boatdocumentation

[garylowery]

I dont know if this is the best place for this post can any one tell me why or if i need to document my boat and still i have to regester in the state of texas. any help with this would be great.


Thanks

[Capt.Troy Crane]

As far as I know, you should be able to do one or the other.
However, if you plan on traveling with the boat or using it as a "for hire" charter vessel you would be better off going with the documentation.

Good luck

[Avenger]

There's usually no "need" to document a vessel unless your bank requires it, or in the circumstances Capt. Crane described above. However most states still require registration of documented vessels to prove that whatever applicable taxes were paid. They don't usually require you to display numbers, but most of them will want you to show a registration decal.

[billschwabe]

Documenting a vessel sometimes does have advantages where banks are concerned but you can't document a boat less than 5 gross tons (30' or so). Once a boat is federally documanted, the state has absolutely no jurisdiction and you do not have to get state "numbers" or decals unless they are for fishing purposes, Customs reentry decals notwithstanding. One possible disadvantage to documenting is that the boat is now eligible to be siezed in the even of wartime should the feds deem it necessary. It happened to a lot of boats in WWII but I don't think since then.

[Avenger]

... Once a boat is federally documanted, the state has absolutely no jurisdiction and you do not have to get state "numbers" or decals unless they are for fishing purposes,..

I'd be careful where you try that trick. I know for sure New York requires registration of documented vessels. I'm sure most other states do too. They started doing it in the late '80s because too many people were dodging state sales tax by documenting boats in DE or other no-tax states. The CG also reports documentations to state tax agencies. So check the laws in your state.

[Dauntless]

This site may answer most of the questions you may have about documenting your vessel.
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/nvdc/nvdcfaq.asp

And this site explains that in Texas any documented non-commercial vessel under 115' in length is still required to be state registered and display the decal but not numbers.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat..._registration/

I believe billschwabe's advice above has missed the mark.