Welcome to our Maine Coast Guard portal. Below are many vessel documentation forms for essentially every stage of vessel ownership. These forms are valid not just in Maine but throughout the country as well. Regardless of where your ship is in the United States, you can use these forms to stay in compliance.
If your vessel is in Bangor, Lewiston, Augusta, or elsewhere, you can apply for documentation through our portal. Should your vessel measure at least five net tons and be wholly owned by an American citizen, it will be eligible for registration.
Certain vessels must be documented. Vessels that are to be used in fishery activities or coastwise trade in the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) or the navigable waters of Maine (as well as the rest of the United States) that also measure five net tons and are owned by American citizens are required to be documented. There are exceptions. For more information, email info@maritimedocumentation.us
Initial Ship Documentation
In the event that your vessel has not been registered in the state of Maine or anywhere else in America, you can register it with this form. This form is not to be used to renew vessel documentation, reinstate it, or anything other than your first-time registration.
Reinstatement
In the event that your boat documentation expired thirty or more days ago, you cannot renew vessel documentation at that time. Instead, to maintain your documentation, utilize this form for reinstatement.
Renewal
Boat registration renewal in Maine or anywhere else can be performed by completing this form. With this form, boat documentation renewal can be obtained for one, two, three, four, and up to five years in advance. In the event that your vessel documentation expired 30 or more days ago, it cannot be renewed and must be reinstated.
Replacement (COD)
Obtain a replacement USCG Certificate of Documentation with this form. In the event that your Certificate of Registration has been lost or mutilated, your registration will no longer be valid. A replacement can keep you in compliance.
Certified Copy (COD)
Certified copies of your Certificate of Registration are available through this form. To expedite the vessel documentation process, we offer rush processing services.
Deletion (COD)
Vessels that have been lost, are no longer serviceable, or have been sold to foreign citizens can be removed from the Coast Guard registry. Delete a Certificate of Registration with this form.
Exchange/Transfer of Ownership
In the event that a change/transfer needs to be made with the vessel’s ownership, utilize this form. Change a managing owner’s name, transfer it to a new individual, trust, company/etc., remove or add a spouse, and sell it to another party with this form.
MARAD Small Vessel Waiver
Obtain a waiver of the requirement that commercial passenger vessels must be built in America with this form.
Use this form if you have a foreign-built vessel that you wish to use to conduct limited commercial passenger operations. For eligibility, your vessel, while in operation, cannot carry more than twelve passengers, it has to be at least three years old, and it must be wholly owned by a US citizen.
Change of Address
In the event that your address has changed from what is on your boat registration, complete this form.
Change of Vessel Name or Hailing Port
Change your vessel’s name or the port it hails from on your vessel documentation by completing this form. Names can be no longer than 33 characters. Names can only be composed of Latin alphabet letters and Arabic or Roman numerals. Additionally, names cannot be identical to any obscene words or those used to solicit assistance when on the water, whether actually or phonetically.
Abstract of Title
An Abstract of Title contains detailed information about its build, any liens/mortgages against the vessel, whether those are satisfied or outstanding, the chain of ownership, and more.
Foreign Vessel Title Search Request/Transcript of Registry
Obtain information about vessels in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, Canada, or the British Virgin Islands through completing this form.
Change of Endorsement/Trade Indicator
In the event that you wish to change the endorsement/trade indicator on your Certificate of Registration, use this form. The most common endorsements on vessel documentation: “Recreation,” “Registry,” “Coastwise,” and “Fishery.”
Preferred Ship Mortgage
Apply for a mortgage with this vessel documentation form. You can only apply for a mortgage against a vessel that has a Certificate of Registration or an application on COD at the NVDC. Should there be a default, this mortgage is given status as a maritime lien, so it enjoys a certain priority.
Release/Satisfaction of Mortgage/Lien
In the event that you have paid off a mortgage and/or lien against your vessel, complete this boat documentation form.
Notice of Claim of Lien (NCL)
Completion of this form can record a claim of lien against a documented vessel. Filing this form of vessel documentation makes no claim to its validity or enforceability. Contact private legal counsel for guidance in regard to your NCL.
Document Upload
In the event that you need to upload documentation, such as a previous Certificate of Documentation, bills of sale, a will, etc., do so here.
Vessel Documentation Search
Search the USCG database of documented vessels here for detailed information.
An Accessible and Efficient Maine Coast Guard Portal
Each of the forms linked here can be utilized for vessels in Maine as well as anywhere else in the United States. To make the process even easier, our portal has been optimized for mobile devices. That means that these documents can be filled out from anywhere and on any device, such as phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and more.
To receive your documentation even faster, we offer rush processing services as well. Good luck to you no matter where your journeys take you.
