before she was approved for naturalization, completed the oath ceremony, and applied for and received a US passport (which is required for US citizens, even naturalized, when leaving and returning to the US) could affect her ability to return to the US later.

Can't imagine how leaving on a cruise by a set date is more important.

You could apply for USCG doc as couple after she's a citizen and she could leave and return as a citizen.

As a buyer, if I were looking at a boat that had cruised internationally, I'd be more interested in one that was documented.

[Jim Cate]

As a buyer, if I were looking at a boat that had cruised internationally, I'd be more interested in one that was documented.

Could you explain that sentiment a little, please? With all the serious things to worry about in buying a second hand vessel, this issue seems inconsequential to me. If you want to document the boat after purchase, fine, but as a criteria ??

Jim