A documented boat is not required to have hull numbers on the side, they are in the bilge. Only thing a non-commercial documented boat has to have is the port it hails from on the rear of the boat. I bought a documented boat from a guy in Texas and am in the process of changing it with USCG now. Different states have different rules, as the boat did have a Texas sticker but no numbers on the hull.

The WP at LOTO did the same thing to me all of last year while I was waiting for my Doc papers to get processed...I had a current registration sticker and name on the back but they would pull me over at least once a weekend just to check... They would claim they couldn't see the registration sticker but I think it was just a ruse to pull me over... It will probably start all over again once the boats painted and they think it's a different one...LOL....

Never did get the Doc's done by the people who were supposed to do and its a long story...So I decided to try and do it myself, within two days of sending in all of the paperwork it was listed on the PSIX site, now I'm just waiting for the backlog to catch up to it so it can be processed.

LZH, in California you can document your boat any time you want, but you're still going to pay unscured property tax to the state. You won't have any CF numbers, and you most likely will get stopped once in a while, and checked for your doc papers.
If you finance a boat, and your talking about some big $$$
the finance company will most lilkely require you to document the boat. The reason is, at least this is what I've been told, if the vessel gets taken and ends up in a different county (Mexico), the US goverment can recover the vessel. If its got a registration number on it, you can forget it.

A documented boat is not required to have hull numbers on the side, they are in the bilge. Only thing a non-commercial documented boat has to have is the port it hails from on the rear of the boat. Different states have different rules. You still pay Taxes.

I called State of SC today and told them I had bought a documented vessel and was transferring documentation. Asked what I needed to do with them and they said nothing as long as it was documented with Coast Guard. I'm sure a tax man will appear from somewhere before it's all said and done.

My last boat purchase the lender took care of everything for me from the loan, taxes, to the CG documentation, she was awesome to deal with.

You are in OK right? As long as the boat is older than a 1999, then you will pay no sales tax by registering it in OK. They made me pay a fine ($5) for not titleing it in 30 days. They also have an "excise tax" which was only $8.

Melanie Jolles at Beacon marine credit...she is absolutely the best in the biz.

1300 SE 17th St suite D
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
866-523-2266 office x202
954-522-7106 fax
954-614-6640 cell

I am in NC and was told the same exact thing. The worst part is, they will likely find me in 3 yrs and I will get 3 yrs worth of tax bill all at once...will probably need a loan

Thought you lived in Midlothian

CG Documented only in Va, here is the quote off Va Game and Inland Fishery
"Documented Vessels"
"Vessels documented by the U.S. Coast Guard cannot be titled in Virginia. Though there is no requirement that documented vessels be registered, owners may register them if desired. The registration decals may be useful if traveling to another state that requires display of registration decals. Contact the Department for an application or use the application provided at this site and prominently write "Documented Vessel" at the top."
I guess they would let you pay Personal Property taxes if you really wanted to.
Also, hope you know to get back your road tax on gas each year, got a check last year for almost $400, not going to run through that much gas this year.