Rippem

never been looked at twice in NY. I display reg sticker only on hullside, name and port stern. The numbers mean nothing to law/state. If you've got a good color/good date reggie on the hullside they know it's registered in order to get one, or more importantly that you fed the state $$ machine.

that's all they give a sh!t about.

HotPursuit

That is correct.
Just registered with Midwest documentation, Drew Davis has
been great to work with and explained in detail.Give um a call
I don't have the # with me but they have a web site.

hammer01

the way i was told is that as long as you are not operating in any state's waters for more than 60 consecutive days, you do not have to be registered in that state, i.e. state numbers or stickers. this is the case for il and mo but you will get hassled a lot more even if you do display name and hailing port on the stern of the boat. the documentation aspect allows you to not have to pay sales tax, so this is the benefit to answer your question. i went ahead and paid the "in-lieu-of-tax" for missouri just so i could display the sticker and not get hassled(without sticker on old boat i was stopped 7 times in 10 days with just doc. info on stern of boat). some states can register your boat with no in-lieu-of-tax such as delaware still i believe. those that trailer your boats, do not have to be registered in any state to be documented and be legal. this was as of last year and i believe to still be accurate.

ratman

so what, now you're a turn the other cheek kinds a guy

Montauk Crossbow

Same here in NY no numbers only a sticker,but the sales tax people came by and didnt see the little sticker,send me a nasty letter,then had to produce sales tax reciept to get them off my back

Rippem

wrong and wrong.

there are only a couple of states left where you can get by without paying full blown sales tax. MO. and Dl. being two of them.

the other half of the legal terms of documentation other than the number permanently attached to the hull..
Is that name and hailing port are REQUIRED to be displayed on the boat!!!
in the other 45 states or whatever, they will catch up to you on the tax!

Go ahead...pay no tax for a state reg. sticker AND display no name with hailing port and see how many times the patrol passes you by! That is absolute to the man you're "skipping out"!
here in NY they (the state) actually does field audits, scouting marinas looking for unpaid tax! You buy a slip for the season and as far as the states concerned you intend to use the boat in that state for more than 60 days a year. You could argue that, but you won't win!
I've seen it being done more than once and have myself 7 or 8 years ago gotten a letter from Albany to send in proof of tax paid, and I had a valid NY reggie and numbers on the boat!

Russian roulette for you if you think it's free ride.

Rippem

another aspect of little importance to the rest of you is that you are NOT going to Canada and staying more than the 20 minutes it takes to call customs without a state registration or documentation number. I'd hate to have the mounties walk down the dock and call me on not having a name/port displayed on my documented vessel, walk all over my boat with thier black shoe polish and spend an hour going over my paperwork!

Or our own coast guard or border patrol in our own waters for that matter!

pm203

Of course you still have to register it with the state. The good part is that you don,t have to put 5 or 6 ugly looking numbers on the front side of the hull.

9 Lives

That'd be fine with me.

I've always wanted a 50 cal. machine gun mounted up on the deck of my hotrod anyways , just to take care of all the pecker-knats on PWC's at LOTO.

(and the no numbers on the side thingy, but State registration sticker every 3 years here in MO.)

Boostable

Just a sticker here in Florida. No numbers and have never been stopped for not having them.