The following information is provided for those who are U.S. citizens and own a boat purchased in the U.S. that might be interested in vessel documentation for recreational purposes.
Have you ever heard of a Documented Boat?
If you own a recreational boat less than 26 feet, you probably didn’t have to consider documentation. Only vessels of 5 GRT (gross tonnage) or more can be documented and therefore don’t qualify for boat documentation. 5 GRT is equivalent to boats larger than 26-30 feet depending on their construction and use.
Typically, in Florida, when you buy a boat, the person you bought the boat from will sign the Bill of Sale as well as sign the vessel’s title over to you using the official State title certificate. At some point, if you want to operate the boat on Florida waters, you need to register your boat with the State’s local county tax office. Part of the process is to have the vessel’s title certificate re-titled in your name and a new State titled certificate provided to you. As an FYI, more recently the popularity of being issued an electronic title is increasing; but, that is a topic for different discussion.
Boat Documentation is no different than a State title certification document, with one simple difference; the title or certificate of ownership is not titled with the State, the record of ownership is titled at the Federal level through the United States Coast Guard.
Additionally, if you have your boat documented, there is no need to title your boat with the State of Florida. In fact, you lose your Florida State title certificate and you will be issued a Federal title certificate labeled “Boat Documentation.”
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you document your boat (proof of boat ownership at the Federal level) you still MUST still go to your State’s local county tax office and register your vessel using your Documented Boat certificate. You still need to show the bill of sale, because you are required to pay State sales tax; along with vessel registration fees. Once the registration and sales tax are paid, the State county tax office will give you the little yellow year/month sticker with a larger color background sticker that is standard for every vessel registered in Florida.
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: When buying a “USED” vessel with outboard engines… Make sure you have the outboard motor’s value separated from the overall cost of the vessel. In fact, anything that is easily removeable like a generator (marine electronics not included) that is not part of the vessel itself can be separated on the Bill of Sale. This is important: In Florida, with used outboard vessels, you are only required to pay sales tax on the “used” vessel’s hull. Outboard engines and generators can be excluded from being taxed and provide you a significant savings.
Why would you want to document a vessel?
Documentation provides evidence of your vessel’s registered nationality. This is important if you plan to take your vessel into international waters and ports. It also can simplify both commerce, coast-wide trade (this include transportation of passengers and merchandize) and restricted trade (such a fisheries) between the States, ports in the U.S. or the Exclusive Economic Zone.
In fact, all vessels that are over 5 GRT (gross tonnage) involved in coast-wide trade (this includes pleasure and recreational vessels transporting passengers for hire), commerce and commercial uses are required to have their vessel documented. 5 GRT is the equivalent of a vessel around 30 feet or, a shorter vessel (e.g. 26 feet) with a large cuddy or enclosed space. In other words, if you plan to charter passengers and your vessel is 5 GRT or more, you must have your vessel documented.
There are certain exemptions for mandatory vessel documentation. For the purpose of this document I am only going to cover one of those exemptions.
Only U.S. Citizens can document a vessel. If you do not have a U.S. passport or you are ineligible to get a U.S. passport, you will need to document your vessel from your county of citizenship.
Here are the main reasons why you may want to (or must) document your vessel:
Your vessel is over 5 GRT and involved in coast-wide trade (You are required to document).
If you financed your vessel and your lender or bank requires vessel documentation.
You will operate or plan to operate your vessel in international waters or visits foreign ports.
Typically makes customs entry and clearance easier in foreign ports.
A documented vessel no longer can have the State’s registration numbers affixed to the bow of the boat; e.g. FL 1234 AB a. However, without the registration numbers, your vessel now must be given a vessel name and a hailing port. b. There are regulations on how to permanently depict (mark) your vessel’s name and hailing port.
Note: Regarding identifying a hailing port. The hailing port can be any city and state you desire so long as the place is part of a U.S. State, Territory, or possession of the United States. It does not have to be where you bought the boat, keep the boat or where you live. Hailing ports are merely a mechanism to better distinguish vessels that may have the same vessel name.
There are certain labeling requirements when your boat is documented. Where to place vessel’s name and hailing port, size of letters, contrasting colors. In most cases, the name of your boat should be displayed on the port and starboard bow (large ships; over 100 GRT) or aft (smaller boats) and the hailing port (city and State) should be displayed on the transom. Last, your boat name and hailing port need to be readable from a certain distance. Don’t worry if you have something blocking your transom such a dingy or outboard engines, as long as the hailing port is permanently affixed on the transom, it doesn’t matter if the dingy or outboard engines block it. Last, local and state authorizes have no say so about your vessel markings for documentation.
Your boat name is something you should really should consider... A lot of boaters get creative with their boat names. While you might have a really funny or clever name, remember that when you communicate on VHF marine radio with Coast Guard, bridge tenders, marinas, other vessels, etc. You will have to announce your boat's name 3 times along with the message (proper marine radio etiquette). This will be a pain if you have a long name. For clever names that sound like profanity; well, hopefully you see my point. When naming your vessel, you should think, is this a name that I want to repeat 3 times in a case of a life-threating mayday emergency communication.
Something else to consider: With one of my boat's that I needed documented; I went down the clever path and had a long list of funny and very clever names. One of them was "ShipFaced."
Think about this... Its a Saturday and you been boating all day. Its around 4 or 5 PM when you decide to head back to your home port. You have been drinking. You know its wrong to drink and drive; but you think you are just fine. As you pass local law enforcement; you can tell they are checking you out and then they see your boat name. You tell me: What do you think that law enforcement officer thinks when he sees your boat name? Perhaps nothing; or perhaps your boat name prompts law enforcement to give you a safety check. Is being clever with a boat name really clever? Maybe...Or perhaps, I am over thinking this.
Decided to Document?
So, you have decided that you want (or need) to document your boat. How hard is it?
The best way to complete Documentation paperwork is to know someone that has documented one of their vessels before. Perhaps buying them a beer will be all that is needed for them to assist you with completing the paperwork.
If you don’t have such a friend, completing the paperwork is not difficult. You can download the instructions from the Coast Guard. But completing the form can be a little tricky if you are someone that may be a little careless with completing paperwork.
For someone who has never ridden a bike, completing the Documentation paperwork, like riding a bike for the first time, can be a daunting experience for someone that has never done it before. But but once learned, it is easy.
Therefore, if you happen to fall off the bike you may get a scrape which in some cases will take some time to heal. Similarly, if you mess up on your documentation paperwork it also takes some additional time to process...but it’s not the end of the world. The Coast Guard representative will email you and inform you that there is an issue and if possible, work with you to get the issue resolved. About the only hassle that comes not having the paperwork completed properly is time. Coast Guard on average take about 7-8 weeks to process a clean (no issues) application. When there is an issue it can add 30 days (or more) depending on the issue.
Last, you can pay money to a service and have a pseudo boat Documentation paperwork expert complete the form on your behalf. These services are for those that money is not concern and are used to paying lesser beings to do so-called grunt work.
Trust me, completing the forms on your own is easy and self-explanatory; but, if you’re that person who rather spend the money, these services will gladly take your money.
To document your boat, you need to start with completing the main application form USCG Form CG-1258 Application for Initial, Exchange or Replacement of Certificate of Documentation; Redocumentation.
However, if your boat has never been documented before, you will need to complete USCG CG-1261 Builder's Certification and First Transfer of Title.
If you are unable to provide the GRT (gross tonnage) for CG-1261, you will need to complete USCG Form CG-5397 Application for Simplified Measurement.
All three of these forms are easy to complete and are self-explanatory.
The last form is USCG CG-1340 Bill of Sale. I wanted to highlight this form. Even though you might have used a custom, found online or self created bill of sale back when you purchased this boat, that document will not do you any good. YOU MUST complete a CG-1340 Bill of Sale and provide it as part of your Documentation paperwork. Without it, the CG will contact you and request you complete CG-1340 Bill of Sale, before your paperwork continues processing.
The biggest pain with the CG-1340 Bill of Sale document is that the completed form requires a Notary. Most banks will provide a notary service for free; or, a shipping store may offer it for a nominal fee.
Last, the Coast Guard accepts checks and money orders payable to U.S. Coast Guard, or credit card payments with accompanying CG-7042 Authorization for Credit Card Transactions form and must accompany the application packet.
All fees are non-refundable.
Whether or not your boat has been documented before, when you fill out Form CG-1258, you have the option of changing the vessel name and or its hailing port. However, if you do change your vessel’s name or hailing port, you need to make sure you change stenciling (name and or hailing port). If you Google “boat naming kit” you will get a list of websites that can provide you custom lettering for your boat stencils. Something to think about if you end up purchasing a boat that has a name or port location you do not like. I’ll leave it to the experts on whether its bad luck to rename a vessel. For the superstitious, there is a process (ritual) that you can perform to warn off the voodoo for those that believe that renaming a boat is bad luck. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but if you Google it, you’ll find what needs to be done.
Everything you want to know about vessel documentation can be found reviewing 46 CFR Part 67.
The Coast Guard website, http://www.uscg.mil/nvdc provides great information; especially the FAQ section. The Coast Guard provides a great document called; INITIAL VESSEL DOCUMENTATION; which are general instructions and should help most with completing the paperwork. At the time of this post, this document was revised 12/2018. They periodically update this document as it contains the latest application and processing fees.
TRUE STORY: When I sold my Documented boat, the person I sold to didn’t speak English; and since my Spanish is horrific, communication was through a 3rd and sometimes 4th party. The biggest challenge I had when selling the boat was explaining to the buyer that there was no State of Florida Certificate of Title. I, through the 4th party communicator, finally convinced them with printouts and explanations regarding Boat Documentation and what it means. Meaning, my boat has a Federal title (not State).
After everyone was put at ease and all parties were happy, I gave them play-by-play instructions on how to transfer the Documentation so they could register the boat at their local County tax office. You still need to register your boat with your local county tax office! Any boat operating on Florida waters needs that little yellow month and date sticker regardless where the title resides. The State of Florida wants their sales and registration tax money!
When the buyer attempted to transfer the Documentation, there was a big problem. Unbeknownst to me, the new owner WAS NOT a U.S. Citizen. Only U.S. Citizens can document a vessel. For non-US personnel, if they need Boat Documentation, they must go through the Vessel Documentation process in their country of citizenship. He never told me that he wasn’t a U.S. citizen, and I didn’t think to ask as lots of people from Miami only speak Spanish.
As far as what to do; that wasn’t the problem. How much time it was going to take…That was the problem. Basically, you can revert a Documented Boat back to a State title. All this can be done at your local County Tax office. However, the new owner that wants to (or my buyer’s case, ‘must’) revert the Federal title back to State title must have the previous owner (me) submit a “Request to Delete Documented Vessel” to the USCG Documentation Center.
To delete a vessel from Documented status, you (the seller of the documented boat) need to write a simple letter addressed to the Director, United States Coast Guard, National Vessel Documentation Center. You complete a CG-1340 Bill of Sale form and complete a form CG-7042 Authorization for Credit Card Transactions (for the cost of deletion). You take your letter, your bill of sale and your CC authorization form and email it to the Coast Guard. That’s it! In about 7-8 weeks, you will get an official Deleted Documentation document. I texted a scanned PDF copy of the vessel deletion document to the person that bought my boat.
Once the new owner has the Deleted Documentation document along with a CG-1340 Bill of Sale or another type of bill of sale if one was used; they can go to the County Tax office and get the vessel a Florida Title Certificate, get it registered and get a registration number assigned so they can put those numbers (FL 1234 AB) on the port and starboard bow of the boat.
Hopefully this post has shed some light on boat documentation. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
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