coast guard documentation

[Andy73]

So I'm a bit confused...

1 - FL requires a state registration
2 - Other countries have a strong preference for CG Documentation
3 - You cannot do both

If you plan to use FL as a home port for cruising, maybe spending a few months there every couple of years, but cruising the Gulf and Atlantic. How do you satisfy everyone?

[FlyMeAway]

Originally Posted by Andy73

So I'm a bit confused...

1 - FL requires a state registration
2 - Other countries have a strong preference for CG Documentation
3 - You cannot do both

If you plan to use FL as a home port for cruising, maybe spending a few months there every couple of years, but cruising the Gulf and Atlantic. How do you satisfy everyone?

Propositional 3 is incorrect. You can absolutely do both. Most states require that documented vessels be state registered as well. My boat is documented with the Coast Guard and registered in Washington.

What you *cannot* have is a boat that is CG documented and state titled.

Title and registration are two different things. This is where you might be confused.

Title is proof of ownership. Registration is literally just that: registration of your title with a governing authority (usually the state). Registration, among other things, proves compliance with state taxation and title requirements. It also can have implications for jurisdiction, but that's high technical and really not of concern here.

What's interesting (at least to us legal nerds) about CG documentation is that it is actually a dual registration system: through documentation your boat is titled and registered with the CG, but you may also be required (or able) to register your title with the state. The latter only applies for state law. The issuer of the title document (and the original registering authority) remains the CG.

To file registration you must usually prove that you have title to the boat you are registering. You can prove title either with a state title doc or with a USCG documentation certificate.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Andy73

So I'm a bit confused...

1 - FL requires a state registration
2 - Other countries have a strong preference for CG Documentation
3 - You cannot do both

If you plan to use FL as a home port for cruising, maybe spending a few months there every couple of years, but cruising the Gulf and Atlantic. How do you satisfy everyone?

You are confused.
Florida requires state registration......... true
Other countries have a preference for CG documentation......True
You cannot do both.....False

In fact if you go to Florida you must do both!

Documentation is more like a title than it is registration. In Florida you have the option of a Florida state Title or USCG Documentation, but you cannot do both. In Either case you must have a state registration.

[FlyingCloud1937]

Originally Posted by FlyMeAway

In some states, documenting gets you out of registering your dinghy provided you have a motor under a certain HP. In Washington State, for example, that motor is 10 hp.

That only goes in WA State if you are not on Federal Navigable Waters. Any water way that connects to Fed waters requires dingy registration if it has any sort of motor. The only exception is if the dingy is tendering. TT to the CG Documented Vessel.

As an example we keep our boat moored on Lake Union in downtown Seattle. My tender is a 10-3 inflatable with a 5 hp outboard. If I have my car in the parking lot, I can't use my dingy on Lake Union without state registration.

I have a pink slip to prove it. Now any waters that are landlocked to federal waters I can use said inflatable/motor combo without state registration.

Lloyd

[kunkwriter]

Just went through the process. I sent proof of ownership, all documentation I had, the fee, and got a temporary cert, and the final cert a month later. Easy.

[FlyMeAway]

Originally Posted by FlyingCloud1937

That only goes in WA State if you are not on Federal Navigable Waters. Any water way that connects to Fed waters requires dingy registration if it has any sort of motor. The only exception is if the dingy is tendering. TT to the CG Documented Vessel.

As an example we keep our boat moored on Lake Union in downtown Seattle. My tender is a 10-3 inflatable with a 5 hp outboard. If I have my car in the parking lot, I can't use my dingy on Lake Union without state registration.

I have a pink slip to prove it. Now any waters that are landlocked to federal waters I can use said inflatable/motor combo without state registration.

Lloyd

Interesting. I just went and read the law on this instead of listening to what everybody around me was doing. A lot of the folks on my dock are going to be really pi**ed -- I don't think one of them has a registered tender.

MODS: Please delete my previous post (#30) due to misinformation. Thanks!

[Badsanta]

Thats the right thing to do. What did you find out?

[Andy73]

Ahhh Registration v/s Titling. Got it.

Thanks everyone for the assist!

[_QB_]

Originally Posted by Andy73

Ahhh Registration v/s Titling. Got it.

Just to make things more confusing, I'll point out that in Canada, "Registration" means the same thing as "Documentation" in the US; whereas "Licensing" means more or less the same thing as "Registration" . See Pleasure Craft Licences: Questions and Answers - Transport Canada.

[Sam Plan B]

Yes. Go thorugh the process of changing the documentation to your name. It doesn't cost much and the forms to do it are available from the previously noted website. If you don't change the documentation the next owner will have to search through three previous owners.

[sailr69]

Originally Posted by evm1024

I think that it is very much worth getting your vessel documented (reinstated as it were). The NVDC can give you a history for some fee. This will list the documentation history including previous owners.

It may be a hassle to prove that you are the ovner if it has been out of documentation but when you sell there will be no doubt that you at=re the owner and are free of liens. Or so it appears.

What make of boat and what length (and year) inquiring minds want to know.

You can specify any hailing port that you want more or less but be aware that the documentation database is :read" by states looking for tax evaders. Say if you list San Francisco as the hailing port expect to get a letter demanding california taxes. Be sure to have prof that you have never taken the boat to california. Perhaps not a good example but you get the idea.

Regards

it has been 20 years for me but I recall you had only two choices for hailing port.
either where the port is home ported or where the documented papers are, for me. 9th naval district, Cleveland, Ohio. not home port!

[Hud3]

When I documented my boat, I was told that the only criteria for a hailing port was that it was recognized by a post office.