Mine has no lien,so good question...I know it didn't have a lien when I bought it either...my 31 has no lien but has a NYS title and I see no differnce or advantage...I just did the documentation cause that's what it had when I bought it...maybe I could get the NYS title and I wouldn't have to renew my documentation every year.

BTW...you did mean lien and not lean right???

You will recieve a yearly notification from the USCG for renewal. Fail to renew and you are in deep doodoo.

Write your renewal date on your calander. If the paperwork does not come in the dependable US mail be proactive and renew.

It's not a big deal. I think you got lucky on the turnaround time, but it's certainly not a difficult process. I think mine took about 2 months for the ownership & name change. The paperworks itself was a joke.

What did you guys do as far as permanently marking the name of the boat inside it? All the marinas around me recommend a guy who makes teak placards and mounts them in the bilge. I'm not real big on the idea of putting a wood placard in the boat, but I guess if it is hidden I shouldn't really care.

I guess I'm alittle slow today, I still don't understand the benefit of USCG Documenting a boat? Especailly, if I have to renew every year @ some extra $$ cost for something that my FL registration already does for me?
Thanks,
Dean

Mine is Documented. It alleviates having to register the boat yearly, or whatever your state requires. In some instances, when you transfer states and such, you can get out of sales tax; but it depends on states and loopholes.
It also alleviates having numbers cluttering up the side of your boat. Sometimes it makes your boat harder to identify, which could be a good or bad thing.

My boat has vinyl numbers stuck to the inside of the engine compartment on the inside of the hull, and they have clear paint over them making them "permanent enough" to be good for USCG regulations.

That's a great idea! That is exactly what I'm going to do.