It is estimated that around 100 million US citizens go boating each year, and about 15 million American households own recreational boats. Given that the market is so large, it comes as no surprise that at some point in your life you may need to part ways with your ship (and start another with a different one). If that happens to be your case, you will probably need a transfer of ownership form to pass the rights over the watercraft to a new owner. Let us show you some considerations you will need to make before selling your vessel.
Proving the Ownership of your Boat
There are a few ways to prove your ownership over a vessel: with a state title, with a bill of sale, and with USCG documentation. Let us explain the three of them. When your boat is not registered, and you are selling “as is” you still can show that you own the vessel with a bill of sale that must have been given to you when you first purchased the vessel. When your vessel is registered locally, the transfer of the title method varies from state to state.
What we are interested in in this article, is those boats that are registered with the United States Coast Guard. Recreational vessels longer than 26 feet (in reality, those that exceed 5 net tons) can choose to be documented with the governmental agency. And if that is the case, they have the option of using a transfer of ownership form to pass on the possession of a vessel. Let us show you how:
Other Changes You Can Make to your Boat Documentation
On the left side of our site, you may have noticed that there is a list of the different types of boating documents that you can obtain from us, the Maritime Documentation Center (MDC). The transfer of ownership form can be found on the transfer/exchange tab. You will have to complete the application with your vessel name and hailing port, and official HIN number. Later on, you will need to complete some personal details about yourself like name and surname, address, and contact information. To finalize the document application, you will have to check a few boxes about the purpose of the request and sign the form. Once you have paid, the MDC will finalize the deal.
You may have noticed, however, that the tab is called “Transfer/Exchange”. This is because the application covers other types of changes you can make to a document as well. You can also use this form to add or remove owners, when you want to change the name or hailing port of a vessel or when a different business is incorporated.
Simple Boat Documentation Processing
As we said, all of these certificates of documentation changes, whether it is a transfer of ownership form or not, can be done at the Maritime Documentation Center. Contact us today for any other information that you need. Our experienced staff will be happy to help you and clear all of your doubts.