registering a canoe without title or bill of sale

[phil]

im assuming someone here has done this in our wonderful state. make a long story short I have an old town canoe and want to add a trolling motor. can I write up a boilerplate notarized bill of sale, have it notarized and head to the DMV with the other required paperwork and a check and walk out and be done? my head is spinning reading all the old posts about this.

[Ken Lyons]

The assumption is that it's stolen unless you can prove otherwise. There is a PIA procedure. Try calling DMV in Trenton.

[Chrisper4694]

Did it with the tin can Jon boat I have. My father in law had it since the 50s or 60s no paperwork, never registered. He wrote a letter explaining this, had it notarized, and the dmv accepted it as proof of ownership and let me register it for an electric motor.

[briansnat]

I was going to try to register an old jon boat I was selling that my dad bought in the 70's. I figured if it was registered I might get another hundred bucks or so for it. I was told by MVC that without papers the best way would be to register it as a "home made" boat. But that would also have involved having it inspected by the Coast Guard or Marine Police I was told. I never bothered. Just sold it as is.

[AndyS]

A letter with notary, there is the best place to start.

[NorthJerzyG]

To register an untiltled (12ft or less) motorboat, u need a notorized bill of sale (typed or hand written) with the following info: year, make, model, hin#. Also, for boat and trailer packages, be sure to have a seperate letter for each one. That's what it took for me. Only problem was it took 5 trips cause they only tell you partial information every time...