I've thought of that and would be an easy thing to do with a very large Coast Guard station about 5 miles up river but I have to agree with 36Tango. I’m not going through that with every DNR cop I meet. Then there is all those other local jurisdictions like when we go up to Ft McHenry for the 4th. Nothing like having a Baltimore city cop crawling around your boat while you are explaining why you don’t have numbers on the side. I had one local city officer try to tell me one 4th of July that my pop up bow navigation light on my 19 was illegal because it was not displayed and they were unable to determine if I had lights or not. Around 5pm on a summer evening. WTF???
The one time I have been stopped by the Coast guard in the last 15 years was by a bunch of kids that wanted to check my boat out after screaming by their station the whole summer. Checked registration and one or two things off the checklist and quickly went to motor, speed and the boat it’s self. DNR, locals, whole different world and explaining to one of them that they are wrong don’t go to well when you are out having a good time.

How do you "document" a boat? Can it be done with any boat? Can it be done in Michigan?

I did law enforcement on Lake St Clair [Great Lakes area] for 20+ years if you go the documentation way be ready to be stoped, looked over, and ask many questions by DNR & Sheriff departments. You may find it gets old real fast..

3 times per year i get stopped per boat and its real old they just dont understand the laws but with the amount of homelad sec. people swarming around the area this will be the 4 stop season, the tax dollars hard at work

You can Google for the information on documentation and the boat has to be a certain size..You also have to show line of ownership, when and where the boat was manufactured and a few other things such as a name on the boat and home port.Of course you have to pay a one time fee to the government,but it is renewed every year for free as long as you own the boat.... Dont let a bunch of billies with a badge scare you..... The Coast Guard has more punch than the DNR or the locals ... Good luck in what ever you decide!!



Jim

I know what you are saying but I live in a different world.
When I lived in Maine the CG was it. I don’t remember even seeing a DNR or local guy…..ever.
But here at Ft Smallwood, MD, the starting point of the Patapsco river that goes to the port of Baltimore with it’s large container, fuel and cruise ships all the time, along with the Baltimore Inner Harbor tourist trap and Historic Ft McHenry and then there is the Ft McHenry tunnel (I-95) and Harbor tunnel thru-way (I-895) that pass under the river and last but not least there is the Francis Scott Key bridge that goes over it. The jurisdictions overlap each other over and over.
When a cruise ship comes in you would think they are escorting air force one up the river. I used to love cruising along side one as it came into port. Not to close but folks would wave and you could see them. Today you are greeted with a bullhorn saying you must stay 1000 yards from vessel or be subject to arrest. In some cases that means being a couple hundred yards in to the woods.
The CG have one river off the Patapsco and for the most part keep to themselves.

I like the option on post #4. Sounds like documentation is not for me. I have numbers in script that fade to yellow, the color of the boat. They are technically illegal in Michigan but no one has said anything about it yet. I usually get checked by the Coasties once a year and get my "safe boating" paper. They have always been very decent.