Boat Forum / Cruising / September 2004

I believe it calls for up to $10,000 a day. I'm not kidding. Will that
happen? I doubt it. Your friend should make a phone call to the
documentation center YESTERDAY and find out what to do. The times I
have called, they were very pleasnat and helpful. I am pretty sure
they can send a receipt showing that the documentation paperwork has
been submitted, and will be forthcoming. That should be okay as long
as your friends don't try to enter any foreign ports.

BB

There are very likely no penalties.  Documentation for pleasure boats is
optional and if MA is like other states your friends will already have a
state registration.  That aside if the folks at Gettysburg (i.e., the
Documentation Office) are the culprits, or even if this is NOT the case, it
is unlikely that a penalty will be imposed.  The $ megabucks/day penalties
relate to large vessels.  This is what happens when the same sets of rules
that are applicable to the Exxon Valdez are later applied to 27 foot
sailboats.

Hey, if the morons in Washington are rounding up innocents on the West Coast
for having "almost the right fingerprints" or for enjoying a Mojito in
Havana, I guess anything is possible.

Don't know about Ma., but in MD, I was offered to buy a MD state sticker
till my documentation came through. Would have needed hull numbers, but was
legal. I saved the $15 and sailed without for a few months. No problems.

--
Scotty
S/V Lisa Marie
Balt. MD  USA

Karin:

I bought a used and previously documented boat on March 11 of this year.
There was an outstanding lein on the boat from the current owner. There are
at least two steps towards getting a USCG document. The first is paying off
the previous owner's loan and getting the lender to issue a "Satisfaction of
Mortgage" certificate. The latter can take as long as the lender wants to
make it. I have seen this take several months and many phone calls to the
lender to get this done.

Then once the Satisfaction of Mortgage is in hand from the lender, it can
take many months for the USCG to process the application and return your new
document. It has been three months and I still don't have my new document.

But I have also enjoyed my new boat over the last several months. No
responsible law enforcement official and certainly no court is going to fine
you for not being documented- provided you have timely submitted your
application for documentation to the USCG.

I know how to document my own boat (I was a yacht broker for a short period
in my career), but I chose to pay a documentation service precisely for this
reason. They gave me a letter inidcating that documentation has been applied
for and the USCG was processing the application. If I am stopped (and I have
only been stopped once by the USCG in thousands of hours of sailing), I will
show them that letter and they will smile and let me go on my way.

And for the state police, harbor patrol, etc. What they care about is
getting their sales tax. So also keep a receipt for sales tax paid on board.

So, the bottom line is don't worry about it if you have followed the rules.
Enjoy your new boat.

David

I bought a boat in Puerto Rico in 2000 and all you need to do is keep copies
on board of the forms you sent to the Coast Guard to get your vessel
documented. Unless they've changed the rules in the last 4 years, it's all
that's required.  Check the FAQ on their website.