Documenting saved me about $6,000 in sales tax as a result of Missouri's in lieu of tax provision.

As I understand it every state has their own ways of registering boats and tracking ownership.....Documentation is Federal and they are all done the same way no matter what state the boat is in. Easier to track and title search these vessels. Also I have heard that if a boat gets stolen and taken out of the country the US Gov has the ability to recover vessels that are documented but not state registered......not that they would ever send the Fed Gov after one of our boats though.

Very true. Also when you document a boat you also create a Ship's Mortgage which is filed with the coast guard for the above reasons.

Makes the boat easier to track and recover. (important stuff to a bank :D )

As for little banks not requiring USCG doc and lose with filing liens on titles we in the banking business call them HERE TODAY GONE TOMORROW banks :p

Sloppy lien perfection leads to HUGE LOSSES with banks :evilb:

and BTW: I have a DL corp registered through the same company you posted a link to earlier...:D

I don't think they are rated a small bank. NASDAQ_

Incompetent help-yes. :evilb: Maybe if they're gone tomorrow, I'll have a paid in full boat the next day:drink:

http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/corpor...spx?IID=100175

http://www.citizensonline.com/default.asp

www.boatdocumention.com Midwest Documention

1-877-850-9802 Cost around 500.00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but by Documenting it treats the loan similar a Mortgage and prevents the owner of the vessel from making substandard modifications. There are other obvious reasons for international waterways, etc.

I was wondering about this as well, my boat is documented and it will be a year old in the spring do I have to do anything more on the documentation. (the dealer did it the 1st time)????

Should only have to document once as long as you own it. They'll send a form asking if you still own it, but only need to notify them once you sell it.

You do need to have it updated yearly by the Coast Guard. Its free (as long as you don't let it expire.

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/vdoc/nvdc.htm
National Vessel Documentation Center of the US Coast Guard

They are actually VERY easy to deal with. The only advantage to paying someone to do it for you, is they can act as an Agent of the Coast Guard and issue you a temporary certificate of documentation (applied for); kind like a 30 day tag when you buy a car from a dealer. You can't do this yourself. If you are not in a rush, its very easy to work directly with the folks at the NVDC. If you are nice, and sweet talk them, you can have it done in a week as I did. I payed a NICE chunk of change to have mine done when I bought the boat, but I was CHANGING the ownership of a documented boat, and they agent (my loan people) issued me the temporary certificate.

Well, I moved, and never got my Documentation renewal in the mail, and it inadvertently expired. I was taking an ocean trip in less than two weeks, and realized this. They had me straighted out in less than 7 days, and I did not have to pay expedited fees; all this over the Christmas season as well.