Kicked off the shopping for my next boat recently and came across a boat in Rochester, NY that was a 2006 35 Fountain Lightning on eBay. The seller seemed to disclose some of the rougher items on the boat which at first were no big deal saying it was a theft recovery that they had found and put back together. When I ran the HIN to check the title history is when things went south. NYS had cut a registration on the boat BUT there was no title with that HIN and the registration "looked weird" according to the DMV. The seller mentioned the boat was a theft recovery but when digging deeper it was found that it the boat had been totalled by an insurance company in Florida back in December 2013. What was more strange is that when I ran the HIN against the FL DMV it showed the boat got a clean title issued a month or two after it had been totalled. Needless to say I would take caution when dealing with this guy on eBay (he has a few more boats for sale on ebay and craigslist). I lost the auction (thankfully) and didn't pursue the second chance he gave me. I also noticed that the boat came back up on eBay which seems to have been pulled. I would hate to see a fellow OSOer get screwed over. PM me if you have any question. Below is a pic of the boat for sale on eBay and when it was auctioned by SalvageBid.com

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eBay User: Precision1283
Picture of boat from eBay Listing

Looks like it's a "cloned" HIN number. Guys do that with cars that are stolen. I bet that vessel was stolen and they altered the HIN number to the totaled vessel.

Currently looking for a 35 and saw that one. Was aweful tempting to bid but not being able to see the boat in person kept me from doing so. Good to know!

My 35 is for sale if anyone is interested.