Documented Boat

[Aquaman 29]

I recently purchased a boat in South Carolina that is documented my question is should I keep the boat documented or not ? Any advantages of having a documented boat I am not a commercial guy.

[Capt. Debbie]

Advantages? Few if anything real.
#1 You must still register in NJ. Stickers only every year.
#2 Documented boats are in Federal registry. SO if stolen the HIN # will pop if the thief tries to document elsewhere. But there are no inter-state stolen HIN listing for State Registries (like NJ DMV) that I have heard of.
#3 PRO THIEVES buy scrap yard boats to get a clean HIN, and then put that on the stolen boat. Sometimes you will see ads on Craigslist for a desire to buy a boat "title" of a certain manufacturer and size........

So the only difference(note I did not say advantage) is no registration #'s. Only yearly colored DMV stickers.

I believe NJ charges more for boat Registration fees on commercial vessels than recreational. You running charters? Documenting alone does not designate it's usage as commercial. If you get insurance, a Commerical boat will be more than pleasure craft too.

I assist people setting up charter businesses. PM if you have anything you may need answered. OK? I will try.

Hope this helps a little?

[MrAC1980]

If I'm thinking correctly, being documented doesn't require reg #'s on the side of the boat? If that is correct, then it was a big pain in the *** for a buddy of mine who had his boat documented. Since there were no reg #'s, we would always get stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard asking why and asking for documentation. Finally stopped after all of the Barney Light Coasties knew his boat!