Coast Guard Cert. of Doc. Renewal

Man I hate paying someone that much to do something that costs $94! Boating is too expensive as it is.
 
The Indiana CO on our lake pulled along side of me and simply asked if my boat was documented. I said yes. He then stated that although my boat is registered in Ohio (I have an Ohio registration tag) I still needed the Indiana sticker showing evidence of paying Indiana's excise tax (~$500/per year). My reply was, this would be true IF I kept my boat on Indiana waters for 22 consecutive days but I have a trailer and I move out of my slip regularly. He said, wow . . . didn't figure you'd trailer that boat and then said, ok, and let me on my way. So, for registration purposes, I only pay $63 to Ohio every three years even though I live in Kentucky, another state that collects ridiculous amounts of excise taxes. Ohio doesn't charge an excise tax, doesn't care where you live when you register a boat in their state and doesn't care where you keep that Ohio registered boat. Gotta love the Buckeye state!
 
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I'll save my money..Seems like it's just asking Florida authorities, ie; State, Sheriff, Police to stop and question...Then inspect my boat...No thanks!
 
Cincy Aquaholic said:
The Indiana CO on our lake pulled along side of me and simply asked if my boat was documented. I said yes. He then stated that although my boat is registered in Ohio (I have an Ohio registration tag) I still needed the Indiana sticker showing evidence of paying Indiana's excise tax (~$500/per year). My reply was, this would be true IF I kept my boat on Indiana waters for 22 consecutive days but I have a trailer and I move out of my slip regularly. He said, wow . . . didn't figure you'd trailer that boat and then said, ok, and let me on my way. So, for registration purposes, I only pay $63 to Ohio every three years even though I live in Kentucky, another state that collects ridiculous amounts of excise taxes. Ohio doesn't charge an excise tax, doesn't care where you live when you register a boat in their state and doesn't care where you keep that Ohio registered boat. Gotta love the Buckeye state!
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I wish I would have known that. I was tempted to document our current boat...the next one will be for sure. Ohio it is!
 
Cincy Aquaholic said:
This is a frequently asked question. Generally, it is a requirement in order to have a preferred ship mortgage which was what almost every lender requires before it will finance boats of a certain size and value. Not all boats can be documented vessels but some must. Mine was required by my lender. Still has to be registered with the state but different requirements for displaying numbering as well.
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The real reason some banks require it to give them a first lien on the boat that is enforceable in any state since it is federally enforceable. My marina owner told he has had first hand experience with this. Someone owed him $80K in repairs that defaulted on the loan. The boat was documented so the out of state bank had federal marshalls come in and "arrest" the boat. They told him to either haul the boat out or they would bring a crane in and do it themselves. He was able to collect only $3K in hauling charges. So documentation primarily benefits the lender not boat debtors like me.
 
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Another reason is some states don't title boats, so it's very difficult to see if there are leans on the boat. As I understand it, a documented boat records leans on the boat so it's easy to search. At least mine was.
 
320Bob said:
The real reason some banks require it to give them a first lien on the boat that is enforceable in any state since it is federally enforceable. My marina owner told he has had first hand experience with this. Someone owed him $80K in repairs that defaulted on the loan. The boat was documented so the out of state bank had federal marshalls come in and "arrest" the boat. They told him to either haul the boat out or they would bring a crane in and do it themselves. He was able to collect only $3K in hauling charges. So documentation primarily benefits the lender not boat debtors like me.
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First let me start by saying I am not an Admiralty lawyer, but I do work in the maritime industry and have worked with Admiralty lawyers to collect payments from difficult customers. So the following is based on practical experience, and not strict legal education.

That is only partially correct. ALL boats/vessels/ships/barges create maritime liens, regardless of documentation, registration, or size. All of these liens are created 'automatically' (legally not the correct definition, but close enough for this discussion).

I don't think in your friend's case the boat was 'arrested', as the bank hauled it away. An arrest is not an award as result of a judgment. It is meant to be a court ordered 'time out'. An arrest order is issued when a lien holder makes a claim to the Admiralty Court. For a type of debt defined as a 'Necessary', the court will issue an Arrest Warrant. When served on the vessel, the vessel becomes impounded in place and can not be moved. The intent is to secure the mortgagee (the vessel) so that it can not escape until the matter is sorted out and judgment is made. Think of arresting the vessel as the same as a criminal being held without bail while awaiting trial. He's not guilty, but the court is afraid he won't show up for trial.

Arresting a ship is used more as a thermo-nuclear deterrent for delinquent payments than a repossession solution. In the case of arresting a recreational boat, the downside is limited for the deadbeat. So it is not used for debt collection. However in a commercial situation an Arrest situation can be catastrophic. If you go and arrest a container ship for example, the headaches cascade for the ship operator. Not only does he have the party who secured the arrest wanting money, but he now has a ship tided up some place that is costing thousands per day in dockage and other on-going expenses, and a whole bunch of shippers with freight in their containers that is not being delivered. Needless to say, just the threat of a vessel arrest will cause major puckering and a quick loosening of the purse strings.

Interestingly enough, repairs are also considered a Necessary, and your friend could have gotten an arrest warrant that would have locked the boat in his marina. Again, only until the matter was sorted out by the court.

There are other legal mechanisms that could have been used on this boat, that also involve Marshals. It is also very possible that by the time the Marshals showed up at the marina a judgment had been made in the favor of the bank. But, that still would not have absolved other debts owed by the vessel.

There is also another tidbit. Maritime liens are the responsibility of the vessel. Clearly the owner pays the bills. But the documented boat changing hands may not absolve other debt. Meaning there is a good chance that where ever that boat is now (and by extension the new owner), it still owes your friend 80K. For that kind of money I would suggest that he contact a Admiralty Lawyer. It may not be cheap to resolve, but he may end up with more than $3k.


Henry
 
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Henry Boyd said:
...Meaning there is a good chance that where ever that boat is now (and by extension the new owner), it still owes your friend 80K. For that kind of money I would suggest that he contact a Admiralty Lawyer. It may not be cheap to resolve, but he may end up with more than $3k.


Henry
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The marina owner ran all this through a lawyer who told him that there was no recourse. He ended up putting in a bid on the boat at auction to recover some of his money but all equipment he had replaced was stripped before auction I believe by the bank for salvage. He said that had the boat not been documented, he could have put a lien on it and recovered substantially more of the money owed to the marina.
 
Your on the mailing list. My question is how did they get your specific information. Des the state sell the registration list to worthy vendors or is it the CG. In either event after buying our last boat we to started to get some interesting bits of snail mail. I take every action not to allow financial institituions share our info w/ thier worthy partners. I can not even imagine the lists we are on! Thanks for bringing this one up.
 
If your boat is Federally Documented, the owner's name, address and other bits of information is part of the Public Record. It is just like a corporate registration, or property deed information.

Henry
 
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