What is
Coast Guard documentation?
Coast Guard Documentation is a federal form of registration filed with the U. S.
Coast Guard. For pleasure boats, it is voluntary. Commerical boats US built over 5 tons must be documented. However,
over the past thirty years the Coast Guard documentation of pleasure boats has
grown largely because lenders want their boat loan secured with a preferred ship
mortgage available only through documentation with the Coast Guard. Boat owners
often choose to document since the USA does not have a uniform state title law,
and some states do not title boats. And, documented boats do not display a
registration number on the bow. Documented boats are assigned an "official
number" by the Coast Guard that is marked inside the boat.
What are
the requirements
There are
TWO basic requirements for documentation:
The owner
of a documented vessel MUST be an AMERICAN citizen; resident aliens cannot
document a boat. A boat used in a foreign country can be documented provided the
owner is American.
The boat
must meet the Coast guard tonnage requirement. This is not a physical weight;
this is based on a formula utilizing the dimensions of the boat to determine the
cargo carrying capacity. A documented boat must be at least 5 net tons.
What are
markings?
A documented boat must have a name and port marked together on the exterior of
the boat. The official number assigned by the Coast Guard to the boat must be
marked on the interior surface of the outer hull.
Why is
documentation important?
The federal process of documentation serves to preserve the integrity of a
vessel’s history of ownership and liens.
What
services and information are needed?
New boat
documentation:
Name and address of owner(s) and phone number
Name and phone number of dealer
If there is a boat loan: Lender's name, contact and
phone number
Used
boat documentation
Name and
address of owner(s) and phone number
Name of dealer/broker and phone number
If no dealer/broker, seller’s name and
phone number
We will need a copy of the seller’s state registration/title and
certificate of documentation if there is one
What
about searches on used boats?
If boat is documented:
Search for ownership and lien: abstract from Coast Guard need copy of
certificate of documentation and/or Coast Guard official number and/or hull
identification number
If boat is not documented: need copy of state registration/title and/or UCC
search( please call for this)
Preferred Ship Mortgage: requires that boat is already documented in the name of
the borrower. Need name of lender, contact and phone number; need copy of
certificate of documentation
